Replacement bulb for Coleman 5316 lantern

I have a Coleman model 5316 battery-powered lantern and need a replacement bulb. I'm not a lighting person so I'll do my best to describe it ... it's a 4-pin TCX CFL bulb which has 2 U-shaped tubes. On the side of the bulb is printed "8W-6500K (H)", which I understand to mean 8 watt and 6500 Kelvin color temp; no other indication of manufacturer or anything else (other than a symbol indicating it should not be thrown in the trash). The bulb is just under 3-1/2" in height from the end of the pins (which are in pairs of two on either side of the base) to the end of the tubes, and the tiered base is about 1-1/4" square which steps down to 1-1/16" at the bottom (wish I could upload a photo to this post). There are also two tabs sticking out of the base on the sides without the pins, which fit into slots in the lantern. The key thing about this is the base of the bulb is flush, with no part sticking down further than the pins (which looks like many CFL bulbs have); this is key because the underside of the cover of the lantern sits flush against the bottom of the base (the bulb goes into the lantern upside down from the top) with the pins going into contact holes in the cover.

I've already contacted Coleman and they do not sell the bulb as a replacement part (the lantern model is no longer sold but I really can't imagine that Coleman had this bulb specially designed just for this one product). I took the bulb to a local Batteries + Bulbs store where they searched their own catalog, a few specialty online sites, Amazon and just Google in general, and they also could not match it. Finally, I stopped at a Field & Stream store to see if they might carry it in their camping section. No joy there either, but the salesman mentioned this forum and suggested giving it a try here.

Maybe I'm just out of luck and will have to throw away a perfectly good lantern for want of a bulb, but thought I'd give it one last try. Hopefully the description above made sense. Thanks in advance.

if I was you id just geta new latern like the ge enbrighten 550 lumens..

I doubt you will able to get a new bulb for even $10 if you find one may try an old hardware store any large chain their floor space is a premium they don't carry spare parts for too long that I why I sold my two big rayovac lanterns even though you can still get bulbs for them in time they will make an all LED lantern more powerful with more runtime for cheaper and discontinue it when that happens stores will drop carrying the bulbs I suggest you tear the lantern apart and mod it for LED use look on ebay for LED bulbs maybe even a USB LED bulb would do

Odds are they were proprietary bulbs. I just opened up my Rayovac Sportsman FL to see if those bulbs were similar enough. Not even close.

Sounds like you've already done a pretty thorough search, but have you tried eBay? You might get lucky at a flea market/swap meet. You might also want to give Budget Light Forums a try.

I am the same way in that I hate to throw something away if I can simply replace a part, BUT it probably is not worth it.

Last year I gave away a Coleman 2x6V two straight tube florescent lantern to my father in law, with batteries. The tubes can be had in CW or Warmer NW kelvin. These were more like 5000 K (a neutral white) which is much more comfortable than the 6K K that you are looking to replace.

They just aren't as efficient as LEDs although much better than incandescent.

Poppy said:

I am the same way in that I hate to throw something away if I can simply replace a part, BUT it probably is not worth it.

Last year I gave away a Coleman 2x6V two straight tube florescent lantern to my father in law, with batteries. The tubes can be had in CW or Warmer NW kelvin. These were more like 5000 K (a neutral white) which is much more comfortable than the 6K K that you are looking to replace.

They just aren't as efficient as LEDs although much better than incandescent.

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I still have one straight tube lantern that takes 6D cells I should get rid of but I hesitate as it was once my favorite lantern for many years back in the 70s and 80s and takes easier to find 6 watt tubes of which I think I have spares of still somewhere. I should go through my spare tube collection and get rid of them while there may still be people who want the tubes still.

I think the days of any type of fluorescent lantern is pretty much history now they are still useful but I'm guessing once people buy a new LED lantern and/or the tubes in them go bad there will be thrift stores and flea markets littered with them.
I'm even getting rid of most of my CCFL based lights (energizer) due to the efficiency of LED and newer COB LED arrays that offer decent flood (not quite as nice) with more efficient power use. I wish energizer would take the CCFL/LED 4AA design and update it with a high power emitter for throw and a COB LED or decent multiple smd LED array for flood with at least 2 levels of output on the flood part.

raggie33 said:

if I was you id just geta new latern like the ge enbrighten 550 lumens..

Click to expand...

I agree, I have a few LE 500 Lum lanterns, nice little lanterns and very inexpensive.
Got mine off amazon a while back, they're currently going for $12.79