Current best LED lantern?

[PCC]

Hey Sgt, you need to go over to homemade and modified lights and checkout my modded rayovac. The results were good.

If you don't mind my asking, can you post a link? I tried searching for this both using the search function here and searching manually and could not find your post. Thanks!

 

[Cydonia]

Current best LED lantern is... the one you build!
Good idea f22shift, a nice stainless steel funnel would be an interesting reflector. Local plastic sheet shops sell clear acrylic pipe in all diameters... sold by the foot... might be $20, but wow, this stuff is 1/4 thick and super strong. Could make 2 or 3 lantern out of a 1' piece. Black PVC pipe fitting caps or a PVC toilet coupling as a base... bulletproof and cheap compared to the flimsy plastic lanterns available. One drop and those brittle things are toast

 

[electrothump]

The Rayovac Sportsmen Xtreme LED lantern (SE3DLN) is my current pick for the best LED lantern out there.

• It runs off of three D cells for extended use
• Gives off a good deal of light, the brightest LED lantern I own (I have about 10 others to compare it against)
• Has a high and low mode (low mode appears to be PWM though but it is at a high frequency)
• Has a very good diffuser which removes the piercing glare factor of the other bright LED lanterns like the Coleman's
• It is compact and can be hung from either the top or bottom of the unit. The globe can be removed when hung upside down.
• Good white light though I wish it were warmer in color.

I have the same one. I like it pretty well. I picked up a Coast that was on sale today at Lowes. It's not as bright as the ROV, but I do like the dimmer function. Time will tell which I like the best.

 

[electrothump]

I must admit, I do not like the smell of that cheap China rubber on the Coast lantern. Why does that stuff smell like that? Years ago, the rubber that came from India had the same smell.

 

[Cyclops942]

Grab your Mag-LED (3D, 4D or 3AAA) and unscrew the head. Makes a pretty darn good lantern. Plus, the 3AAA lets you actually use the head as a stand for the rod of the flashlight, so it's more stable.

It's not the sexiest solution, but it works pretty well.

Oh, yeah... if you have a modded Mag (this is CPF, after all), it'll be even brighter than the stock versions.

 

[Sgt. LED]

Rayovac Sportman Extreme LED Lantern

Get one of these! Super easy mod but it is not really NEEDING a mod IMO. I did mod mine but it was just to play with it and to warm up the tint. :thumbsup:

 

[rushnrockt]

If you don't mind my asking, can you post a link? I tried searching for this both using the search function here and searching manually and could not find your post. Thanks!

http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=208889

 

[PCC]

Thanks! I guess when I did the manual search I was looking in the wrong place (here in the Lanterns section, not the Home made and modified lights section).

 

[Minni]

The Rayovac Sportsmen Xtreme LED lantern (SE3DLN) is my current pick for the best LED lantern out there.

• It runs off of three D cells for extended use
• Gives off a good deal of light, the brightest LED lantern I own (I have about 10 others to compare it against)
• Has a high and low mode (low mode appears to be PWM though but it is at a high frequency)
• Has a very good diffuser which removes the piercing glare factor of the other bright LED lanterns like the Coleman's
• It is compact and can be hung from either the top or bottom of the unit. The globe can be removed when hung upside down.
• Good white light though I wish it were warmer in color.

I have an Energizer WeatherReady lantern that has a xenon incan, three LEDs, and an amber LED - choose one. The incan is supposed to be the brightest of the three choices, but I don't see that much difference between it and the three LEDs. The amber LED is supposed to be a night light type of thing. All this runs on three (3) D cells. It also comes with a little sqweeze light built in to the top. I have used it through a couple of power outages and found it works great. If you are close to it there is enough light to read by, and it lights up the whole room well enough to be able to get around and find things.

Questions:

1. Which of the above emit less plastic toxins? Rayovac? Energizer?
2. I understand the Energizer runs for 500 hours on 3 D's (low? or high?) Vs. the Rayovac's 150 Hours On Low, 72 Hours on High

Thanks for any info.

 

[electrothump]

Rayovac Sportman Extreme LED Lantern

Get one of these! Super easy mod but it is not really NEEDING a mod IMO. I did mod mine but it was just to play with it and to warm up the tint. :thumbsup:

I have one. As I was looking at it yesterday, I thought it looked like it would be easy to mod. What did you put in yours? How much difference did it make?

 

[Sgt. LED]

I put in a nice warm K2 TFFC. It got 15% brighter and I think it was a huge improvement in tint.

I will post a pic of the mod, give me a minute or 2.

 

[electrothump]

I put in a nice warm K2 TFFC. It got 15% brighter and I think it was a huge improvement in tint.

I will post a pic of the mod, give me a minute or 2.

Take your time. What type leds are in these?

 

[Sgt. LED]

I don't know what those 3 were. They looked like Golden Dragon's to me, or their predecessor maybe? They were blue/cool for sure.

Here is what I did to it.

Closer

CLOSER

Here it is on low.........It looks quite a bit brighter in person. Having the light source in the frame made the camera step down the brightness.

 

[MorePower]

What type leds are in these?

Nichia 1W LEDs, likely Gaia series. (possibly NS6W083A)

 

[Minni]

Anyone know the answers to my recent followup Qs?
Here:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/2795523&postcount=29

If so, can you please PM me
(only if you know the answers).

emphasis on PM,

otherwise I'll keep getting eNotifications in my Inbox which don't provide the answers I seek, since I'm only interested in LED lanterns operating on D-batteries
which run many hours, and non-toxic-plastic.

