Originally Posted by cyccommute

Sure you can get noticed with a pen light. But why get by with just the minimum? You said that putting out 1200 lumens is dangerous. A 100 W incandescent light bulp puts out 1700 lumens...that's hardly dangerous. A 20W, 12V bare halogen bulb puts out around 300 lumen without a reflector. I have 3 and a 12 W (another 200 lumen). That puts my light output at around 1200 lumen which is less tha a 100 W incandesent bulb. Hardly 'dangerous'.

I'll admit that mine is overkill but where's the harm? I've tried lights with less output and never found them to be an advantage. I've noticed cyclists with very weak lights out riding at night and, if I weren't a cyclist looking for other night riders, I would have missed them in all the background light. Getting lost in the night time urban environment of street light, stoplights, cross signals, car lights, etc. could cause real harm. My 1200 lumens gets noticed, so again, where's the harm?