I dont get it... What's so great about LED lanterns?

It seems to me fluorescent lanterns are better in every concievable way than LED lanterns. Luxeon LED's 30-35 lm per watt vs 60-65 lm watt of a fluorescent tube. LED lanterns emit light light high in the blue and yellow spectrum but lack violet, cyan, and red. Fluorescent lanterns emit light in a broad spectrum with several spikes at certain colors. A standard 3 watt lantern emits 70 lm of light compared to 400 lm of a standard 7 watt fluorescent. LED lanterns emit beams with a LOT of artifacts, Fluorescents dont have ANY artifacts in thier beam. The bulb life of both are exceedingly long and unless you go camping every weekend you will never burn out a bulb or LED.

Now I can understand the biggest disadvantage of Fluorescents is they cant be focused into a beam, but when it comes to lanterns you dont need/want to throw the beam.

So why are so many ppl here jumping on those darn LED lanterns?

I agree with some of the hype of LED lanterns. The two main advantages are they are usually sturdier and not prone to tube damage/wear and run in cold temperatures sometimes down to battery levels flouros cannot even start up.
Personally I like CCFL based lights as they have about a 10k hour life and are robust and tiny and put out a nicer flood than LEDs can.
If you want to run at 2watts or more input flouros have the advantage but at currents less than that you are stuck with LED. The energizer 2LED lanterns can operate off 20ma or less current which a flouro wont work at (at least none you can find to buy).
I think a LED/flouro lantern combo is the best..... flouro for bright flood and LED for dim battery saving nightlight.

I like LED based lanterns because I camp/backpack.
1) Fluorescent tubes break (okay not easily but I've done it <sigh>)
2) An LED will still light up in cold weather.
3) An LED lantern is (usually) much smaller and lighter

On the other hand my friend has a spiral tube, rechargable, fluorescent lantern that has a little LED "night light" on the side. What a great Car Camping accessory.

I don't own any of either...

LED lanterns don't need ballasts or high-voltage parts - making them bit simpler, electrically. I suspect that floro efficieincy is a bit lower than quoted when you look at the ballast, but no argument that they put out more light per watt than LEDs.

I agree. Sure an led light pointed at the celling when the power is out puts out some light and good run time, but I bought one of those RR lanturns and it wasnt that bright in relation to a fluorescent lanturn. I returned mines.

If you want a real lantern, get a gas one. No problem with the cold and runtime is very long, esp on low. I guess that's what you get when you put a wick on a bomb.

YEAH, YEAH, YEAH, FIRE, FIRE, FIRE, ARR, ARR, ARRHH (in my best beavis and butthead voice).

Thanks, I think I will look at those next time in taget in the camping section. This time of year, I may be huddled around something like that for heat and light. 1500 people yesterday lost gas for a day when the pressure in the area was low and for some reason they shut it off.

those "i"s and "u"s are very close on the keyboard.

Gas is nice, indoors maybe not the best idea, but they really don't throw off a lot of CO, just use up your O2.

I also think LED lanterns have the upper hand in the "geek appeal" category.

I also vote for LEDs. While a CFL can out out more light, the darned thing is sensitivie to low temperatures and there's a really good chance that you'll be stuck without light if you drop it on a hard surface. For me the ruggedness makes up for the lower efficiency; my main criteria is that it's gotta work.

Gas always works. And it has "man's man" appeal, no "geek" appeal since you're lighting up a bomb that could blow up your whole block.

I've never used a gas lantern so I wouldn't know. Although the thought of a lantern that produces some heat would be appealing on a chilly night.

In my experience, gas lanterns require a great deal of "tuning" while in use. Nevermind the maintenance and consumables. They do run for a long time and don't care so much about low temperatures ... not quite so robust as floro lanterns or LED lanterns, however - and more dangerous. Be interesting to know if they're any more efficieint - white gas is certainly rather energetic per unit volume relative to batteries.

One thing I haven't seen is that the LEDs usually have a lower LOW output.

This leads to a lot longer run time for those situations where the low light level is enough (move aroud tent or house after power outtage.

I use my LED one a LOT due to the low light level and run time. I hardly use my CFL or gas lanterns anymore.

wwglen

What if the CCFL tube were suspended by shock absorbing springs inside a polycarbonate tube? Wouldnt that certainly increase the lights durrability? As far as being too cold... How cold is too cold for a CCFL tube?

get a petromax kerosene lantern

no tuning at all

CCFL tubes are fairly robust. The ones in my arcwhite and coleman micro flourescent lights can take a beating and it would take a hard drop on a concrete floor that would probably break the whole light to hurt them. I yanked one out of a doublebright and one out of a coleman micro flouro and haven't broken them yet. I haven't tried them in the cold but my bet is they are a little better than standard flouros in the cold and the smaller size means you can pocket them to keep them warm for short uses.
If it was any colder a gas powered lantern would probably be good. Most folks don't use area lights out in the cold long anyways but rather indoors.

Hello Jashhash,

I took my Energizer 4D folding lantern on a car camping trip. The temperature was in the lower 30's F. In the dark, I could tell that it was on, but would not call the amount of light coming from it as useful...

Tom

Im ready to start experimenting with some CCFL. Anyone know of a cheap source for a 4-7 watt CCFL flashlight?

Over here in sweden where the temperatures most times in winter is between 0 and -15 celcius (32 - 5 degrees Farenheit CCFL lanterns isnt so nice, they cant light up to any useful amount of light. My Led-Lenser V2 Triplex lights up even if it is under -25 degrees celsius (-13 F) with no problem (and yes, i did try that last year).