LED lights revolutionised cycling here in the UK. Back when I started you'd go through 4 D cells a week. And the incandescent bulb was shit. Utter, utter shit.

Then about 20 years ago LEDs came on the scene and suddenly drivers could see you. And I know they saw me because they'd lose their marbles over the light (I always checked my angle/brightness with my brother sat over the bike - if Icouldnt see his body/arms I knew I'd be in trouble). Hilarious that drivers here moan about unlit riders (still many) yet they crawl over the line into the bike box to shout at the lit riders..

USB recharging as made bike lights even better. The LEDs made the light last 10-20 hours. The lithium gave you 2-3 weeks of riding in some cases with no loss of light.

If you're on an unlit bike path (most around heredont have street lights) then yeah, you do need those lumens. But the issue isnt the lumens, its those with helmet lights shining them into others eyes. Or badly positioned lights. Or buying Magic Shine off-road lights from ebay/amazon etc and expecting those to be suitable.