LED area lights for camping/hiking?

Spordin

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Does anyone know of any good LED lamps for area lighting? Requirements: small, either AA or AAA (the fewer needed the better), long runtime. It would be great if it had some kind of a translucent light cover so you're not looking at a bare bulb all the time. Doesn't have to be a retina scorcher, just useful light output. Price is a bit of a consideration, but I'd be willing to spend $25-$30 for a nice design.
 

not2bright

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For $20 you can get one of the River Rock lanterns from Target. It is pretty nice for the price and is weather resistant, small, fairly lightweight, and efficient. On 4 AA's you'll get ~8.5 hours of light.

It does not have the translucent cover you are talking about. Many people simply put Glad Press-n-seal around the inside (or outside) of the globe. For a permenant frosting simply rub the inside of the globe with steel wool. Not sure why one would do this as the press-n-seal does just as good and is removable.

Here is a link to it's review:

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/riverrock_lantern.htm
 

SilverFox

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Hello Spordin,

Although it runs a little more than you want to spend, the MC2 lantern offers around 70 hours on high from 4 AA cells. High is perfect for playing cards on the picnic table. Inside the tent, low will run for around 1000 hours.

Tom
 

Outdoors Fanatic

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I use the Osram Golden Dragon LED lantern, it is not as bright as a traditional gas or fluorescent lantern, but pretty decent and compact enough for long hiking trips.
 

Turbo DV8

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Best tent light I know is to remove the head from a 3AA MiniMag LED light and suspend it upside down from the ceiling. I little inconenient to turn on and off, since no clickie and you just removed the head, but very bright. For less glare, if it bothers you, or for using the MiniMag LED as a lantern with it sitting up in it's head as a base, simply take a ping pong ball, cut a small "X" on one side of suitable size, curl the points inward and slide it over the LED end of the MiniMag LED. Nice diffuse light, and still plenty bright for a table. You can also glue some aluminum foil in the top third to project more of the light down and around instead of up.
 

Blade_Runner

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I've looked in three local Targets for the River Rock LED camping lights...no luck. It was following links for these that led me to this forum, in fact. Does anyone know if Target still carries these? I looked in both the outdoors/camping sections and automotive section. I hope these lights have not been discontinued.
 

Wyeast

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Not terribly bright, but probably pretty decent for just mucking around a small camp, would be a couple of these bad boys. 40hrs on 4AA's, so you can probably get by a whole week w/o changing batteries.

Definitely want something brighter for those "bump in the night" moments tho'. :D
 

Wyeast

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Blade_Runner said:
I've looked in three local Targets for the River Rock LED camping lights...no luck. It was following links for these that led me to this forum, in fact. Does anyone know if Target still carries these? I looked in both the outdoors/camping sections and automotive section. I hope these lights have not been discontinued.


The lanterns? Definitely saw one at my local Target this morning. More than likely they ran out - depending on your area a lot of places may be cleaned out of portable lighting with all the news with power outages around the country. They're usually w/ the other flashlights (in automotive, not in camping), hanging down towards the bottom of the rack.
 

Turbo DV8

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Wyeast said:
Not terribly bright, but probably pretty decent for just mucking around a small camp, would be a couple of these bad boys. 40hrs on 4AA's, so you can probably get by a whole week w/o changing batteries. :D


You can still find these at Target sometimes, for about $7. I tried one once. Very dim. It is just two 5mm LED's, each one pointing down an opaque plastic tube. Low is one LED on, hi is both. Yes, it is as dim as it sounds. :candle: I returned it.
 

GreySave

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At our local Target the RR Lanterns are in the flashlight area of the tool department. There are none in the automotive or sporting goods (camping) departments, although there was a different LED lantern in the Sporting Goods department the last time I visited.
 

Wyeast

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Turbo DV8 said:
You can still find these at Target sometimes, for about $7. I tried one once. Very dim. It is just two 5mm LED's, each one pointing down an opaque plastic tube. Low is one LED on, hi is both. Yes, it is as dim as it sounds. :candle: I returned it.

They are dim, but when you're out in the woods without any streetlights around you can get by with a lot less light, especially in a smaller camp or inside tents. We used to get by with glowsticks! :grin2:

That is why I mentioned having something additional for when you need brighter light - this is strictly going for small size/weight and long runtime. :)
 

LowBat

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Flying Turtle said:
Have you tried one of these LowBat or anyone? Everytime I'm in Walmart I pause and look at these. Then I remind myself I don't like 3 battery lights and move along. If it used 2 or 4 and maybe had two levels I'd already have it.

Geoff
Yes I have one and very much like it. It's not bright enough to light up your campsite, but it does ok in a small tent or for seeing your plate at the picnic table. Runtime is so long I still have the original batteries in it even after many camping trips over the summer. It has a hanging hook on top that folds down neatly like it wasn't there at all. The part I like best is the sliding shield that blocks any light from shining in your eyes.

This lantern is ideal for backpacking, and I've taken it on a few night hikes so I can see and handle my food easier then with using a flashlight. If it was brighter I could see the usefulness of a two level switch, however the simple on/off switch does just fine for this lantern.

I returned my River Rock lantern long ago due to the glare. The micropacker has a built-in diffuser and sliding shield so glare really isn't a problem. The three battery arrangement isn't a big deal, especially for me who has FRS radios that also use three battery setups. I'm just happy everything I have works on only one size of battery, the AA cell.
 
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Flying Turtle

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Thanks for the description, LowBat. Sound more tempting now. I guess one definite advantage of using three batteries is the longer runtime. You're right about the RR lantern. If anything really needs a glare shield and two levels it's that one.

Geoff
 

LowBat

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You're welcome Flying Turtle. I've actually been toying with the idea of swapping the LEDs with the new Cree X-REs. It's easy to open the micropacker for modding as you can see on post #14 of this thread. I'm hesitant though as I don't know what sort of heat it would produce that could melt the plastic.
 
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wmirag

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I find the RiverRock LED lantern unuseable because its point source of light is blindingly bright, even painfully bright in a truly dark environment.

For backpacking area lighting any floody LED flashlight is my preference. If I truly needed a stationary area light, I'd go flourescent.

W.
 
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