Newbie Needs Lantern help

[jughead]

Hi,

I'm a long time lurker and want to buy a lantern. It will be used for power outages at home, and as a tent lantern while camping (large tent with kids - not itty bitty backpack tent camping).

I live in the Deep South and went through a hurricane a while back and want a lantern that can be used inside to light up a room enough to see to walk through, or light up a table well enough to eat a meal by.

As far as tent use, I want to be able to run it for 3-4 hours a night for 2-3 nights. Common battery sizes are a plus (AA/D cells).

I have found this flourescent lantern at BrightGuy and this LED lantern at Essential Gear.

Would I be better served by a flourescent tube lantern or an LED lantern? Which is brighter as an area light, and which gives off a more 'natural' light?

Thans for any advice or input!

 

[MaxaBaker]

Hello jughead,

I do not own either of these laterns but I'll give you my best guess. I flourescent lantern would probably suit your needs. It would give you a more warm glow of light that would likely do a very good job to suit your lighting up a room. But, the LED light would most likely dominate the battery life span field. I am assuming that either one of those lights would be fine for what you would use it for. The main difference is that the LED will give a cold whitish-blue light while the florescent will give a warm yellowish-white light. Florescents usually have a pretty good lifespan to them as well.

My friend has a Coleman florescent lantern that has variable settings.-high going down to low-or nightlight mode(which is a second little incan at the bottom). the nightlight may be all you need in a tent(it's surprising how bright it is when it's turned on in the dark after your eyes are adjusted. That lantern has very good battery life-probably 15 to 20 hours of bright light
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Hope that helps at all.

C ya,
Baker

 

[Lynx_Arc]

You can either go all in one lantern or go with a lantern and use a small LED light for a nightlight. I recommend at least 8-9 watts of total flourscent light and at least 4D cells for power source for 4 people. The AA flourescent lights are useful but don't supply enough light for 4 people spread out, more like 1-2 people or something like a dim romantic brighter than moonlight area light. You can just about multiply the watts of a flourescent tube by 4-5 for equivelent incandescent standard house light bulb output to compare for brightness. If you have any compact flourescent light bulbs around in various wattage you can use these for a guide to how much you truly need.

 

[UncleFester]

Jughead.
I know this isn't a lantern, but it could be pointed at the ceiling to light a whole room.
Third Shift's Modified 6D light
might work for you. Just a thought.

 

[javafool]

I have 2 of these and they seem to work pretty well. http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2.cgi?PAGE=PROFRAME&PROD_ID=691014

I have seen them as low as $9.99 each but I cannot find the link.

 

[DaveT]

Hi Jughead - welcome to CPF.
As a personal preference, I like the LED lanterns more than fluorescent. Depending on the lantern, fluorescents can give you more light, but if it's a blackout or camping, you're not going to need TONS of light - you could get used to a lower level of light that will suffice as easily as you could to a bit more light. Plus, some of the LED lanterns will give you a fully adjustable output to match your needs.
Of the two you've mentioned, I have no experience with the BrightGuy choice, but it looks sturdy and the Koehler lights I had in the past were solid value.
The second light you show looks fairly comparable (slightly different body) to the Sportsman's Guide lanterns I used to have - except the one you've listed looks like a fully adjustable light level as opposed to five levels, and $35 is wildly expensive for that light.

Here's a list of my experiences with various lanterns:
Lantern comparison

To sum it up, the Innovage 12-LED lantern is the best-value large lantern I've seen, still available at Boscovs.com for $9.97. At that price, you could (and perhaps should) buy several - to justify the cost of shipping if nothing else.
As an aside, I just gave one to my mom when we visited for New Year's, and it turns out she used it yesterday when ice storms caused a power outage.

Office Depot has the Energizer 2-LED folding lanterns - about the size of a pack of cigarettes, run on 4AA batteries, and a screaming deal at $3.29 each. In a blackout/similar situation, they'll sufficiently light a room to get around - or you can use them as a reading lantern if you set it in your lap. For the price, you could have them in every room for navigation. Another thread mentioned that their status is being listed as discontinued - swoop on these (I haven't found them listed on the Office Depot Web site, however).

Good luck on your choices.
Dave

 

[jayflash]

BrightGuy was selling the UKE 4D Vectra waterproof lantern for $23. A true bargain for what is essentially a dive light with a ratcheting metal stand for aiming the light when it's not in your hand. Various lamps from 4 - 18 watts can be used. As it can be switched, instantly, between its two lamps, I use a 5.8 and an 18 watt lamp and rechargeable cells. It throws a great distance and has a very smooth beam with hardly any artifacts.

This is more of a spot than area lantern but it's more rugged, by far, than cheap fluorescent types, and you can always diffuse the beam.

 

[flashlite]

I also have the Innovage 12 LED lantern and I highly recommend it. Something else I've wanted to try is the Gerber Bonfire Blaze.

 

[JimH]

Here are some excellent choices:

LED camping light kit

LED mini lanterns with case

30 LED lantern with case

1 watt LED area light

 

[NikolaTesla]

Try a twin mantle Coleman Propane. I have a LOT of flashlights but the old gas jobs are always ready to go. Propane has infinite shelf life,

NikolaTesla /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

An Arc lamp is the Spark that takes away the Dark--HID Forever!

All My Lights

Some Lights

 

[RussH]

[ QUOTE ]
jayflash said:
BrightGuy was selling the UKE 4D Vectra waterproof lantern for $23. A true bargain for what is essentially a dive light with a ratcheting metal stand for aiming the light when it's not in your hand. Various lamps from 4 - 18 watts can be used. As it can be switched, instantly, between its two lamps, I use a 5.8 and an 18 watt lamp and rechargeable cells. <SNIP>

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd like to verify that both of these xenon bulbs are for 4.8v (4 cells)? Now that it is possible to adapt a mag type bi-pin holder to a standard maglite, bipin bulbs in this size range are much more interesting. Do you know the actual bulb size (like G4, G5.3, G6)?. Or could you measure the pin spacing. I would like to see if these can be fit in a mag body...

 

[jughead]

Hey guys:

Sorry it's taken me so long to reply. I want to thank everyone for your input - you have been a big help. I am going to go with the Innovage LED lanterns. 10 bucks is hard to beat.

I have been doing a lot of reading here, and I think you guys are rubbing off on me. I'm getting the urge to start experimenting with building my own lantern since I can't seem to find exactly what I want.

I think I'm coming down with flashlight-itus. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[LowBat]

A late entry, but here's my favorite lantern:

http://www.flashlightsunlimited.com/relanternarea.htm

It's a rechargeable that has the home and car chargers stored in the base. I got it at REI for around $35 a year ago. Lasts 6 hrs on both tubes or 9 hrs on 1 tube. It puts out a good amount of light for a campsite. My previous florescent wasn't as bright as this.