BTW, prior to this post, I'd already tried Yahoo Answers twice, but no answers to the point, if at all. It's really weird, cuz I'd have thought more people would be desperate to be prepared with emergency lanterns that run many hours, and which you don't have to remember to babysit due to recharging.

 

[filibuster]

Anyone know the answers to my recent followup Qs?
Here:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/2795523&postcount=29

If so, can you please PM me
(only if you know the answers).

emphasis on PM,

otherwise I'll keep getting eNotifications in my Inbox which don't provide the answers I seek, since I'm only interested in LED lanterns operating on D-batteries
which run many hours, and non-toxic-plastic.

BTW, prior to this post, I'd already tried Yahoo Answers twice, but no answers to the point, if at all. It's really weird, cuz I'd have thought more people would be desperate to be prepared with emergency lanterns that run many hours, and which you don't have to remember to babysit due to recharging.

Minni, I should preface this that honestly I don't know or can't verify the answer to the the toxic question other than to make this observation.

The Energizer uses LED's that are likely to run cooler than the LED's in the Rayovac and for that reason the heat build up would have less effect on the plastic that surrounds the LED which should cause less out gassing of the plastic if any happens at all.

In other words less heat, less potential problem with plastic fumes. The Rayovac however, has a good sized heatsink (which the energizer doesn't have) which could keep the temps low enough to not cause any problems either.

The runtime of the Energizer is longer too, partly because of the extra D cell battery. The Energizer uses 4 instead of 3 like the Rayovac and partly because the 8 LED's it has uses less power. The rated 245 hours may still be pushing it even on low and the 500 hour rating you mentioned I've not heard before but maybe the runtime using the little amber night light LED that it has included. Though I have both the Energizer and Rayovac lantern I can't verify the runtime numbers other than to say they both last a long time from my personal experience.

I prefer the Rayovac because it is a little brighter, feels a more solid and is more sturdy because the center of gravity is lower on it.

That's my 2 cents, for what it's worth.

BTW, I tried to PM you but got a notice "Minni has chosen not to receive private messages or may not be allowed to receive private messages. Therefore you may not send your message to him/her."

 

[Minni]

Filibuster, thanks a million for your thorough response, covering both the Energizer & Rayovac lanterns. It's exactly what I was looking for.


Sorry for the delayed response
(I was nursing a sore throat for weeks & computer radiation worsens my soreness.

 

[Cydonia]

Some plastics use flame retardant in them. The small fans found inside computers often impart a foul bitter odor to the air. They effectively contaminate all the air that passes through them. No small thing...

I have had plastic electronic project boxes that smelled so bad I had to throw them away. The intense acrid odor of the flame retardant chemicals leaves a bitter taste on your tongue. Just from breathing the air. Do a google search on the flame retardant that has been banned etc., the worst one of all are mattresses that you sleep on. Needless to say, I don't own a mattress. For the sake of smokers who might set themselves alight from a cigarette butt - we all have to be exposed to the flame retardant chemicals they are saturated with. Insidious. I sympathize with Minni even if the computer radiation thing sounds a bit odd...

 

[Minni]

First in response to Cydonia:
Yes, I've long been aware of plastic toxins in computers, but "light radiation" is a major issue as well. i.e. there are people who have issues even from viewing lit-up screens from across the room, such as using a projector instead of a monitor, and I speculate that's because the over-exposure to close-up radiation programmed their immune system to consider "light" as an "enemy" even when it's far away.
I'll try PMing you with a link.

Attn: Filibuster

Update - I just bought the Energizer 500-hour LED area light at a local Walmart for $17.

Because of the plastic construction, I found it hard to unscrew & replace the battery housing.

NOTE: it's not 4 batteries, but rather 3 "D" batteries.

What I like:
That it's not too ultra-bright - otherwise the radiation from the Krypton & the LED might zap me due to my sensitivity.

Weirdly, the "low" setting (which is the LEDs) is nearly as bright as the "high" (Krypton) setting, which offers a warmer colored light.

I only wish that the LEDs would be a tiny drop brighter and warm color. Because after all, it's the LED setting that "supposedly" runs for 500 hrs, but the warm colored Krypton I find more tolerable.

The Energizer company also should not have omitted how long it runs on the Krypton setting. But go fight city hall.

P.S. I think the CEO's of the world are in a conspiracy to deliberately zap peoples' health via lighting unnaturally tinted toward the blue side which cause headache, nausea & dizziness. (Nurses exposed to blue light in neonatal wards for jaundiced infants experienced those symptoms)

 

[balou]

P.S. I think the CEO's of the world are in a conspiracy to deliberately zap peoples' health via lighting unnaturally tinted toward the blue side which cause headache, nausea & dizziness. (Nurses exposed to blue light in neonatal wards for jaundiced infants experienced those symptoms)

Yeah right :ironic:
Cool white LEDs are just cheaper, brighter, and more available. That's it. All commercial LED flashlights have cool white LEDs, save for a few custom builds here on CPF. It's a purely economic decision - no Freemasons involved.

And by the way, the FCC makes sure that no computer sold in the USA emits any amount of radiation that might even have a remote influence on people's health.