Originally Posted by PaulRivers

There are lights that just straight up lie about their lumen ratings. It sound like that's what you are running into. A 4AA battery light typically gets you around 200 lumens. Frankly...I wish this wasn't the case, but no AA battery lights are going to be bright enough to overcome oncoming headlights with streetlights.

I bought my brother the Fenix BC30R ($130)
https://www.fenixlighting.com/produc...ix-bike-light/

If that's to expensive you could buy a niterider 1000 for $60:
https://www.amazon.com/NiteRider-Rec...dp/B07DG9MXFN/

That's the lowest I would recommend going. A "1500 lumen" light that runs off 3 AA's is simply lying about it's lumen capacity.

If you wanted to throw an endless amount of money at the problem a Lupine makes a 900 lumen shaped beam light with high mode and a very nice led for $600:
https://www.lupinenorthamerica.com/S...Bike_Light.asp

But that would be rediculous for your needs. You be able to see substantially better with a 1,000 lumen Niterider light compared you have now, for $60 or so.