Two problems here . Thinking that one light is all you need or want . This thinking keeps people from extra batteries or multiple lights .
Reading between the lines here ought to show you that the people you are asking all have many lights . The reason they do isn’t because they are stupid and you could get around the inevitable.
I’ve always held that anyone looking for solutions to the darkness of night need to arm themselves with about 7 basic lights .
#1 a headlamp . The fact it can be used as a lantern , headlamp and a torch make it the most obvious choice . I like a D-10 Boruit or Sofirns D25L version of it
Great 15$ headlamp
#2 a keychain light because it’s almost always with you . Because it’s such a small item it seems like it ought to be an easy choice but I’ve found it to be one of the harder lights to figure out . my suggestion is a small plastic rovyvon clone. Again … about 12 bucks.
#3 a small, 18650 light. Something as small as possible lightweight pocketable , simple nothing any bigger than your basic Convoy S2+ …preferably something smaller $ 20
#4 a thrower… Something to throw a thin beam 500meters. Doesn’t need to be overly complicated a Convoy C8’s with a nice Nichia 519a hi cri emitter $22 .
#5 something chunky like a Q8 . Multiple batteries multiple emitters . Long runtime lots of flood . Add a styrofoam cup and forget about ever needing to buy a “ true lantern . $$$ not cheap and probably the most unnecessary.
#6 An EDC …something very pocketable to play with . Wurkkos TS10 . Andruil , aux lights ,hi cri … what’s not to love . $20
#7 …. A aaa ? A aaa worm or a aaa tool , a c01s. ???