D cell lantern Siege vs Rayovac Indestructible?

I am looking for a good D cell lantern for camping and power outages and am undecided between the Streamlight Siege and the Rayovac Indestructible. Anyone have experience with these two?


Thanks!

The Siege is an amazing lantern. If you want a very high quality build lantern I'd go with it. I wrote a review on it here:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?390730-Streamlight-Siege-Review-Now-in-neutral-white!-%28September-2014%29

Thanks for the great review!

I probably would have already pulled the trigger on the siege if it weren't for a couple things; one being I think I saw somewhere that the PWM is kind of slow and noticeable? and that I would like 500+ lumens if possible (a brighter 2.0 version maybe?).

The only things I see going for the rayovac is it's brightness and extreme impact resistance.

I've never noticed any PWM on the Siege in use. I have it here in front of me actually. There is no PWM at all on the highest and waving my fingers in front of it looks totally smooth. After checking that method I do see there is a bit on the lower modes, but honestly I've never even noticed it. I don't think it matters honestly as it just sits when in use 95 percent of the time. I think PWM is more of an "issue" for flashlights and you'll notice it more sometimes. I think the brightness is good overall for its size. After having a few lanterns I've come to realize that if you get too bright for a small lantern you get harsh glare no matter how good the diffusion. I don't know about impact resistance, but I will say, the Siege is by far one of the best build qualities on a rubber and plastic lantern I've ever seen. Definitely better than any Rayovac or Energizer lanterns you see at a Target or similar store.

If you do go that route I'd think about getting a D cell charger and Tenergy D NiMh cells like I did. Gives it great run times and you can recharge as much as you want.

Also another lantern you might want to consider is the Fenix CL25R if you already use 18650s. It doesn't have as good run times overall, but does have some cool features like usb charging of the cell in the lantern while still running at 50 lumen output and the abillity to use low temp capable cr123 lithium batteries. If you actually want an led lantern to use in harsh cold weather I'd go with that. Oh and that Fenix comes with an 18650 which is pretty cool.

The Siege is about 30 dollars without any cells while the Fenix is about 60 dollars with an 18650. If you bought D NiMH cells and a charger it's probably overall more if you are just looking to get one lantern.

When i buy a lantern , its gonna be the D size Siege. I like the shaving gel cap mod you did , ill have to try that ..

Ima a Streamlight fan boy.
But I've almost brought home the Rayovac 3 or 4 times....

Will probably end up with the Rayovac.

I know you were asking about just those two lanterns but a while back I picked up one of Wal-Mart's Ozark Trail line...the 500 lumen version lantern and I was surprised at it's sturdiness and simplicity. I wouldn't go throwing it around a campsite or anything but I'm confident it can tolerate a few bumps and drops. On the plus side it has a variable intensity dial, although the jump from off to low is quite a bit...maybe 50-60 lumens.

Another one to look at is the Ultimate Survival Technologies 30 day lantern that runs on 3 D's. 22 hours at a 700 lumen high, 30 days on 30 lumen low, and a 140 lumen medium. You can also get them in a glow in the dark casing. No red led mode like the Seige though and the power button does not illuminate like the Siege. I was undecided between the Siege and the UST 30 day for quite awhile but the extra brightness and glow in the dark casing sold me on the UST. I have their Pico 4AA model as well and it's my favorite little lantern, 123 lumens for 22 hours, 15 lumens for 91 hours. I looked at the AA Siege as well as it has a brighter 200 lumen mode, but it's lowest mode is 50 lumens which in a tent etc. is brighter than I like.

Streamlight also just released the Super Seige at 1100 lumens and 8800mah rechargeable battery, but unfortunately it won't take primary cells which to me is a deal breaker for a lantern.

The Rayovac looks nice as well, and that indestructible series is a good value. I didn't like that I couldn't easily find what the run time was on high, they only listed like 280 hours on low.

I had the Rayovac and gave it away. The low is still too bright for indoor use and the black plastic "arms" that connect the top to the base throw off huge shadows.

I have the Siege and love it.

Thanks for all of the replies and advice! Looks like I will most likely go with the Siege but I will check out the others suggested.

Thanks again.

lightfooted said:

I know you were asking about just those two lanterns but a while back I picked up one of Wal-Mart's Ozark Trail line...the 500 lumen version lantern and I was surprised at it's sturdiness and simplicity. I wouldn't go throwing it around a campsite or anything but I'm confident it can tolerate a few bumps and drops. On the plus side it has a variable intensity dial, although the jump from off to low is quite a bit...maybe 50-60 lumens.

Click to expand...

I have several of the Ozark Trail led lights just not the lantern yet but I've been planning to get one. Overall I've found the OT brand to make reliable well built lights that as far as I can tell all meet or come very close to their advertised Lumens running off primary batteries mostly AA and AAA's.