Lower Power Light

I like to ride at night with my dog. It's a slow pace, I've had joggers pass me. The only problem is having a good light for this. I have a NiteRider MiNewt X2 and even on the low setting (90 Lumens) is just too bright for slow sidewalk riding. I also have some "to be seen" lights. But these are too dim. They don't light up the sidewalk enough and being on the sidewalk, I don't think cars see me so well with such a low light output.

I would like to build something in between, maybe 60 or 70 lumen light and a bit tighter beam than the MiNewt. I might even be interested in building something with different settings. I would want this light to be battery operated.

I guess you don't get many low powered light questions. But what LEDs do you recommend? Get a high power LED and just limit the current? Is this possible for such a low power light? Any kind of simple circuits for different brightness settings?

I would like to recommend Cree XPE warm white P3:74lm P4:80lm Q2:88lm which could fulfill your requirements. The LED is driven by a 3 levels driver is more flixible.

I think the XPE P3 might do. Though the idea of a three lever driver sounds good also.

I have 2 recommendations. One would be a zoomable lens. As you zoom out, it widens and dims the beam while increasing the "be-seen" factor because the light's cone gets wider. There are several AA style lights that do this well with low lumes output. The second recommendation would be any light with variable brightness. In this way, you can dial in the appropriate light level depending on the state of your night vision.