I know there the light sticky, but that is a very overwhelming thread and I don't want to build my own light. Here is specifically what I'm looking for:

My commute is 15 miles each way. It will be in total darkness in the upcoming winter months. Its mostly MUP with a few miles in a bike lane with traffic. I'm looking for a rechargeable lighting system with a smart charger (or whatever it is that make charging the battery without frying it easier.) My budget tops out at about $250.

I've checked out the Cygolite Nite Rover Extra (battery seems iffy) and the Blackburn X3 and X6 (the battery shape worries me a little.) Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Your commute sounds very similar to mine. For several years I've been using a white strobe in the front and a red strobe in the back. They came as a Cateye package that cost $20. Each uses 2 AA batteries that I change at most twice a year.

I realize some people think they need more expensive solutions, but this cheap setup works just fine for me, and I do a lot of riding in the dark, especially in winter.

My personal experience is with an old cygo set up with a ni-cad battery. The Ni-Cad battery needs to be charged for 15-hours straight, no more, no less. So its always a hassle trying to time the recharge with fading power. Not to mention, 15-hours is an odd length of time, its easy to forget that its been plugged in, plus if it needs to be charged during the week, I have to remember to plug it in immediately after I get home or else I won't be able to charge it the full 15 hours, which screws up the battery capacity.

I like a generator hub, no muss, no fuss, you just have to replace an halogen bulb every other year or so.
A Shimano hub will run around $90. A B&M head and tail light set will be around $70. And $40 to the LBS to have the hub laced up on your rim. All total $200.

--A

I agree. If you are commuting in an urban area with well lit streets there is probably more than enough light to see. Then the issue becomes to be seen/stand out to cars and that is what the blinkies/strobes are best at. If you have to go through some unlit areas then you need a headlight of some type.

for $250 he could afford a 30W hid from batteryspace.com

You can't do the 30W HID with battery and smart charger for $250, not if he's going to have a taillight as well. The taillight is pretty important too.

I'd recommend the 13W HID from batteryspace, that's what I have and I wouldn't do anything less if my budget supported it. They have a full ready-to-go system for $185 helmet mount, $199 handlebar mount. Here's a link:
https://www.batteryspace.com/index.as...OD&ProdID=2377

That and a good rear light, a Cateye TL-LD1000 (or two if they're on sale) or a Flare or something will set you up pretty well. Be sure to spend $5 and put a good big reflector on the back; go get a 4 inch truck reflector and mount it on the back of your rack. And slap some reflective tape around your bike and helmet.

I personally like an actual Xenon strobe on the back, which are about $10 at All Electronics (the amber one is preferred by most here). That does mean some extra wiring for you since it needs a power source. Or Lightman makes some self-contained strobes for more money. To go all-out, wire in a nice red Nova Bull on the back. That'll impact your budget though as they're about $60 for just the fixture.

NightSun Team Issue.

https://www.night-sun.com/htmldocs/team_issue.html

For that kind of money, you can get a real light. This one is about $180, but they have others that are brighter for closer to $250.

For the past 4 years, I've have the team issue in the front and a blinkie in the back, but NightSun also makes a compatible rear light. I've completely crashed this light before and all I had to do was replace the bulb.

Its very hard to know the type of light you'll need w/o knowing how fast you're riding.

But generally, if you average 15mph, you'll need about 3 hrs of light to get you home since batteries lose some of their charge in the cold.

Decide what speed you do then look up some lights in the light chart.

Good point. I average about 15mph. A slow commute would be about 2.5 - 3hrs round trip.

I use one of these:

https://www.cygolite.com/2-Products/5-Nitro200.htm

NiMH battery completes charge in ~3 hrs maybe. Full lighting lasts ~2.5 hrs I think (5 legs of my 30 min commute; I was leaving my charger at work and fully charging it every day, but eventually wound up getting another charger for home 'cause it was getting more use over the weekends).

Use a cateye ld1000 (the bright one w/ 10 bulbs/LEDs/whatever) for the rear. Switched to disposable Li batteries, but that was right when the days started getting longer, so they've been idling in the light all summer.

Anyway, those lights, even plus an extra charger (and I also have an extra mount to switch the cygolite between bikes) all < your budget.

w/ the cygolite I get comparable visibility up ahead, more or less corrected for my speed, as w/ a car and car headlights (less absolute vis, but then I'm going slower), and people can definitely see me. I wonder about HID occasionally, but also wonder if that would be TOO loud. On the one hand, I'd rather blind/confuse cars than have them think they can catch/pass me when I don't think they can, conversely I wouldn't want to potentially blind bikers coming toward me on the trail.

Check out what's on sale at Performance. They have a few high powered systems on sale now. If you use the bikeforums link in this thread you can receive another 20% off. Not a bad deal, and BF get some money too.

At 15mph, getting two cateye el500's or similar lights with 1 watt luxeon LED's would work for you on a black path. The cool part would be that you look more like a vehicle with 2 bright white headlamps and if one fails, you have a backup.

Tack on an energizer recharger with 4 extra AA's that charge in 15 minutes flat and you have yourself a good package for 130 or so.

You'll get like 7-8 hrs of usable light output.

Or any 10 watt halogen would work for you. My pick would be the single halogen light and motion systems. Good mounting system and connectors, nothing that looks kludgy or home made, reliable.

I have a Cateye EL320. My commute is on some decently lit streets as well as some unlit streets and the EL320 works great. I'm able to comfortably ride between 18 and 20 mph and have even gotten up to 30 mph on my commutes at night and still felt I was able to see fine.

You're able to see fine because the streets are lit. If it's an unlit MUP path, that dinky little LED isn't gonna cut it. In fact, 30mph = 44 ft/sec. I'd like to think at that speed, you can't even stop in 3 seconds but I'll give 3 seconds of warning anyway, which is 132ft.

The 3 LED's from the cateye el320 can barely light up a reflector from half a football field away, let alone let you know if the road is even there at that distance.