Coleman 4AA Exponent® Pack-Away®

[LowBat]

I just saw this on Flashlight News, and it looks sweet. 4AA powered, high/low settings, and it folds into a really small size.

[Sigman]

Sounds like a worthy little lantern! I'm anxious to check one out.

[LowBat]

I found one supplier who may have them, and I'm awaiting a reply to my email.

By the looks of the picture I'm thinking this may have the same glare issue as the River Rock lantern.

[Weylan]

I wonder if they are running bright enough? They may be our solution to the missing OSram Golden dragon here in the USA. Any idea on price? A Cree mod host replacement! <grin> Gack! We have not even seen the light physically yet and I was thinking of a MOD! GADS someone stop me...

The idea if these are low priced would be nice. I have someone this might be good for so I am going to have to keep an eye out for these.

[LowBat]

Bass Pro (the only supplier I got when I googled) said they are backordered until mid January.

At $35 it's not a cheap lantern. I suspect the price will drop when WalMart gets them.

It comes with a K2 LED, but I'm guessing a XR-E mod shouldn't be too difficult.

[GeoScouter]

Really looks interesting. Hope Walmart or Target gets them.

Steve

[Blacklight]

Bass Pro should have some in stock online in the next week or so. Wal-Mart and Target will not be offered this product. By Late Feb product should be widely available at many Sporting good retailers including REI, The Sports Authority, and Dicks. XRE Mod will be easy but will void your warranty of course. you can access the screws through the battery housing to get the top assembly apart.

[Sharpdogs]

I like that lantern. Thanks for the information.

[LowBat]

Blacklight, did you get one already? Sounds like you have a connection.

[Blacklight]

I am actually the one responsible for lighting at Coleman. I try not to butt in too much here on the forums, and just read what people have to say. See what people are looking for. I try to get in here a couple of times a week, to see what the crew has to say here. There are some very good people on these forums with great input. So if anyone ever has a question on Coleman feel free to shoot me a PM.

[LowBat]

I am actually the one responsible for lighting at Coleman. I try not to butt in too much here on the forums, and just read what people have to say. See what people are looking for. I try to get in here a couple of times a week, to see what the crew has to say here. There are some very good people on these forums with great input. So if anyone ever has a question on Coleman feel free to shoot me a PM.

Nice of you to join us here on CPF. I have the yellow Micropacker lantern and think it's great for short range area lighting. With the addition of the new Exponent Micropacker and Pack-Away, you may just take the lead in LED lanterns. My concern with the Exponent series would be glare coming off the cone-like reflector, like on the River Rock models sold at Target. Have your engineers addressed the glare issue with the Exponent series? The diffuser tube on the yellow Micropacker, plus the sliding glare shield, have been really good ideas.

[Blacklight]

Actually me and my engineer where talking about this yesterday. first let me be honest, yes, still a lot of glare, and the patern is pretty streaky due to the shape of the globe. we have a couple of ideas we will be implementing probably second half of the year, including a press release in the not to distant future that should make many pretty happy to see. So short term, yeah, a lot of glare, and streaks, long term, we are addressing these issues (LEDs have improved so much in the last year of development we feel we can give up some light, to fix some of these issues). Keep the feed back coming, there is a lot of knowledge on these boards.

[straightblast]

I am actually the one responsible for lighting at Coleman. I try not to butt in too much here on the forums, and just read what people have to say. See what people are looking for. I try to get in here a couple of times a week, to see what the crew has to say here. There are some very good people on these forums with great input. So if anyone ever has a question on Coleman feel free to shoot me a PM.

Thanks for coming in here! I will buy several of these lights when available.

[MikeSalt]

I actually still have a Coleman 2D torch that I bought in Italy nearly 10 years ago. The only modification I've done it to install a MagLite WhiteStar bulb in place of the standard one. It still works today,and I haven't lost the gadgety compass off the end, which i rather I had.

[TIP AND RING]

Blacklight, I own two of the Coleman Pack- Away 4D lights. #5317 Series with the 15 watt compact fluorescent tubes. I can't say enough good about these lanterns. Great build construction for the price, multi-level for excellent runtime, a 6500k lamp for a "sunny" ambient light during power outages, and easily stored lantern as well. I hope Coleman continues to market and improve these lanterns as the compact fluorescent products evolve.

