I have had the same questions and quests....which is better...head lamp or hand held.
I jumped in and bought a Fenix H-21. At 97-100 lumens it's great. They come with a flip-up defuser(actually its a slip-on). The lamp with the defuser down is great big lit area without the single spot or beam. 100 lumens on high lights up quite a walk path. With the defuser flipped up , there's another story. The beam is awesome ! Easilly 100 yrds identifiable targets(people,paths,edge of road,etc). More distance is in specs but I have never had the need for anything over 100 yds, and that was only to see where the dog ran away to and what it was chasing. I bought also a Fenix E-21 hand held...max @ 154 lumens. This I put under the barrel of my shotgun. Porkys are hard enough to see at 11:00 night with the dog running them thru the brush. I have no problem seeing them/shooting them with real accuracy from light.
Realistically, I would recommend investing in a good battery charger with AC & DC adapter. NimH batterys will come into store sales more often than lithium and they are to be trusted. I went with the Radio Shack type (34.99)that holds up to 12 batteries at once but will also charge AA, AAA, Square, C cells at the same time. Spend your money just once that way. IMO !!