If I look back over it all; the most memorable cameras, my favourite cameras, the ones I would credit as 'best'... I never bought!!
Number 1; Olympus XA2 (Film)
Absolute Number 1, clear winner. Was an 11th birthday present. Diddy little thing, and genuinely point and press easy to use, yet relatively versatile, chucking out 35mm quality images that rivaled almost anything else on the market, and small enough to be in my pocket to be used when chance arose, thing went around the world with me for twenty years, and (replacement) still gets stuck in the pocket now, when even the DSLR is probably left at home. Its just SO pocket-able, so easy to use, and so undemanding. Even the batteries last years; its there, you can take a picture with it, and you aren't 'faffing' trying to find 'settings' or see what you have taken on a tiny back-screen after, or hunting for the cable to see on the 'puter, or looking for the battery charger or wondering if you remembered to charge it before you go out!
Number 2: Olympus OM10 (Film)
Again, a gift never bought. Actually a tough choice, I actually like the Sigma better (also never bought, that was a loft-find!); but that OM10 got the ball rolling, and far as 'getting-in-to' this photography lark with an SLR. More it was so point and press freindly with its electronic Auto-Exposure system, there was little you couldn't do with it, alternatives, and likely very much more expensive, alternatives would.
Number 3: Kodak C763 (Digital)
Yet another 'gift', and I think my 3rd digital camera.
With a built in 35-70 'equivalent' lens, even smaller and pocket-able than the XA2, but with Through-Taking-Lens back-screen composition, and a reasonably long lasting lith-ion rechargeable battery.. it both supported a lot of the claims for digital, that it would do 'anything' a film SLR could, but also highlighted a lot of the niggles with digital, like checking batteries, hunting cables, and Granny squinting at the back-screen asking "Well WHY cant you send me copies of the photos when they are developed?"
Three cameras, I own, I would rate as 'best' but not for any particular technical excellence or capability..... and I didn't pay for any one of them! Being pedantic on that point, that I had to 'buy' them, its actually hard to remember back to which of my cameras I ever did hand over money for!
Most obvious, would have to be the Nikon D3200, I bought, eventually, when the Kodak finally died! There was very little like the Kodak compact on the market as replacement, and with 'entry' level DSLR's falling into the same sort of price range, it was 'in for penny' reasoning that tipped the scales, to actually pry my wallet open... probably THE most expensive camera I have ever handed over cash money for...
Building a kit of lenses around it covering similar range to what I have for film cameras, it REALLY puts a crack in the idea that 'digital is cheap' when I have spent more on digital camera and lenses in the last five years than I have on all my old film cameras, the film to go in them, and even my own dark-room to try and keep processing costs in check, in the thirty odd before! Technically, it undoubtedly the most 'sophisticated' camera in the house.... but?
I have a little Adli action-cam, I did expend real cash money for. Far from the 'best' camera in the house; it's not even as technically sophisticated as some of the simpler compacts; but shows how subjective 'Best' can be... the Nikon may be a much 'better' camera... but I wouldn't try clamping it on the handlebar of my motorbike! For 'that' job the Aldi-Action-Cam is by far and away 'best'.
Define 'Best'... it's almost impossible, even for pretty specific applications, there's always a compromise.
Old truism was always that the 'best' camera was the one you had closest to hand when you wanted it.... on which basis the old XA2 has proved its worth time over time over the decades... but raises an interesting debate.
Camera I most often have to hand is the one in my mobile phone.... yet, I think I have taken less than a dozen pictures with it in the best part of half a decade! Mostly because it takes three minutes of prodding buttons in obscure menues to work the ruddy thing! The thing doesn't have particularly wonderful pixie resolution, or sensitivity range, and I'm left with swiss-army-knife jack-of-all trades sensation, that the 'phone as an entity may do a lot... but bludger all, particularly well! And have, for umpety decades of not having multi-function electronic gizmo ANYWHERE let alone in my pocket, got in the habbit of carrying something a little less compromised for doing other jobs... like the XA2 compact for taking pictures and an OS Map for working out where I am!
So it is an utterly subjective question, and depends a heck of a lot on what any-one thinks makes any camera 'better' than any other, in any particular situation.
One I get most simple 'pleasure' from, as hinted, is probably that 1972 Sigma Mk1 Richoch clone. Full leaf-blade metal shutter and all metal construction, the thing is a heavy brick to pick up; lenses screw in and off with a very slow, positive action that feels 'sturdy' and takes time, in which you can savor the sensation, like firing the shutter, which almost has a recoil like a gun, and a very mechanical 'Kerr-Chunk as springs and things make it move! It only has three knobs and dials, one for the shutter-speed, one for the aperture, one for the film-speed; similarly they are all metal and move with a distinct 'clunk' between detents and springs and plungers ect; and using film, more time still, to finish the roll, and bring it home, wind it onto a reel, and mix chemicals to develop it, before seeing negative images emerge from the mixture! Its so slow to operate, it makes you slow down, and take your time, and think about what you are doing, whilst you enjoy that 'engagement' of doing things and being involved in the process, not just point and press.
Does this make it 'best'? Does that make it 'better' than the Nikon or Aldi-Cam Electric-Picture-Makers, or even that beloved little 'point and press' XA2? Which, over almost four decades, has been by far and away my 'most used' camera... suggesting its probably the 'best' all rounder... but I never bought it! (or its replacements!) Lol!