Your Design For A Lantern - The Perfect Light

If you were Bill Gates and could have someone build a lantern to your own specifications, what would you design?

I have been thinking about this for some time. I'd choose a box-type lantern (guts on bottom / lexan dome on top) with a 12 volt NiMD battery. Light would come from one of two sources - Cold Cathode tube or a series of ultra bright LED lamps. The light would be rechargeable and water proof (inductive charging system). It would also come on automatically in a power failure, contain a dimmer, and also allow the LED's to function off a back-up "AA" battery combination. The light would also have a 12 volt power outlet.

Your thoughts / dreams / desires?

i'd want something the size of the Arc LS, maybe skinnier, with the functionality of one of those Eddie Bauer stretch lights (lantern /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif) and a lockout tailcap, that when twisted for constant on would be adjustable, such as a binoculars zoom mechanism, the more revolutions the brighter the spot gets.
o. and LED based with interchangeable optics.

It would have LED's (so it could take a beating). It would be powered by a lithium-ion power pack that comes with an AC adapter as well as 12v auto cord for charging. Lithium-Ion so it would be smaller, less weight, and operate in the cold (like my cabin is when I arrive). Dimmer- yes, not only for efficiency. So you can have just enough light for dinning outside in the evening without attracting every bug for several square miles.

IMHO a lantern is a poor source of light when camping. The main problem is that the light source is typically in your eyes. If you're sitting you can't read because you really want the light coming from above/behind you.

Lanterns are the way the are because they are cheap to make and put out a lot of light - it's just not useful light...

On a past camping trip I took a prototype of my Luxeon based/uFlex driver based light. It was a perfect camping light, I'd want maybe 3 of them though to cover the camp area nicely. The key to the light was its wide beam (60 deg), the head was flexible so you could point it where you wanted. When cooking after dark the light could be directed onto the stove and NOT into my eyes. Also, when dimmed right down it made a great nightlight for inside the tent. Dimmed it only draws 10-20mA (depending on battery source), so the runtime is easily a few nights of 4 AA nimhs, more nimhs or higher voltage would increase the runtime. With a car adapter and maha etc charger you're set for car/4wd camping etc.

What I'd like to build next is some lights that are on stakes/skyhook - like a 5' (collapsable) - then you can just just push them into the ground behind the camping chairs etc and have the light come down from above/hehind.

With a 60deg beam the Luxeon is shrouded in the reflector so that the direct point source light is not hitting you in the eyes, unless you have the head pointing the wrong way, that way even people sitting opposite you don't get the light in their eyes.

By doing this, not having the light directly in your eyes, your night vision doesn't get totally messed up and so you can get by with less light. It also means that you can still see the stars - see still outside of the bright area of the traditional lantern lit campsite.

I have a whole bunch of the heads made up and the loc-line that goes with it. I just need to get some time in a week or two to start assembling units up.

You can see info on the drivers and heads and the original prototype and some pics on my website at flexiled/uflex

george.

How about something like the uflex, but with a circular wheel on the side that adjusts the beam angle anywhere from 1-180 degrees. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif