Just bought my 1st commuter bike (Charge Zester hybrid) and have just bought a nice bright HiViz jacket but some front and rear lights.

Been looking at the various online shops and a few LBS but seems like a minefield (all the shops recommend what they have in stock rather than what might be best for my needs).

My commute is 13 miles each way almost completely on road (mixture of quite A and B roads), would prefer rechargeable (USB seems an option) but some normal rear lights seem to last for ages on ordinary batteries.

My mate likes his Niterider Cherrybomb, don’t know if the 1w is worth it over the 0.5w and not convinced by the quality of the clamp/fitting.

Some Lezyne front lights look nice with decent discounts at the moment but some bad reviews about the batteries.

Budget probably £50ish for both but could spend more for the right lights.

I use a nitrider minewt for commutting, ride every day all year round, it’s about 250-300 lumens I guess, but more than bright enough for a and b roads and unlit country lanes, usb recharge and easy fit, had mine for 4 years now and still as good as new, waterproof and good battery life, charge every couple of days.
Do about 20-25 miles a day.
For the rear just have 2 generic cateye lights, both run on aaa batteries, change about twice a year.
Imo buy a decent front light which you cam usb charge off work computer, cheap to leave a cable at work and home so battery is always charged.
Rear lights with batteries last for ages, if you have two cheap ones even if one goes the other will be working.
Also recommend getting lots of reflective tape and taping your rear stays, mudguards, aide of forks etc, you can get it in any colour so you will not see it on the frame but as soon as a light hits it you light up like a Christmas tree, much more effective than lights sometimes.

Cateye EL620 for the front and a Rapid 1 for the back. Both charge from USB. AAA cateye lights are fine too and I commute with two rear lights in case one fails.

I like Smart’s lights, they’re a good combination of bright yet large, and not generally too expensive. Also beltclippable, which is handy for some fitments (on a rucksack frinstance)

More the merrier tbh, I’ve got a cateye grenade thing which is good but I reckon 2 decent but cheaper lights works better than one expensive light.