A few years ago, heading South on the Alligator Pungo canal on one of those really dark, overcast nights,, I came upon a tug pushing a barge. Everything would've been fine had he left his GIANT spotlight off but he was running the freakin' thing continuously, obviously to light the way for him but completely ruining my night vision & situational awareness in the process. I had a 3-sided isinglass enclosure around the entire bridge area so the light was reflected every which way on the bridge & I literally couldn't see that was going on outside of the enclosure. The enclosure wasn't close to the helm so I had to leave the wheel to open it, all in the dark in a canal with a tug & barge bearing down on me. I finally gave up & hove to in the shallows on the side of the canal, all the time hoping that when he passed me the water he took with him wouldn't leave me on a stump. He never attempted to contact me to make me aware of his intentions. I have great respect for the commercial guys but I kind of felt like he had no regard for me at all. I made it through the canal unscathed that night but I still remember vividly the frustration/anger I had towards the inconsiderate use of the light.
That's my spotlight story & regarding my own travels at night, I keep watch of the radar 100% of the time and use the spotlight in short bursts to locate objects, like most others on here do. I'm too cheap but the new broadband radars are even better for running at night being able to paint targets right up to the bow of the boat & not get lost in the main bang which is a shortcoming of conventional radars. Having one of those would reduce my spotlight usage even more, I'm sure.
To the OP, Markprice, you are SO fortunate to have your wheelhouse configured like it is, with the pilot house windows angled like they are. That arrangement greatly reduces the reflected glare from onboard light sources like instruments, gauges, even others cell phones. I hate, HATE loosing my night vision and would love to have a boat with the inverted glass in the pilot house like yours.