I've been using a Hope Vision 2 as my main front light for a good few years. I'm not really sure how well Hope are known outside the UK, but they're designed and built just up the road from me. It was a gift, in 2007 I think and I'm pretty sure it was last year's model, reduced to £180. At the time, it was a serious light - popular with mountain bikers riding unlit trails at night. 480 lumens and a decent burn time meant it was a great commuter light in its day.

Anyway, I hadn't given it much thought until this year. Actually it was using 18650 torches off the bike that made me think that maybe lower tech was catching up with the Hope.
As the clocks went back on Sunday, my commute home was plunged from almost dusk at the end to pitch black before I set off. This week I've really felt the difficulties of riding in the dark.

Oddly enough, it's not the unlit sections of my ride that give me the most trouble. It's those moderately lit suburban roads, with orangey glow from the street lamps and the constant swings of brightness as car headlights come up from behind getting brighter and brighter, then pass leaving it duller as the next car streams up. It was playing havoc with seeing the detail in the road surface and I could feel myself tensing on the bike. I'd had an off a few weeks back and now struggling to see every little crack, undulation and surface change, I was riding braced for another fall.

This morning I mused that it's the peripheral I'm losing out on with the Hope. I can put a spot far enough ahead to see what's coming at speed, but it's lost by the time I get to it... or I can put the spot closer and see what I'm riding over but not far enough ahead to adjust my path accordingly.
So this morning I attached a torch to my handlebars to compliment the Hope - a Convoy S2+(somewhere around 700 lumens). A bit of a bodge really - I just looped two hair bobbles round the bars, but it held very snug. The idea was that I would point the torch right in front of my front wheel and the Hope further ahead. I think I probably had to do it this way round, as the torch isn't designed for road use, so has quite a wide beam. Turns out that's lovely for flooding the floor 2ft in front of you.

The result was fantastic. I felt way more confident to ride quicker now that I had both a good volume of light and a better spread of something right in front and still light ahead of me. So if you're struggling in the dark, I'd suggest giving two lights at two angles a try - it works a treat!

I've been using two lights for the past month or so and it's great in the early morning commute. One is the cheap Chinese CREE light that supposedly produces in excess of 1000 lumens, but in reality more like 500, and the other is a Cygolight Metro 400. I've got the first one on medium steady and the Metro on the steady with intermittent flash. Works wonderfully. Like you said, works best if you can set them further apart.

Back in 1993 I built my own headlights using a cheap Malibu yard lamp and a 20W halogen bulb. The yard lamp had a bayonette clamp for the incandescent bulb. I used a low-watt poewer source and gloves to focus the new halogen bulb in the reflector. I don't know if it was the shape of the reflector, the lens or the smaller size of the halogen's fillament, but I would get a bright spot for the road, while the periphery was also brilliantly lit. It was a spot plus flood light.

I'm much happier with the brightness, compactness extended battery life and low weight of modern LED lighting, but I do miss that peripheral lighting. Currently I use a NiteRider Minute 500 and have a 30 lumen 9-LED Ever-Ready flashlight on my helmet. It's main purpose is to be visible up high, but it does help me see when I look off to the sides (or at my speedometer/bike computer).

I like using two lights as well. I have one mounted on the fork crown, a B&M with a wide beam, and if I can find the damn mount since I took it off for the summer - I put a Cygolight on my helmet. Driving me crazy looking for that mount though. It's probably hanging out with my state park pass for my mtb spot, which I also can't find at the moment.

Yes, a slight rise in the road can put car headlights right in your eyes and the road in shadow, and make the road essentially invisible as you climb up the other side.

Bike lights keep getting brighter. Years ago, I had a 200 lumen light that amazed the other riders by how bright it was. But it was barely enough for 18 mph riding. I did the same thing, added a 180 lumen flashlight to light up farther distances.

Now, my 2000 lumen (yes, it's been measured 2000!) light is much too bright on high for dark country roads, but is really nice on busy urban streets.

I like 3. Steady and blinky on the bars, steady on the helmet.

I find that a stock MagicShine 808 (claimed 800L, ~<500 actual) has a central spot of very high intensity surrounded by a wide corona of much lower (but still considerably bright) intensity. Spot plus flood, just like you said. I can't think of anything better, except two of them! When I lived in the country I did just that. I had one MS mounted on the handlebars providing close in fill and another on my helmet that I could throw down the road or around corners, or bring in close to really examine the road surface, all with a flick of the neck. I live in the city now so I run just one MS on my helmet. MS has a beam spreader lens if the standard light is too "spotty" for you but I've rarely felt the need to order one. FWIW.

As a night time commuter, one of the things I have found to work rather well is very light tinted pair of sunglasses. Sounds absolutely crazy, but it seems to reduce the glare from oncoming traffic, especially newer cars with HID's. Vision is barely affected by this and it makes my rides much more enjoyable. Tried clear lenses just for the eye protection but the scattered light was messing with my vision and it seemed to blur everything.

