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TYPE I PHASER

These are the small handheld ones we see in TOS and the beginning of TNG.

They have eight settings from stun to disintegrate, very useful. Known for their small profile and easily pocketable design, these guys are the earliest design we've seen on screen when it comes to phasers. They did not use power packs, and instead needed to be recharged. If yours died in the field or you forgot to plug it in, good luck.

Throughout their appearance they get little tweaks here and there. A version of them has a flip up visor for targeting, some coloring is changed between TOS and SNW, though they remain fairly consistent throughout all versions beyond general modernization.

I'm also going to tack on laser/phaser pistols into this section, as they really aren't used much. They're essentially a slightly more powerful version of type I phasers, useful for cutting through materials. You can see it a couple of times throughout TOS but it's a bit rare.

Pros and cons? It's a good weapon with a variety of uses. The settings can be used to heat up dinner or demolish the competition. Beyond that though, it's still limited in its ability to take out multiple opponents, it's easily lost, and when it's out of battery, you have no way to make it work again.

TYPE II PHASER

These are what most people think of when they think Star Trek phaser. They go through a lot of redesigns so I'm only attaching two here.

The first versions of them have type I phasers mounted on top, working as a kind of amplifier for the phaser. They're still limited by the two settings of stun and kill, but these guys have three settings to determine how narrow you want the beam.

Throughout time we see them mess with it. They slowly get a couple more settings to their beam strength, the width module is taken away, they get the ability to cut through materials, gain back changing the width of a beam, overloading is returned. All the way until the most common form of them that we know.

By the time we get them solidified into the second image attached, there is a get a massive update in their everything. The type I is moved inside, strength settings now range sixteen modules, from stun to vaporize, and we get the widest beam yet. We don't see it used a lot but it's incredibly beneficial when it is. They're a very solid utility weapon with a lot of uses throughout their run.

We now get a less gun-like design and a more ergonomic hold. They pack a much heavier punch than older options with improved cutting abilities, the strongest setting able to dust non-organic matter, and a very explosive overload setting that can take out a solid chunk of a ship.

I think of the weapons we get comprehensive knowledge on, this is the best one. A large variety of uses, strengths, an ability to be used as a battery pack but also swappable power cells, there's not many downsides.

As an aside, DIS does have different phasers post jump, however, we get very little information on them that I could find so I have not included anything on them.

PHASE RIFLE

Sometimes called Type III phasers. While we do see them in use a couple times throughout TOS and other shows, they're not used a whole lot until DS9 and VOY. They go through similar changes throughout time as their pistol counterpart, and this post is long enough already, so I'm not going to be overly-explainy.

These guys are nice, mostly.

They recharge entirely on their own when given enough time, though power packs are still needed for instances where you'll be firing repeatedly, like battle settings. They can lock on targets and be modified quite well. They've also generally now got an added strap for ease of carrying.

We actually get the most comprehensive explanation of these through Kira in DS9's 4x14 “Return to Grace” when she’s talking to Ziyal in comparing them to Cardassian rifles, which to paraphrase, she says are simple but effective and keep working no matter what you do to them. Here’s her on Federation rifles.

KIRA: [...] It’s a little less powerful but it’s got a lot more options. Sixteen beam settings, fully autonomous, recharge, multiple target acquisition, gyrostabilized, the works. It’s um, a little more complicated so it’s not as good a field weapon. Too many things can go wrong with it.

The gyroscopic stabilization doesn't.. make a ton of sense, as as far as we know the rifle barrels don't move. Maybe it's some kind of fancy thing in the future that's able to keep the shots on track. Unsure on that one.

Weapons being too complicated is a tale as old as time. Engineers are known for overengineering. I mean, German tanks were perfect precision instruments for WWII that broke down the moment they weren't on a parade route. I don't think phase rifles would have the same issue, but still. For a rebellion, the thing that you can throw off a cliff and still use is better than the technically better version that you need training to fix.