GE SteelBEAM lantern

[DaveT]

Hi - just saw these at Costco the other day and couldn't pass them by. GE SteelBEAM
For $15, I think they're a steal. They take 4 D-cells, and have a fluorescent bulb. The on/off switch is not my favorite - I've been able to get momentary on with it, but there's sometimes not enough positive feeling of the switch engaging (clicking on) to feel when you've got it engage - sometimes it would come on and stay on and I really didn't feel the click happen.
Light output is good enough to be able to read from, I'd say, more than 8 feet away, and probably a bit more, if you hang it higher than what you're reading. And speaking of hanging it - they've got a nice handle design - a comfortable plastic hand grip that pulls down to reveal a small hook it can hang by.
The lantern has a generally sturdy feeling, with a metal swinging handle and open metal grill around the clear plastic lantern shroud, and the base and top of the lantern are both part metal, part plastic.
With the batteries installed, it's substantially base-heavy and feels stable.
The box says:
-- "special long life triphosphor lamp rated for 8,000 hours"
-- "super bright bulb"
-- "water resistant"
-- "Energy efficient electronic ballast - 16-hour battery life"
-- "Limited 3-year life"
I read a review on Epinions about this lamp -- the guy liked it, but was using cheap "heavy duty" batteries and only got 4-hour battery life - I haven't done any more than fire them up, so here's that review:
Epinions review
I had been REALLY interested in the 12-LED lanterns after the blackout happened, because once you're safe at home, we mostly needed area lights. So, now I think I may eventually get one of the 12-LED lanterns (instead of two), but I don't feel in a rush now.
I think this lantern will fill the bill for most non-flashaholics (and flashaholics will probably want one or two, anyhow).
Anyway, I think they're worth looking for at this price.
Dave

[buba]

While I agree these are great little 4D lanterns I have discovered one issue which may have created a modification excuse.

I Drop my steelbeam last week while turned on and the bulb went. I contacted jascoproducts (GE consumer lights) and was told that the bulb is not customer replaceable and that jasco did not have any replacement bulbs nor knew of a source for the special 6w bulbs other than the company offshore that makes the lantern assembly for them.

So now I am looking at the possibility of doing a mod of the lantern to accept the more common 7W u-tube bulbs ($4 at walmart) or something more interesting... How many Luxeon's would it take to equal the light output of a 6W Fluorescent bulb???

I have also seen this same GE steelbeam lantern at Target stores with the exception the following exception. It had a 4D Krypton bulb and reflector instead of the 6W dual u-tube for $18.00. That could make an interesting lantern mod platform also.

[mattheww50]

My GE lamp catalog says the 6-8 watt fluoros are 50 lumens per watt (larger fluoro's do better, 80-90 lumens for the very best, but you WILL pay for that kind of performance).
3 watt luxeons are about 72 lumens, so 24 lumens per watt.
YOu are going to need about 4 3 watt luxeons to match lumen output.

[LEDAdd1ct]

I have also seen this same GE steelbeam lantern at Target stores with the exception the following exception. It had a 4D Krypton bulb and reflector instead of the 6W dual u-tube for $18.00. That could make an interesting lantern mod platform also.

I gave the 4D Krypton version to milky, and he installed his candle circuit in it. We used it during the October snow blackout on the kitchen table. It is bright enough to see where you are going, and lasts forever.