LED Lanterns

[Brentbba]

I know a better place for this is in Camping Equipment and I've searched there and over on Expo without much real success. Mostly about LED headlamps.

I'm looking for a bright LED table lantern - enough for an old man to read by in a tent. I currently have a good led headlamp and a small Black Diamond table lantern that's good enough for ambient light in the tent to see, but not read with.

Regular lanterns in a tent, and now a great Springbar canvas tent are, and always have been out of the question for me personally because of the fire hazard!

Anyone run accross a decent one. Coleman has an 8 D battery LED that puts out 580 lumens and that's all I've found so far with decent output in my limited time to research so far.

Post up your findings, pros and cons.

 

[Dan2722]

Here is a link to the one I use. It is the florescent instead of LED so it may not be as easy on the eyes but it throws out a lot of light and the battery's last a long time. One thing that I really like is that the top half collapses into the bottom making for a small package. I switched to this after years of pumping up the old gas lantern and love it for it's convienence and no fire hazard.

They also sell the same lantern in an LED for about $10 more.

Coleman - 8D Square Pack-Away Full Size Lantern - Green -

 

[fjc8871]

Was able to use one of these at SnT. It's a Coleman quad LED lantern. Basicallly, the lantern turns into 4 smaller lanterns. Pretty cool.

 

[Newps]

Brent I think you want one of these. Talk with Dave about them, he's been using them for a while.

Amazon.com: Goal0 24001 Light-A-Life: Automotive

 

[Brentbba]

Here's the one from Coleman I found. Over twice the lumens of either of these two lanterns. 580 vs 190. Advertised as Coleman's brightest per their site.

Coleman - Twin High Power LED Lantern -

 

[Newps]

Damm that thing is not cheap.

 

[JOHNWOHN]

Damm that thing is not cheap.

Plus Batteries

 

[Bluetribal]

Was able to use one of these at SnT. It's a Coleman quad LED lantern. Basicallly, the lantern turns into 4 smaller lanterns. Pretty cool.

That is GENIUS! I like that. They offer a dual one as well as this quad. Eliminates needing to carry your own flashlight when you leave the group.

 

[Brentbba]

Damm that thing is not cheap.

$70 MSRP? ...and I thought I was a cheap f SOB!

 

[SOCALFJ]

I would see if there's something that's rechargeable.. or see if you can use a cig plug near your 80?... buying batteries for a lantern would get old after a while.

 

[mkfour]

I just made my own out of some high power LED's. I was kind of disappointed in the lack of illumination, color, and beam pattern. So I simply bought some LED's, wired them up and run them off a 12 V socket. In the tent (Springbar) I bring along a Powersonic 12 V 7 Ah battery that can run the LEDs plus other stuff, and can be recharged through the starting battery.

 

[car-car]

I would see if there's something that's rechargeable.. or see if you can use a cig plug near your 80?... buying batteries for a lantern would get old after a while.

Rechargeable is nice. We've had a few trips where we charge it up on the road between camps.

I have this one. It isn't super bright, but it was a gift and it gets the job done. It has two bulbs, but honestly, there isn't any material improvement whether I use one or two bulbs, so I just run one to conserve power. This was one of their earlier generations, so some of the newer ones are probably better and brighter.

 

[fjc8871]

***Update. These take 8 D batteries. You can find rechargeable D batteries. The 4 individual lanterns come with 3 AAA rechargeable batteries each. The D batteries charge the AAA.

 

[Bluetribal]

***Update. These take 8 D batteries. You can find rechargeable D batteries. The 4 individual lanterns come with 3 AAA rechargeable batteries each. The D batteries charge the AAA.

LAME! That is way too many batteries. I wish that the dock could be a large lithium battery like you have on drills. That would kick A$$.

 

[fjc8871]

LAME! That is way too many batteries. I wish that the dock could be a large lithium battery like you have on drills. That would kick A$$.

I know D batteries in anything suck. Now if Milwaukee or DeWalt came out with one like this that would be bad a$$.

 

[ScottyDog]

Get a dewalt 18V. Rechargable Li-ion battery packs that are interchangable with the the cordless drills, impacts, etc..

The flashlight (FLOODLIGHT) that came with my drill, impact, sawzall combo is the brightest light I've owned...

Scott

 

[fjc8871]

Get a dewalt 18V. Rechargable Li-ion battery packs that are interchangable with the the cordless drills, impacts, etc..

The flashlight (FLOODLIGHT) that came with my drill, impact, sawzall combo is the brightest light I've owned...

Scott

Right on Scott!

 

[Bluetribal]

Yeah, I have a light with my Hitachi impact & drill kit but the four light deal would be the best.

 

[Brentbba]

FAWK - that quad lantern is even more expensive at $80.

 

[Newps]

FAWK - that quad lantern is even more expensive at $80.

I thought that was nothing for you Mr. Fancy pants?