I know you mentioned AA, but I'd throw in another vote for the USB ones. It really feels like a lot of the innovation in bike lights has happened with the rechargeables... My solution to the charging was that I ran an extension cable such that it was dangling over where we park the bikes in the garage, and put a dual-port USB charger in it with the cables dangling, so we could just immediately plug in our bike lights (on one bike) as soon as we got home. Worked really well. The USB lights are really, really good, and the prices are fine.
I use the cygolites:
Rear - Cygolite HotShot ($20):
affiliate link and
non-affiliate Front - Cygolite Dash ($46):
affiliate link and
non-affiliate (Or as a
combo for 60 - note that I found them on jet.com cheaper once!)
There are a ton of rear blinkies that work well; this one is just another. The front, though, I really love - it's got a daytime super-blink mode that's *very* eye-catching, and I've found anecdotally that it was good for reducing the number of cars that tried to turn right in front of me and cut me off. Just don't use the daytime mode at night. :) Both of these are pretty small and light.
The rear lasts > 1 week without recharging with an hour of use daily. The front tends to need to be recharged a bit more often.
(From the "I forget to charge them" perspective, the little on-button starts to blink at you when the battery is getting low on the front light, so at least there's that reminder to help.)
We also use the "leg shield" (used to be owl band) ankle band/reflectors. They're good for side visibility, because they're constantly moving.
Note that there a previous MMM thread in the recommendations section that has a bunch of options listed:
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/reader-recommendations/discuss-your-bike-bike-lights-tires-fenders-racks-and-panniers/Happy biking!
