Best tent light to hang on flashlight loop?

Outdoors Fanatic · Dec 17, 2005

It must the small, with decent runtime and bright enough with a flood type beam to iluminate 360 degrees inside the tent (my tent is a small 2-person, one pole, 3 seasons, low ceiling dome). Any suggestions?

How's the performance of the "high-end" keychain lights such as Inova Microlight, Photon Freedom and similars for tent illumination? What about the Arc Premium and the Peak 5mm LED flood lights? I know LED lanterns would be great, they are not small nor light enough for that though, it will probably rip the flashlight loop apart, besides that, the ceiling is so low that it will take too much internal space.

Please no Fenix and or other luxeon spot lights.:devil:

:thanks: in advance.

vic303 · Dec 17, 2005

Have you looked at the little Brunton LED lantern? Runs on 3AAA'a and can be a small lensed flashight OR a small area lantern.
Here: http://www.brunton.com/product.php?id=247

SolarFlare · Dec 17, 2005

glo_toob

Outdoors Fanatic · Dec 17, 2005

vic303 said:
Have you looked at the little Brunton LED lantern? Runs on 3AAA'a and can be a small lensed flashight OR a small area lantern.
Here: http://www.brunton.com/product.php?id=247

It looks nice, but it's not regulated is it? I don't want a 200+/- hours with diminishing brightness, i'd rather have 3+/- hours of solid regulation.

Lee1959 · Dec 17, 2005

Sportsmans guide has small lanterns, as does River Rock which would all work well. My Brinkmans LED headlamp from Target would also work for the job.

carrot · Dec 17, 2005

I just got my white Photon Freedom Micro in the mail today, so I tested to see how well it'd work in my room (pretty small room). Turned off all the lights, couldn't see anything. I turned on the Freedom Micro at full brightness and I could see well enough around the entire room to do things, without aiming the light. At about half brightness I could see pretty well too.

LRI says a white LED should last about 12h on one set of batteries, and the yellow/red/orange ones should last 120h. So if you don't need perfect color resolution, consider one of those colors instead (although 12h sounds like plenty of burntime).

I'm very impressed with my Photon Freedom Micro. If you get one and sandpaper the LED, you could probably diffuse the light better (never tried it, although the LED on my Photon I blue is scuffed and it diffuses a little better).

I have an Inova Microlight in blue, with the constant on switch and momentary. (The new ones apparently have a high/low setting.) It's also good, although I've since run down the batteries. The frosted translucent casing makes the entire thing illuminate when lit, an interesting effect that may be something you're looking for.

Actually, in a stroke of genius I swapped out the batteries from my Photon and put them into the Microlight. It also does a good job of illuminating my room sufficiently (without aiming it).

I think that the Photons have a slight edge because of their sturdier feeling construction, but you probably couldn't go wrong with a Microlight either. You should note that the Photon III (almost the same as Freedom Micro, except without SOS signalling and user-variable dimming (3 brightness modes -- high, med, low)) is on sale at the photonlight.com website for only $12.20 (no box, bulk packaging). Free 3-5 day shipping.

They do dim over time, because they're not regulated, but according to some reviews it's hardly noticeable. Depends on how much light you want/need, though.

Edit: Added spacing betweeen paragraphs.
Update: Funny, after putting the old batteries (tiny bit of juice left in them) back into my Inova, it wouldn't shut off, no matter which way the on/off switch was clicked. I played with it a bit and now it only lights up when I bump it, and then it flickers back off. I don't think I trust it now. I also seem to recall it having turned on (and stayed on) after hitting something... switch was still in the 'off' position, but it lit up anyway.

CLHC · Dec 17, 2005

You can try the Osram Golden Dragon which is alot better than the Brunton. Also as already mentioned about the River Rock 1.5W LED Lantern is worth a try. How about that CMG Motion Sensing Tent Light?

Hope you find what you're looking for and Enjoy!

Sorry—The CMG is an incandescent and not LED. . .

cy · Dec 17, 2005

best tent light hands down is Arc AAA.

I leave one enbedded into every tent.

here's a pic of Arc AAA 2003 cpf spl edition in my tent at philmont scout ranch.

luigi · Dec 17, 2005

Eternalight Elite, it's regulated and you have several levels of brightness on the low levels it can lst for months, you can use it for your activities and then dim it to a lower level and left it the whole night.
It's exactly what you need.

GeoScouter · Dec 17, 2005

cy said:
here's a pic of Arc AAA 2003 cpf spl edition in my tent at philmont scout ranch.

Philmont that brings back memories. I'm going to get back there one of these days.

Outdoors Fanatic · Dec 17, 2005

cy said:
best tent light hands down is Arc AAA.

I leave one enbedded into every tent.

here's a pic of Arc AAA 2003 cpf spl edition in my tent at philmont scout ranch.

THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!:rock:

A little light to hang on the stock flashlight loop, that's perfect! How bright is that inside your tent? Can you do any sort of task without resorting to a bigger light?

I'm looking for a definitive tent light, no more big lights, lanterns or headlamps inside the tent, only the light on the loop.

Outdoors Fanatic · Dec 17, 2005

CHC said:
You can try the Osram Golden Dragon which is alot better than the Brunton. Also as already mentioned about the River Rock 1.5W LED Lantern is worth a try. How about that CMG Motion Sensing Tent Light?

Hope you find what you're looking for and Enjoy!

Sorry—The CMG is an incandescent and not LED. . .

