Coleman collapsible lantern crapped out.

[Unbreakable]

I got one of those neat collapsible coleman 8D cell lanterns. The one with the spiral bulb. Really bright and the stats seemed to suggest it was very efficient. I kept it in my truck in my emergency pack. Bought it two months ago. Worked fine the first three times I used it. Power went out at my chicks house last night so I pulled it out and it barely lit up. So I'm thinking the bulb is bad or it has a bad circuit in whatever ballast type housing it has. Just the top of the bulb glows and it makes a high pitched buzz. Really disappointing. It's not be banged around, exposed to water, or abused in anyway. Hell it's been used a total of 4 hours at the MOST. What a piece of junk. Even if coleman gives me another one. I don't think I'm gonna trust these. I went and bought a Rayovac at Home Depot today. It has the two U shaped tubes. We'll see how it works out. Seems a lot more robust. I just really liked the collapsible design of the coleman.

 

[clyffepypard]

Have you checked the batteries were not dead, since what you described could also be due to that, especially if they were only zinc chloride cells. It might only take a couple of the to die, and the light would refuse to start.

 

[Unbreakable]

Have you checked the batteries were not dead, since what you described could also be due to that, especially if they were only zinc chloride cells. It might only take a couple of the to die, and the light would refuse to start.

Yeah the batteries were fine. I bought a Rayovac 18 watt lantern and put those batteries in it and it lit up just fine. I tried changing the order of the batteries in the coleman as well as a brand new set (Which I keep handy in case of battery drain) and the little spiral bulb still just barely would glow. It had sort of a pink hue at the very top and barely a white glow about 25% down the rest of the bulb. I'm not sure if these things have a tiny ballast like regular Flouro bulbs but it's acting exactly like a house fixture with a bad ballast. It has a high pitched buzz and the light barely glows. Pretty disappointing for a brand new light. My buddy has one and it has worked great for years. I guess I just got a lemon. But I've been finding more and more that Coleman gear ain't what it used to be.

 

[LEDAdd1ct]

I have the Coleman with the four Cree LEDs, and I am *not* impressed. Yeah, it's bright, but I would not trust it for anything other than around-the-house/blackout use. I would not use it camping/in the rain.

I'm sorry to hear your model broke.