It is further hampered by planned obsolescence and the increasingly fast pace that new products are released at. It is very difficult and expensive to maintain actual experience with everything in a product space.
It can't be crowd sourced either because most people are overly attached to their purchases and can't give objective comparisons between something they don't own.
Review sites mostly have various conflicts of interest but the best ones seem to manage them reasonably.
It's not perfect. I'd have liked to see a recommendation for something more powerful with an 18650 battery and USB charging and perhaps something more pocket-friendly. They only mention color temperature briefly, while I consider it important (most people prefer neutral white after trying it outdoors). 2xAA is not a battery configuration I'm fond of. All that aside, these aren't bad recommendations. Maybe the Maglite is a little questionable, but you could do worse.
https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-flashlight/
Outdoor Gear Lab on the other hand did a terrible job - so bad that they pulled their article after it got an extremely negative reaction on /r/flashlight.