LED Lanter Recommendations Needed!

Enthusiasts,

I am considering purchasing a LED latern, however I cannot decide on which one to get. I was considering the Coleman 8D HP (580 lumen) Lantern, however after hearing of the build quality have decided to continue looking. I'm looking to spend under $100, high lumen output, long battery power and lastly be able to stand up to the elements.

Regards,

Chris

Welcome to CPF, ChrisAmdi

We have a separate section for Lanterns, so I'll move your thread there.

I have the Coleman 8D HP Lantern, and honestly for its size I wasn't very impressed. I also have a Rayovac Sportsman Extreme 300 lantern and to my eye, and while the Coleman is brighter, its not stunningly brighter by any means. Not to mention the coleman is HUGE compared to the rayovac. The Rayovac runs on only 3 D's compared to 8. It's also pretty durable with rubber coating on both ends to cushion it from falls. Last time I went camping i knocked my rayovac down from about 5ft off the ground onto hard dirt and it's perfectly fine. The Coleman on the other hand... it's a bunch of cheap feeling plastic and w/ 8 D's riding in it, i'm pretty sure it wouldn't take a drop too well. But as something to have in a power outage and just leave sitting in the center of a room, I have no complaints.

The only advantages I see about the coleman is the tint is a bit warmer than the rayovac (although people have modded the rayovac w/ a warmer led if you're so inclined) and it offers variable output w/ lower levels of lighting compared to the rayovac's 2 modes.

But for the about $30 and only using 3 D's, the rayovac is pretty hard to beat imo.

Some other lanterns which are generally highly regarded are Black Diamond lanterns. They have the Orbit, Apollo, and Titan lanterns which are collapsible, making them more compact. I haven't got around to buying any of these yet so I can't comment on them myself.

Also the Sylvania 4AA lanterns are cheap and pretty popular to mod. Here's the thread if you're interested.

I also have an energizer weather ready folding lantern from Target which runs on 4D's, brightness is comparable to the rayovac, but again the rayovac wins out because that thing just feels sturdy as hell.

Hope that helps :thumbsup:

+1 on the Rayovac.

I have one and for it's size it certainly is bright (in both modes). If any criticism can be aimed at the Rayovac it would be that it is missing a third lower mode, but still, it's a great lantern.

I recently used it over three nights and it was left on from twilight to dawn on the low mode and by the end of the third night, it was still shining brightly.

I was using alkaline duracell batteries.

+2 on the Rayovac SE3DLN it's a fantastic, tough, and versatile little beast. For your budget you can get two of them and stack them on top of each other for more output :twothumbs

My daughter still uses one of my two of these every night as a nightlight on 'dead' cells I scavenge from the battery recycle bin at work. It runs a couple hundred hours at diminishing but still useful output after it falls out of regulation.

Blatant pitch ...

The Burgess Safari lite has been around in the flourescent tube version since 1965 nd has proven its durability ...

Our conversion to LED is about ready to be rolled out ...

C.F.Burgess Battery said:

Blatant pitch ...

The Burgess Safari lite has been around in the flourescent tube version since 1965 nd has proven its durability ...

Our conversion to LED is about ready to be rolled out ...

Click to expand...

3

Burgess? No way! Can you share some details? Your website doesn't seem to be ready with them yet.

:welcome:

Its coming along ....

A work in progress ...

15 irons in the fire and 48 hr days ....

WTH is that thing. I've never seen anything like it. I'm interested to learn more about it when it comes out. Hope it's warm, or neutral white which is easier on the eyes , and more pleasant then cool white for a lantern ... in my opinion.

Another thought regarding fluorescent. I'm involved with a lot of commercial / industrial lighting, including LED (PAR bulbs, strips) and fluorescent (CFL, CCFL, linear high bay). I can say from experience that LED isn't always the "best" solution given current technology - sometimes fluorescent gives a bigger benefit/cost ratio.

The regular old 60 watt incandescent bulb is a great example. It is hard right now to heat sink that form factor ("A" shape bulb) enough to make LED work, and hard to get 360 degrees of light from LED. But CFL and CCFL (cold cathode) work great, are cheap, and have power company rebates.

