Bright and small lantern

I am looking for a lattern that is bright and small enough that I can take backpacking .My budget is 40.00 and I would like it to run off AA'S or Cr123 .Any ideas and where to get it would be great .Thanks Matt

The River Rock lantern from Target first comes to mind. Its bight, its small, it runs on 4AA's. And its $19.99

Another excellent choice is the Osram Golden Dragon, available here on cpf in the "Group Buys" forum for $30-35 from various people who have ordered large lots of them from overseas (they are not available for sale retail in the US). The Osram is not quite as bright, but has a MUCH smoother output than the River Rock and has a low setting for really long run times. The River Rock has instead a strobe setting but I don't see much use for this. The Osram is slightly smaller and weighs 216 g to the River Rock's 265 grams (both with 4 AA alkaline batteries). If you use lithium AA batteries either lantern will be lighter, brighter, and last longer between batteries, but they cost significantly more.

I use the strobe on my River Rock lantern. I have the Osram to but its is the RR that I take with me for walks with my 2 1/2 year old daughter. Where I live (Atlanta) we don't have sidewalks, so I use the strobe when vehicles aproach. I notice drivers tend to slow down more with the strobe rather than a steady beam.

I vote for the River Rock lantern from Target.
Great tool, and nice to have a few around the house for power outages.

I couldn't decide so I have 5 of each - in the true spirit of CPF...buy them both!

Like BVH said—Both. But if the GDOs aren't readily available, the River Rock Design 1.5W LED Lanterns are and I have four (4) of them! And in the words of Tony the Tiger. . ."T*.* G*.*!"

I can't find the River Rock lantern at target.com. Anybody know if this is available somewhere else... maybe under another name?

Hello DocSound and Welcome to CPF!

They are primarily available within the flashlights aisle section but not the one where they have the camping gear. From time-to-time they tend to run out but do re-stock them. You may want to check different Target locations or call ahead. Hope you find what you're looking for and Enjoy!

As said above, make sure you go to the flashlight section at Target. I went to one Target, found the lantern section (in camping and had many Colemans) and left because the RR wasn't there. Tonight I found it when I stumbled upon the flashlights in a different Target.

Nice little light. I bought two. It is really little though. I was surprised.

It is plenty bright in a dark room or tent, but I didn't find it to be outrageously bright by any means.

BVH said:

I couldn't decide so I have 5 of each - in the true spirit of CPF...buy them both!

Click to expand...

BVH- now that's funny!!!! No doubt- buy em' both.