I love LED lanterns (especially the 'hard to find' RR Jupiter Lantern), but i'm planning to use those only outside my tent (I have no space inside my mountain tent, it's that small) . But thx for your suggestions. I'll check the Osram Golden Dragon out.

Outdoors Fanatic · Dec 17, 2005

carrot said:
I just got my white Photon Freedom Micro in the mail today, so I tested to see how well it'd work in my room (pretty small room). Turned off all the lights, couldn't see anything. I turned on the Freedom Micro at full brightness and I could see well enough around the entire room to do things, without aiming the light. At about half brightness I could see pretty well too.

LRI says a white LED should last about 12h on one set of batteries, and the yellow/red/orange ones should last 120h. So if you don't need perfect color resolution, consider one of those colors instead (although 12h sounds like plenty of burntime).

I'm very impressed with my Photon Freedom Micro. If you get one and sandpaper the LED, you could probably diffuse the light better (never tried it, although the LED on my Photon I blue is scuffed and it diffuses a little better).

I have an Inova Microlight in blue, with the constant on switch and momentary. (The new ones apparently have a high/low setting.) It's also good, although I've since run down the batteries. The frosted translucent casing makes the entire thing illuminate when lit, an interesting effect that may be something you're looking for.

Actually, in a stroke of genius I swapped out the batteries from my Photon and put them into the Microlight. It also does a good job of illuminating my room sufficiently (without aiming it).

I think that the Photons have a slight edge because of their sturdier feeling construction, but you probably couldn't go wrong with a Microlight either. You should note that the Photon III (almost the same as Freedom Micro, except without SOS signalling and user-variable dimming (3 brightness modes -- high, med, low)) is on sale at the photonlight.com website for only $12.20 (no box, bulk packaging). Free 3-5 day shipping.

They do dim over time, because they're not regulated, but according to some reviews it's hardly noticeable. Depends on how much light you want/need, though.

Edit: Added spacing betweeen paragraphs.
Update: Funny, after putting the old batteries (tiny bit of juice left in them) back into my Inova, it wouldn't shut off, no matter which way the on/off switch was clicked. I played with it a bit and now it only lights up when I bump it, and then it flickers back off. I don't think I trust it now. I also seem to recall it having turned on (and stayed on) after hitting something... switch was still in the 'off' position, but it lit up anyway.

Thx for the imput. I'm almost getting one of these new Photon Fredom with white LED.

paulr · Dec 17, 2005

CMG Bonfire is made as a tent light but is somewhat large by my standards.

The typical 1-led light is more than bright enough to let you see your way around a tent, well enough to find your shoes and stuff like that. It's not anywhere near bright enough for reading or doing surgery. So it depends on what you mean by "task". Your best bet may be a small headlamp.

Outdoors Fanatic · Dec 17, 2005

luigi said:
Eternalight Elite, it's regulated and you have several levels of brightness on the low levels it can lst for months, you can use it for your activities and then dim it to a lower level and left it the whole night.
It's exactly what you need.

I've found this, pretty cool:

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

What kind of battery does it use?

carrot · Dec 17, 2005

paulr said:
Your best bet may be a small headlamp.

I noticed that the Petzl Tikka 3-LED 3xAAA headlamp is only $20 on Amazon.com right now. Throw in a $5 book or something, and you get it with free shipping. Was about to buy one, but realized I don't have any use for a headlamp right now. (Photon Freedom Micro comes with a hat clip, and I don't foresee needing a headlight for extended periods of time anyway.)

cy · Dec 17, 2005

brought three lights with me to philmont. Arc AAA for tent duties, ti cub for primary and Li14430/CR2 hanging on my neck 7x24.

luigi · Dec 17, 2005

Outdoors Fanatic said:
I've found this, pretty cool:

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

What kind of battery does it use?

It uses 4 common AA batteries. If you use Lithiums it will float, it won't float with Alkalines. I don't know how important that is for you.
The Elite model is regulated and you can choose to use it in regulated or non-regulated mode it also remembers the last level of brightness you used and has a blue locator led than can be left on for about 2 years on a normal set of batteries.
The construction is polycarbonate virtually indestructible, you can drop it, hit it, crash it, run over it with a car and it will keep working.

woodfluter · Dec 17, 2005

Outdoors Fanatic said:
I've found this, pretty cool:

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

What kind of battery does it use?

OF, it uses three AA sized batteries. The 4Z model you see here costs more than some of their other models, but it is fully regulated so it can be fed alkalines and maintain a uniform brightness - it comes with lithiums. I use it for just the purpose you describe and other things, but backpacking & camping is where it excells. You can get just the amount of light you need and at lower settings is perfect for reading and runs about forever.

BTW, I believe someone said that any of the single LED lights are too dim for reading. Not so in my case. My CMG Infinity Ultra has to be held or suspended pretty far from reading matter or I find it way too bright. That is another, low cost alternative to consider - it has a pretty good wide beam spill and will run for 11 hours with good output on one AA, longer and flatter on a lithium. In that sense it beats the Arc AAA which, while smaller, is a bit bright for your purposes methinks and has much less runtime. Not sure I would recommed the current Gerber version of the Infinity Ultra (they bought out CMG's version) because I have had serious reliability issues with 3 of them! I would search out old stock of the original if you can find that - the 2 I have never gave me any problems despite very frequent use. Good luck!

carrot · Dec 17, 2005

Whoa, I just ordered a Gerber Infinity Ultra from Amazon.com
Woodfluter, can you elaborate on the reliability issues you've been having with the Gerber models? I want to know what I'm getting into.

Best tent light to hang on flashlight loop?

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