[sackettboys]

Hi, new guy here. What is a XRE mod?

[LowBat]

Hi, new guy here. What is a XRE mod?

Welcome to CPF. The Cree X-RE is the new super efficient LED that has been all the talk here on CPF since about October. Look at the LED section and you'll find many many threads on it. To XRE mod is to replace the factory LED with a Cree X-RE, which yields either double the brightness or double the runtime, or thereabouts.

[Blacklight]

Blacklight, I own two of the Coleman Pack- Away 4D lights. #5317 Series with the 15 watt compact fluorescent tubes. I can't say enough good about these lanterns. Great build construction for the price, multi-level for excellent runtime, a 6500k lamp for a "sunny" ambient light during power outages, and easily stored lantern as well. I hope Coleman continues to market and improve these lanterns as the compact fluorescent products evolve.

Thank's for the kind words about the lanterns. I really prefer the color of light from the fluorescent lights too. It will be nice when we can economically get a bright enough LED in that warm color range so you don't have to worry about replacing bulbs in the future. 400 lumens will be the magical number to make that happen in a nice warm white LED.

[tron1974]

Does anyone know when these lanterns are going to be available? It looks like there are a bunch of new Exponent products available not just lights. It looks like Coleman is trying to cater to the high quality market with some really great products.

I recently bought the Micropacker Lantern at Wal-Mart. I am thinking about returning that in anticipation on getting one of the ones from the Exponent series.

[Blacklight]

I have been out of the country and just swamped, sorry for the late response. We are currently shipping to many retailers on this light. REI should be getting product any day now as well as bass pro. The Sports Authority will be ordering in March for April. response has been great so far, so the original product I brought in has all shipped or is taken, or I would say you could order off our website. I am trying to track down when the next shipment will be coming in. We are having internal discussions here, but the shipment afternext very well may have the CREE XRE in it. I got the sample in this morning, and WOW I really like it anyway. I will try to get on here more pften for updates on this, but i have been really busy.

[MrSmith]

Do not think it is on your website yet?
I could not seem to find it?
Any pointers/links you could provide?
Thanks

[Outdoors Fanatic]

Damn you Coleman!! Now that I've just imported an Osram Golden Dragon...

Does anyone knows if that thing is regulated and brighter than the stock Golden Dragon?

[LowBat]

I think I'll wait till a Cree gets put in the lantern. Maybe then it'll be bright enough to have a diffuser added to reduce the glare.

[CLHC]

This is in response to their gas version. I'd like to see how this one goes with them Cree LED then. . .More waiting to do and this year's just getting started.

Enjoy!

[Blacklight]

Do not think it is on your website yet?
I could not seem to find it?
Any pointers/links you could provide?
Thanks

http://www.coleman.com/coleman/colem...tegoryid=24756

Here you go, its under Exponent Gear.

[Blacklight]

Damn you Coleman!! Now that I've just imported an Osram Golden Dragon...

Does anyone knows if that thing is regulated and brighter than the stock Golden Dragon?

Yes it's regulated. I don't have a gold dragon to test, so i can not tell you for sure.

[Blacklight]

This is in response to their gas version. I'd like to see how this one goes with them Cree LED then. . .More waiting to do and this year's just getting started.

Enjoy!

This entire thread is about a battery lantern. did you have questions about one of the Coleman fueled lanterns? If so shoot away and i will get you the answers.

if the question is how does it compare to the Excursion or Luminos lantern that are Butane powered packing lanterns from Coleman, then I will say that the CREE modified version is about the same. The current K2 is about half the light, but that will change one way or another by June (of course I have a nice little surprise coming too....hmm what could it be...If nothing else look for my little friend at Summer OR)!

[CLHC]

Thanks for the info Blacklight! Much appreciated. Will wait for further lighting "goodies" from Coleman. . .

Enjoy!

[83Venture]

Looking foward to info on the updated lantern. June - still time to use it camping.

[JRR]

I emailed Coleman and asked about this lantern. According to them, it's rated at 45 lumens, compared to the Wal-Mart micropacker at 8.

Just a FYI.