So back to the lantern... I just bought a couple of lanterns for home use and I went with fluorescent. A 4D 7W U tube (425 lumens) for one and a 8D double 9W U tube (1000 lumens total) for the other. The efficiency and output of fluorescent is roughly the same as LED and fluor has a wide color temperature range available these days, like LED. Fluorescent usually costs less. The one big difference is only about 2,000 - 6,000 hours lifespan for the fluor tube vs. 50K+ hours for the LED, depending on how many on/off cycles the bulb gets. But at the relatively low cost of fluorescent you can replace a lot of tubes and still be ahead on costs vs. LED in many situations.

Just one more thing for you to consider if you have any leeway in wanting LED. And welcome to CPF! I'm fairly new here myself. :welcome:

I also like fluoros for lanterns; leds aren't always better, especially in the glare dept. I do think your lumen ratings for your new fluoro lanterns are optimistic. Fluoros do not have as good lumen/watt ratios vs led. Coleman now rates their lanterns in lumens, and you can compare similar setups on their website to get an idea as to true lumen output.

I was looking for a lantern with decent brightness, too, and got the Coleman 8D 580lm 4xLED lantern.
I couldn't find other lanterns with similar brightness.

After a few days use I have to admit that the light probably does not produce 580 lm with 8xD cells. I will post more details and observations soon. As to the build qualitym I have to agree, lots of rather cheap pastic. But still, I would hope it would be more rugged than a CFL version.

Obviously, D-cells are not the best option for a longer trip. Thus, I will mod the lantern with a SLA battery.

I'll keep you guys posted.

AlexLED said:

I was looking for a lantern with decent brightness,
Obviously, D-cells are not the best option for a longer trip. Thus, I will mod the lantern with a SLA battery.

I'll keep you guys posted.

Click to expand...

indeed the 12V setup would be convenient toward installing a 12V SLA or 12V plug on the side for external power connection.

Kremer said:

indeed the 12V setup would be convenient toward installing a 12V SLA or 12V plug on the side for external power connection.

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Exactly ! :thumbsup:

Mind that the lantern has a 4s2p config, so it's running on 6V. So you would either change the resistors or build in some LED driver circuit. (I'm planning the latter. )

+2 on the Rayovac SE3DLN it's a fantastic, tough, and versatile little beast. For your budget you can get two of them and stack them on top of each other for more output

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I Totally agree with this.
This has to be the best LED Lantern I have seen. The 3D batteries last a long time and the Lantern outputs allot of light. Well worth the price. his is a very bright light for the money. The quality is there. I highly recommend...

+4 (or is that +5?) for the Rayovac lantern. I have a ton of battery-operated lanterns. By-far, my fav. is the Rayovac 3D.

I actually just bought 2 more this week after doing a 2am engine repair for a coworker after their truck wouldn't start at the end of the night. Beats the snot out of using flashlights. Other than an EDC, I'm not really sure I have much use for flashlights now. For the times when my EDC isn't enough, I'm probably in need of a flood light rather than simply more lumens.

I do use Sanyo eneloop AAs with AA->D cell adapters with my Rayovac 3D. I'll probably stock up on D batteries when hurricane season approaches. Even with just the AAs, runtime is more than sufficient for the situations I've needed it.

Also take a look at the matching 3AA version of the lantern as well. I find it makes the perfect bedside light for late-night reading and misc. work around the house. It also fits quite nicely in a pocket when crawling into tight attic spaces.

With BOTH lanterns, I find both brightness levels to be quite bright and wish they both had a dimmer option. I almost always run them on the low setting. I like the Energizer Weather Ready lantern's night light feature. If these Rayovacs had that, they'd be perfect. The Energizer lantern's not bad but just is too big/too fragile for anything outside the house. With the Rayovac 3D being the same price, I can't see why anyone would bother with the Energizer.

AlexLED said:

I was looking for a lantern with decent brightness, too, and got the Coleman 8D 580lm 4xLED lantern.

....

As to the build qualitym I have to agree, lots of rather cheap pastic.

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The build quality might, indeed, be crap, but did you ever tip over a twin mantle gas lantern, and then try to replace 2 broken mantles in the dark .