As far as I remember the shooting rock with phaser thing was more about having a source of heat, as not to freeze to death.

I can see the communicator on the chest being used as a flashlight with the powerful LED we have today.

But 90s TV show prop departments would probably have had one hell of a time trying to make that work, and practical, so instead they gave everybody futuristic looking flashlights aka "palm beacons" [0]

[0] https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Palm_beacon