So I was camping on the weekend. I brought along a various assortment of lights. They have made me wonder if LED is the way to go for actual visibility. While doing some camp chores, I found my LED lights served to be more of a blinding nuisance rather than an illuminating aid. As far as illuminating objects, colors, surroundings to help discern what's going on in a functional manner as I would in daylight, I found my stock 2AA mag to be the most satisfying when compared to a 4AA Brunton Glorb XB, or my Mastercraft 3-led button cell penlight for general tasks.
As a miscellaneous Xmas gift from my mother, that penlight has always been remarkably bright for various tasks, such as finding the remote when it falls under the bed, looking for a screw on the floor, etc.. But doesn't seem to have the spectrum cojones for a pitch dark camp job.
The Brunton Glorb XB, I picked up last minute before going camping for $10, regular $35, at Canadian Tire here, and it seems to have great reviews.. But I'll be damned if I could find the stupid thing to be useful for anything more than a tent light. The reflector design with Cree LED served nothing more than to blind the S$%t out of me with no real benefit for most tasks. It seems solely purposeful as a directly overhead mounted light, which I must say it was fantastic at in the tent.
I also have a Maglight 6D with a Terralux TLE-300M-EX, which I had noooooo trouble with.
So to the point, I want to get a decent general purpose lantern (or two, depending on price) for area light. I want useful light that I can see things around me with, so I don't have to juggle my 6D while I'm doing something.
I'd either be interested in a single lantern or two separate lanterns to accomplish bright useful output for high visibility, and decently effective output with good runtime to be left on for the duration of an evening as ambient light of sort.
Size/weight aren't of importance, and I'd prefer alkalines, regardless of size or quantity. I understand that propane lanterns offer high output, but aren't as cost efficient as alkaline lanterns? My purpose is efficient and effective ambient lighting.
Any input on LED vs. Incan vs. etc? Reflector types to look for? Simple builds/mods/ingenius repurposing?
As a miscellaneous Xmas gift from my mother, that penlight has always been remarkably bright for various tasks, such as finding the remote when it falls under the bed, looking for a screw on the floor, etc.. But doesn't seem to have the spectrum cojones for a pitch dark camp job.
The Brunton Glorb XB, I picked up last minute before going camping for $10, regular $35, at Canadian Tire here, and it seems to have great reviews.. But I'll be damned if I could find the stupid thing to be useful for anything more than a tent light. The reflector design with Cree LED served nothing more than to blind the S$%t out of me with no real benefit for most tasks. It seems solely purposeful as a directly overhead mounted light, which I must say it was fantastic at in the tent.
I also have a Maglight 6D with a Terralux TLE-300M-EX, which I had noooooo trouble with.
So to the point, I want to get a decent general purpose lantern (or two, depending on price) for area light. I want useful light that I can see things around me with, so I don't have to juggle my 6D while I'm doing something.
I'd either be interested in a single lantern or two separate lanterns to accomplish bright useful output for high visibility, and decently effective output with good runtime to be left on for the duration of an evening as ambient light of sort.
Size/weight aren't of importance, and I'd prefer alkalines, regardless of size or quantity. I understand that propane lanterns offer high output, but aren't as cost efficient as alkaline lanterns? My purpose is efficient and effective ambient lighting.
Any input on LED vs. Incan vs. etc? Reflector types to look for? Simple builds/mods/ingenius repurposing?