Energizer 150 Lumen Pop up Lantern with Light Fusion Technology - Review/discussion

[Poppy]

December 2014 I bought a Energizer 150 lumen Pop-Up lantern with "Light Fusion Technology" at Target for $15

It is widely available at brick and mortar stores such as Target, Home Depot, KMart, Walmart, so if you are reading this you may already have seen it and played with its Demo/"Try Me" feature. I took it apart to see what it looked like on the inside.

The light:
It has three surface mounted LEDs, that are in a horizontal line, aimed straight towards the front.
The LEDs are mounted just below the dark grey casing of the lantern so that they are not directly visible.
This makes all of the light that comes from it a diffused, or reflected light, (unless you look down into the lantern from above). This greatly reduces the glare, so often associated with lanterns.

In front of the LEDs is a semi-cylindrical acrylic cylinder that runs the width of the lantern, this collects the light, spreads it out, and directs it to the pop-up light panel. The bottom of the light panel, is cut at an angle, (perhaps 45 degrees, I didn't measure it) so that it collects the light from the semi-cylindrical acrylic cylinder. The light is then spread out, throughout the pop-up panel.

Tint:
I think that the tint is more of a Neutral white than cool.

It takes four AA batteries in a one up, one down, one up, one down, configuration. You'll need another light to see the orientation of the batteries if you need to replace them in the dark. I determined that the two contacts that are closest to the front of the light/ closest to the switch are the end terminals of the battery box. I mention this just in case need to use an external 6V power source to power the lantern in an emergency. The cover to the battery case is held in place with a slotted bolt. You might be able to open it with your thumb nail, if not, then a coin will work. It would have been nicer if it was a thumb screw, but it isn't bad. It MIGHT be a little challenging to get the screw started if your hands are cold, you are nervous, or have limited manual dexterity.

It has a rubberized strap, clip on handle. It is permanently affixed to one side and the other side clips in place. It appears to be designed to be able to wrap around the bottom of the lantern to hold the pop up diffuser in place for storage. BUT the strap is a little short! I am afraid that if I stretch it so that it snaps in place around the bottom of the lantern that I may not be able to unsnap it, and that would make the lantern unusable. Edit... ok, so I had to try it. I stretched it around the bottom, and with two hands clipped it in place. With two hands I was able to get it off. I think that in the winter, if the strap is cold, contracted and rigid, it would be more challenging. Hmmm, I found that I can slide it off of the bottom, and then unhook it. so now... that's easy

Regulation and Runtimes:
This is a regulated light, with an electronic dim-able feature.
Energizer lists it as 150 emitter lumens (and as we all know that means less out the front)
I loaded it with fully charged Duracell 2400ma iron core batteries and set it on high.
Since the diffuser panel is appox 1/4th the square area of its larger brother, it does emit a bit of glare on high compared to the larger unit on medium. It is still acceptable though.

The interesting thing is that the output gradually/imperceptibly dropped sometime during the first hour of testing. I then powered the light output down to low, and back up to high, and it was back up to the original high output. I found that the Rayovac Indestructible 2AA behaved similarly. Its Big Brother 300 lumen Folding lantern with light fusion technology did the same thing.

Run time on HIGH 8 hours 20 minutes ( with resetting it to high every half hour to hour)
Run time on LOW about 75 hours. (I guess 10-15 lumens) EDIT... I contacted Energizer and they responded:

Thank you for contacting Energizer and for your inquiry. We would be happy to assist you.

15 lumens on low setting with fresh batteries.

Thank you for contacting Energizer. If you need further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us

Overall impression:
I like it. :thumbsup:

 

[Poppy]

reserved for photos (hopefully)
Here is a package at home depot December 2015

 

[wedlpine]

I love this light. I use it around the house for different things. Works great for in the cabinet under the sink stuff.

 

[Chay]

I bought this light when it was on sale at Canadian Tire for $22. A very handy light to have during a power outage or to go camping with!

 

[an_abstraction]

I replaced my old River Rock 3AA (remember those things?) with one of these Energizer pop-up lanterns. What a difference!

It sits next to my bed stand and gets used multiple times during the night. Lights up the whole room, even on low. The build quality is above average for the $20 asking price at Target. I prefer overbuilt gear and this one is pretty rugged and comes with a lifetime warranty. Dark gray rubberized housings with orange trim - it doesn't give off that cheap-plastic feel that you find on budget lights. The on/off button has good tactile feedback and ramps down the light output gradually while you press-and-hold. Another small observation is the on/off button is large and is very easy to operate with one hand. The acrylic window really diffuses the beam nicely. Mine's more on the cool side, but not too cool. Pretty clean white light. Like the bottom screw that holds the battery compartment cover in place - a coin or flathead screwdriver is all you need. Plus it takes common batteries and can work on rechargables or lithiums (I just loaded the stock alkaline that came with the light). Very impressive lantern.

Thought about removing the rubberized strap as I don't plan on hanging this lantern anywhere in the near future, but it's unobtrusive. If I could change one thing about the light it would be having it come on at the low lumen setting first and ramp up to high if needed, but that's a small nitpick. If you want to preserve night vision, you can just collapse the lantern and turn it on - it still emits light through the top and sides, but it's obviously not nearly as bright as having the lantern fully opened (if that makes any sense).

Out of all the lights I own, it seems this $20 light from a department store gets used the most out of my collection. That says a lot!

 

[Poppy]

<SNIP> If I could change one thing about the light it would be having it come on at the low lumen setting first and ramp up to high if needed, but that's a small nitpick. If you want to preserve night vision, you can just collapse the lantern and turn it on - it still emits light through the top and sides, but it's obviously not nearly as bright as having the lantern fully opened (if that makes any sense).

an_abstraction,
Thanks for your additional comments.
I agree that it might be better if it started out low, and ramped up, rather than start high and ramp down.

