I took receipt of two of these today, fresh off the boat (plane?) from Australia.
My thoughts:
Most of the modern Coleman LED lanterns fail to impress me. The build quality is very shoddy and one model I checked out in the store, I think it was a "Rugged" model, felt so cheap I thought the battery compartment/lid might fall apart in my hand. This lantern is built better than that, but, not night and day better.
The output selector switch on the "Rugged" model felt exceedingly flimsy. The output selector switch on this model is better, but, again, not by a tremendous amount. I firmly believe low should have been placed next to the "OFF" position so that the user would go to low first to conserve battery life rather than jump straight to high.
The difference between low and high is noticeable, but, not huge.
Now, for the important part, the
beam quality and
tint!
The tint is simply outstanding. I wouldn't quite call it warm but I wouldn't quite call it neutral; if all my flashlights had this tint, I think I would be quite pleased! It (the one out of the two I tested) has absolutely no blue or green, but, I wouldn't
quite call it yellow either, maybe 80% white with a "just right"
hint of yellow.
As far as glare goes, the outside diffuser does a pretty good job of cutting back the glare, but, it isn't perfect.
I remember one CPF'er stating that he/she preferred ceiling bounce because inevitably, with lanterns, your eye gets drawn to the light,
and *POOF*, there goes any night vision you might have acquired.
I have to say that the 5mm(?) yellow LEDs in the special nightlight mode are simply outstanding. They are absolutely yellow/amber, no doubt about it. It takes maybe five to eight minutes for your eyes to adjust, and then, you can navigate a dark room using just those yellow/amber LEDs. Waking up in the middle of the night to use the restroom/shower, you could definitely get around with them.
Additional Musings:
The battery compartment strikes me as being needlessly complicated, though that is the tradeoff for being able to use their rechargeable battery pack, which gets largely panned in online reviews. I fear the outer plastic globe will get easily scratched unless the lantern is babied. I wish it had an external jack for a separate battery.
Was it worth importing from Australia? I would say "Yes." While not the definition of rock solid build quality, the mechanical, rotary selector switch doesn't have parasitic drain like an electronic switch does. With only resistors at play, there are no complicated electronics or drivers to fail. Given how hard it was to obtain this lantern (well, I mean, not especially "hard"...just pricey), I would hesitate to use it outside. I think I will probably get one modded to use a 6V/12V power source from outside the lantern, and keep one stock for "D" cell alkaline use. However, given that I just found a 6D Maglite with a special Malkoff ruined by leaking alkalines (my fault as I should have removed and discarded the cells years ago), I am hesitant to put/run alkalines in these lanterns.
Are there newer/more efficient LEDs/LED lanterns out there? Yes. Is it nice to get something and not have to mess with it? Absolutely! I still need to try the Bushnell lantern, and see how it compares with respect to tint, output, and glare, with tint/glare (or lack thereof) being more important to me than absolute output.
The final (and most important) question to me is
"How do I feel when sitting down in the living room bathed in the light from this lantern?"
And the answer is "Pretty darn good!"
