Best 2 / 3 AA thrower ?

Sipik SK-68 with the multi-AA battery tube extension, but that's going to be a very pencil-beam thrower.

A possible option is the Fandy-Fire Rook, which looks interesting (I don't have one) but it has to be driven from 14500s to really shine. It looks like a reflector close to a C8 and will run from AA cells and 14500s, but is underdriven on AAs.

http://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10000630/1057500-fandyfire-rook-cree-xm-l-t6-635lm-3-mode-white-lig

This SAiK SA-305 is definitely a thrower with a focused beam. I had one briefly but sold it as I really didn't care for the form factor, plastic reflector, and next-mode memory. An emitter replacement and a driver update would probably make it a lot better light: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/9376; and Old-Lumens mod of thi slight here: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/9421