My configuration is fine. The vanilla lighting is just not that dark. If I recall correctly, I even turned it down some.

wait, did the OP just say Unarmed is not Viable? a Khajiit, wielding Heavy Gauntlets with the Enchant on them from the Gloves of the Pugilist, along with Fists of Steel is very viable.. plus if you are also a Vamp Lord with the Poison Talons perk, it can be quite powerful

to answer the OP though, I used Night-eye quite a bit.. i rarely used the other races powers

I think you meant to say Imperial instead of Khajiit.

yeah, as much as I love the Imperials, their racial abilities are probably among the worst in Skyrim. (in Oblivion though, they had some decent abilities.. Voice of the Emperor and Star of the West)

For me it is very dark. At first it was too light even all the way down. That changed as soon as I set up my laptop display correctly.

If I use any lighting mods it would be way too dark even in broad daylight.