Supernova 300 LED lantern - anyone have experience with it?

My father ordered one of these a few days ago. It hasn't arrived yet, but the reviews are mostly positive. Anyone here own one of these lanterns? If so, what are your experiences with it?

It's a Favourlight.



Google "Rayovac Sportsman Extreme" or "SE3DLN" or search CPF for the same and you will find more information then you could ever imagine.

Amazon wants "$35.00 + $9.99 shipping" for this version of the Gentos.

Batteryjunction wants "$27.50 & Free Shipping With Orders Over $50!"

Or, for a different flavor, try the "EX777XP" for $39.99 & Free Shipping" off Amazon.

The Gentos branding is the only one I have seen in the warm white flavor so far.

Pick your poison.

Here is their lantern lineup:

Link

And here is their complete catalog, in flash (yuck):

Link

You will find these under many different labels/brands depending upon the region of the world you are in. For example, "Rayovac Sportsman Extreme" pretty much has the North American market, while Australia has a different label. Can anyone guess what it is?

I personally called Rayovac and asked them to release a version of the Sportsman Extreme in warm white like the "EX-777XP" Gentos label, but that went absolutely nowhere.

I got a Gentos and love it. Tint and diffusion are king in lanterns for me.

regarding these favourlight lanterns, do they have a LED driver? OR do they just have resistors?

A Highly Detailed Examination of The Guts and Driver Board:

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Some Additional Links for Browsing Containing the Word "Driver":

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The Master Thread on All Things Related To These Lanterns:

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LEDAdd1ct,
Thanks for all those links.

It seems that the short answer is YES... they use a driver and use PWM.
I garnered that info from these posts.

MegaHurtz said:

Very Interesting!!

Does the newer version show the 'PWM Strobe' on low like the 1st gen did? Or is it smoother on low due to the larger capacitor maybe?

Click to expand...

bobski said:

We're talking about surface-mount components here, so the larger capacitor is still probably a few microfarads or less (though I've seen surface mount caps as large as 22uF before). That might smooth things out at high frequencies (in the 100,000 Hz range), but not at 100 Hz. The ole hand-wave test shows it's still clearly PWM.
It looks like the flasher mode's on-pulse time might be shorter... Maybe that's what the cap change did.

Click to expand...

Agreed!

I have 4 of these in its various brand names. I love them all!! They work awesome and batteries are D cells cheap and available. I've been on the same batteries for over a year of camping with no end in sight.

One of the lanterns I added tape to half of the globe to stop direct light from hitting me in the face. I did this so I can use the lamp for a reading light. The units with 3 brightness levels are the best for reading as the lowest level is great for reading when no other lights are on.

The reason I'm posting is I just ordered and received the Supernova 500. This lantern in all external appearances is the same as all the others with slight color and molded differences. The big difference is in the light engine. It's a vertical unit about 3 inches high with light output on 4 sides. Super bright! Looks to be about twice as bright as the 300 lm models. The globe is clear with no defusing of the light at all. You're looking directly at the light engine. No way you can hold this lantern in front of you TV style. It must be out of direct eye shot but for an overhead light its great! It lights up my 14'x14' canvas wall tent no problem. This is my first year with it so I'll give an update at the end of this season.