I have tried the multiple light thing and for me it just doesn't work too well. There is not that much traffic when I commute to home (nearly midnight) so it is a bit of overkill. Tried the Niterider Lumina 700 mounted on the helmet and I felt like I could only look straight forward because I was depending on that light too much. Tried it with a 350 instead and the 700 on the bar, same thing. Wasn't checking my surroundings as much and it became a bit of a hazard for me. So now I am just using a Cygolite Dash 460 on the bar.

I've been using two lights for quite some time, at least 15 years. I don't have an expensive setup but I use a Cygolite MityCross 480 on the helmet and a Philips Saferide on the bars; my touring bike has an addition flasher I attached to where the reflector once was, so if I'm using that bike at night then both headlights and the flasher are going. I also use more than one rear light.

one in the front (low, at the fork crown), one in the back

Yep. These are made just for that purpose. I've got sunglasses for daytime and nightglasses for... and my wife knows exactly what I mean when I ask her if she has seen either one. I get mine at Fred Meyer. Handy if I lose a pair, and I do. Much more of a pain when I lose a pair of Solar Shields ($20).

https://www.amazon.com/ClearVision-N.../dp/B007TX6Z32

Niterider Lumina on bars and on helmet. Comes with mounts for both. I think they have a 950 lumen version now, but my 750s are fine.

Not crazy at all. I do the same thing. The light tint is also enough for the day time riding so I don't have to carry a second pair of glasses.

It is interesting that you say this because modern cars have glass tinted to 70% from the factory. This is for all glass panels, windscreen included.

Bright one's aimed center and down, about 10 feet in front of me. Other one's aimed up farther ahead and toward the right to see the edge of the road/path.

On top of the two beams, another advantage of two lights is redundancy in case one battery goes out.

Redundancy is good, especially on those wet days when you need more light.

Schmidt E6 was made with a secondary headlight, On or bypass, and a Primary on or Off, they were wired in series ..

overnight Rando rides like P-B-P, you turned the secondary on for the downhills..

New EdeluxII is brighter than My eDelux 1, & the newer B&M Eyc T is 10 " closer to the ground over my 16" wheel's forkCrown.

I'd feel better with two independent lights than a single one.

I have two lights in front. One dynamo powered light and a battery powered 850 lumen light on my helmet. Works great. I can turn my head in any direction to light up any area. The helmet mounted light also lets me shine the lights toward oncoming cars when I need get across the road at bike crossing or crosswalk - 850 lumens seems to let them know I'm there.

Most of my commute is on an MUP. It's in the trees and can be very dark so the helmet light really lights things up. However, oncoming cyclists or walkers can be blinded and annoyed by such a bright light. I can easily reach up pivot the light to shine to my right side and out of the eyes of oncoming riders or walkers. The dynamo powered light shines it's beam low to the ground and has a distinctive cutoff to keep the beam out of the eyes of those coming towards me.

The only problem I find with the two light system occurs in fog, mist, or rain. The helmet mounted light is up too high and you actually get the light reflecting back at you in those conditions... it's actually a hindrance to seeing the road. In those conditions, I just turn it off, slow down, and use the dynamo powered light to guide my way.

So I use two or three lights on each of my commuters.

On some of my commuters, I have the randonneur front light rack from tetra trikes

Regards,
Cranky

Good point I forgot to mention. The only drawback to a helmet mounted light is with fog, mist, rain, and snow if anyone does that sort of thing, a helmet mounted light will cause severe visual issues if used in those cases. When I use to use the Cygolite Metro on the bars before I got the Philips Saferide I had to re-aim the light downward a bit in those conditions because the round beam, which is typical of most lights, was aimed too high for distance but in those weather conditions it would cause visual problems, once aimed down a bit it was then ok. The Philips though I don't have to re-aim because the beam is flat, I love that light, not sure why Philips stopped making it, but there has been a few since that have come out with aimed optics.

you have high speed ambitions and live in a big city , I suppose that influences your desires..

I simply use my bike for transportation in a small town and like the convenience of just getting on
and having the lights come on promptly without my needing to think of It..

Like coming out of the Pub, & riding the half mile to my house..

I don't really get your comment about high speed ambitions or what living in a big city has anything to do with having a backup light system that's linked to the primary lighting system. I am simply saying that if you're going to have a backup light it ought to be NOT part of the main one, because if there is a problem that causes the main one to fail the same could happen to the 'backup' one.

I full heartily agree with you. A backup anything should be independent of the main, if it wasn't then it's really not a reliable backup and thus should not be called a backup but more of a secondary.

I use two Cygolite 850's. One on the bars and another on my helmet. The light on the bars shines wherever I steer and the one on my helmet shines wherever I look. I never feel my safety is compromised with that set up. It works great on the road and awesome when riding Mtb's in the woods at night.