I'd also suggest to energizer to add a pop-up reflector/shield so that the user can choose 360, or 180 degree illumination.
If I get ambitious, I might pick up a small plastic mirror, and cut it to 1.75 inch by 2 5/8 inch.
I could strap it to the back of the lantern with rubber bands, and then when I want 180 degree illumination, strap it to the back of the diffusion panel.

 

[Poppy]

Last night I picked up another one at home depot they were on sale for $10, packaged with a little 2AAA compact light that looked interesting.

I'd suggest that you do not buy the package for the 2AAA light, but rather because it is a great deal for the pop-up lantern.

That 2AAA light has a really crappy blue tint flashlight. Energizer must have gotten those LEDs really cheaply and needed to use them up The front panel however does have a surface mounted diode LED that is refracted to illuminate the panel. However, there is no driver, and 2AAA duraloops produce too low a voltage to have it emit much light. You'd be better off using your smart phone light. With 2 fresh AAA alkalines it is much brighter, and actually quite acceptable, but you know they won't hold their voltage long, and the out put will drop off to miserable. I tried it with a single 10440 battery with a dummy cell, and the blue light was still terrible, but the side lite panel was pretty good. At least as good as a smart phone light app without the glare. There isn't any heat-sinking for the LED, so I don't know how long it would run at 4.2 volts, if it would melt something, nor how long the LED can run at what is certainly over voltage. I considered getting and installing a resistor and maybe putting two 10440s in parallel in it, but the blue led is so off-putting... I figured, why waste my time.

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

I got the lantern set at Home Depot also for $10. The strap on the 4 AA lantern snapped off the second time I stretched it out to hook it to the light. I really hate that it dims every half hour. The diffusers on both lights work o.k. though. You're right about the 2AAA light. It stinks on rechargeables and probably won't drain any batteries down all the way with decent output. I found so many better options at Home Depot after I bought this set. My favorite was the Defiant 3D Extended Runtime Lantern for $10. It puts out 20 lumens on low for a month on 3D batteries. These lights will be gifted to family members (I'll keep one for myself). They should be perfect for camping, the occasional blackout, and long term emergencies.

 

[Poppy]

I got the lantern set at Home Depot also for $10. The strap on the 4 AA lantern snapped off the second time I stretched it out to hook it to the light. I really hate that it dims every half hour. The diffusers on both lights work o.k. though. You're right about the 2AAA light. It stinks on rechargeables and probably won't drain any batteries down all the way with decent output. I found so many better options at Home Depot after I bought this set. My favorite was the Defiant 3D Extended Runtime Lantern for $10. It puts out 20 lumens on low for a month on 3D batteries. These lights will be gifted to family members (I'll keep one for myself). They should be perfect for camping, the occasional blackout, and long term emergencies.

Funny, @ $10 I couldn't pass it up, especially with the additional little oddity, which... COULD be good.
My strap snapped too! Now I can't even gift it.

That's ok... I'd rather gift a Auto ON power failure light, or USB Power Bank.

 

[petrochemicals]

There seem to be a few issues with these everedy/energiser lanterns, according to amazon etc. The reliability seems to be iffy, the battery drain or lack of is also a problem, that or the need of a high start up voltage, and the actual materials and design seem to get lots of issues raised.

 

[xxo]

I also got one of the pop up/compact 2 in 1 combo sets for Christmas. The 2 in 1 is a total fail in execution....the flashlight is too deep purple and the reflector is too small and the lack of regulation with 2 cells means NiMH will only run bright when freshly charged. As voltage drops the light dims to a sort of dim night light mode and takes forever to drain the batteries. This light needs a 3rd​ cell for NiMHs.....better yet make it a 2 AA with a boost driver, a better LED and reflector for the flashlight and a 3nd LED for the area light. The 2 in1's construction is also way too cheap and plasticy. I doubt it is very water resistant.




The pop up is a very nice design but also comes up short in terms of materials and attention to details. The pop up defuser panel and dimmable electronic switch work great. Some of the reviews complain about the light coming on when defuser is retracted, but the seem to have fixed this problem as mine shuts off when the panel is pushed down and won't turn on in this position (no worries about it coming on when traveling). Not the brightest, not even the claimed 165 lumen IMHO, but not too dim either......probably fine for lighting up a tent, a small room during a power outage or for a 2 person card or board game. The "fusion technology" gets rid of glare and unlike many other lanterns, makes it pleasant to look at. Battery life of about 8 hrs on 2000 mAh Eneloops (cycling back to full power every hour or so) is very good. I like that it shuts off when the cells run down to about 1.1 Volts - might not be ideal for sucking the last few mA out of alkalines but it's great for those of us who use mostly NiMH's and don't want to worry about over discharge.


I am not crazy about having to use a coin to access the batteries, but it does seem to be a secure and reasonably water tight set up.


The crappy rubber strap handle is a joke. Mine broke immediately but even if it hadn't it looks like the dinky plastic pin that the strap clips on to wouldn't hold up to much real use either.
This light should have a folding metal bail and a metal hook or clip that folds into the base. The metal bail could be designed to secure the light in the closed position for storage and transport.


It would have also been nice if they put reflective material inside the cap over the defuser panel to reflect more light back onto the panel.


And if they haven't done it already, they should kill the electronic switches parasitic drain when the panel is retracted.


Despite it's faults I like the pop up lantern, you can tell a lot of thought, innovation and engineering went into its design - it just needs better materials and a few tweaks from Energizer to make it reach its potential.