Front light is a Hope 2 LED with rechargeable battery
Rear is a Dinotte 400R Taillight. Yes the Hope is bright especially on it’s brightest mode but is fantastic in areas with no street lighting and as far as blinding anyone, probably best not to stare at it, you wouldn’t do it to a car so don’t do it here. The Dinotte is also very bright on it’s brightest setting, you can be seen about 3kms away in daylight, again not wise to stare at this. I also have a set of Pedalite pedals with toe clips, these are great because they also give you side illumination and have no batteries.

This has cost me a small fortune as I also opted for extra batteries with both front and rears. I justify this cost because if I lost any work from being knocked off I’d really be out of pocket, I’m the sole earner in my household, not to mention the possible injury, it really is no contest.

This all sounds very obnoxious in terms of light out put, but the point is to be seen and when riding in a busy city centre, with all the drunks, cabbies, mopeds, buses and urban 4×4 drivers you need all the help you can get, safety is first at ALL times. To strengthen my point further, I get at least one driver a month stop me at lights to say how useful it was to be able to see me at distance and really have a presence on the road. This is probably due to some of the so-called urban cyclists you can’t see at night, no lights, all in black and riding like idiots. You cannot put a price on your life, please don’t be a statistic get illuminated.

I had an after-image of a cyclist’s lights for 5 minutes in Oxford street last month. Not very safe.

I have a £1 torch from poundsavers ziptied on my bike, next to the fitting for a £30 light which I will keep for if it fails, and every bit as good, and if/when a yob pinches it, well it was only £1!

Modern dynohub lighting on the other hand is reliable and very bright. We’re not talking old bottle generator lights here (though the Busch & Muller bottle generator is a good choice today).

Generator systems are chosen by significant percentage of marathon cyclists who require failsafe lighting … and, believe me, are not interested in being slowed down by inefficient technology. The best in this area is Schmidt of Germany. Refer to the link I provided above.

I encourage you to research the subject in depth.

No, I haven’t tried the Fenix, looks nice though. I bought the Hope because at £72 and 240 lumens it gives the best ‘bang for the buck’. The one down-side to the Hope is that there is no low battery warning, it simply dies when it runs out of juice so a backup light is a must! This aside it is very well made, from machined alloy, and very bright.

Just because there are streets lights around does not necessarily mean that car drivers will be able to see you. You need a strong light that can be seen from a distance and I’m afraid that a feeble little flickering led does not cut the mustard.

I ride with two lights on the rear, one flashing and one static and the same up front.

As an aside your review stated that the Hope Vision 1 has two power modes. It has four, minimum, normal, high and maximum plus flashing.