Illuminated
Enlightened
Back in February I built this...
Rayovac 4AA Kid's Lantern/uflex Mod (Long/Pics)
I finally got to use it for its intended purpose a few weeks ago - and thought I'd make some comments here. The wife and I took a two week camping/backpacking trip to Superior National Forest MN (Gunflint Trail). We drove into one of the National Forest camp grounds and set up a base camp with the large tent and heavier gear. The weather was pretty lousy with record cold temps and lots of rain. Once the rain backed off a bit - we set out with the backpacks and spent a couple of days/nights at a designated remote site on the Superior Hiking Trail along the Cascade River.
At the base camp - the lantern was only used inside our large tent (we call it "the palace" - 12'x10' with air mattress, folding table/chairs, etc). While pinned down by the rain/cold, we spent a good bit of time comfortably inside making espresso, reading books/maps, etc.
The uFlex lantern was hung from the top of the tent on the lantern loop, and provided nice even illumination throughout the entire tent. The level of light was adequate for all but reading. The tent fabric is relatively dark colored, so internal reflection of light was not great. For reading, we simply moved the lantern to the table, elevated by placing it atop the coffee can. I may consider fabricating a nice little folding lantern arm to clamp to a table edge for this.
George's sleep mode programmed into the uFlex driver turned out to be the coolest thing for a tent light! Once we were ready to retire, I would set the light to its lowest level (nightlight mode) after enabling sleep mode. Suprisingly, it still lit the entire tent well enough to see everything, yet was dim enough to not be annoying at all. The light was off when we awoke each morning. Very cool, George! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
The lantern was not needed for use outside at base camp because despite the near total darkness of the moonless nights, the warm glow of the campfire provided more than enough light for navigation around camp. Also, our Dorcy 1AAA lights worn on a neck lanyard provided the additional task lighting needed for cooking on the stove and whatnot.
I did take the lantern on the backpacking excursions, since it only weighs in at 317 grams with 4AA Lithium Energizers. It turns out that I didn't need to use it in the tent, but I did find it very useful as an outside area light. Our remote site was fairly large as it's intended for groups, though we were alone during our stay. The site was uneven and had many tripping hazards such as rocks, roots, etc. The lantern was tied to a birch tree trunk about 7' above ground, roughly 20 feet from the fire pit and 50 feet from our tent. Even at level 2-3 (out of 8 levels) it lit the area suitably well for avoiding all those tripping hazards around the site.
I discovered that it was kinda hard to eat our tasty soup from the cook pot while holding the Dorcy light in my mouth, and hanging from the neck didn't light the inside of the pot at all. The firelight was no help, either. The lantern's elevated position on the tree easily cast enough light into the pot to make things much easier - even from from 20-25 feet away. I suppose I could have used my headlamp, but the lantern just made things easier altogether.
It rained again during the night, but I don't think the lantern even noticed while hanging out there on that tree. It's very well sealed against water - and it even floats (I tested it back in March).
It's amazing how little light is actually needed when it's really dark to begin with. The brightest levels were not needed as they were simply too bright for semi-adapted eyes.
I'm very pleased at the overall performance and usefulness of my lantern mod for camping/backpacking - and Georges80's uFlex driver makes it just perfect for what I wanted in a small lightweight lantern. Thanks again to George for the uFlex, and for doing those runtime tests (12 regulated hours at max brightness on Lithium AA's!).
Now, when will my next camping trip be...
Rayovac 4AA Kid's Lantern/uflex Mod (Long/Pics)
I finally got to use it for its intended purpose a few weeks ago - and thought I'd make some comments here. The wife and I took a two week camping/backpacking trip to Superior National Forest MN (Gunflint Trail). We drove into one of the National Forest camp grounds and set up a base camp with the large tent and heavier gear. The weather was pretty lousy with record cold temps and lots of rain. Once the rain backed off a bit - we set out with the backpacks and spent a couple of days/nights at a designated remote site on the Superior Hiking Trail along the Cascade River.
At the base camp - the lantern was only used inside our large tent (we call it "the palace" - 12'x10' with air mattress, folding table/chairs, etc). While pinned down by the rain/cold, we spent a good bit of time comfortably inside making espresso, reading books/maps, etc.
The uFlex lantern was hung from the top of the tent on the lantern loop, and provided nice even illumination throughout the entire tent. The level of light was adequate for all but reading. The tent fabric is relatively dark colored, so internal reflection of light was not great. For reading, we simply moved the lantern to the table, elevated by placing it atop the coffee can. I may consider fabricating a nice little folding lantern arm to clamp to a table edge for this.
George's sleep mode programmed into the uFlex driver turned out to be the coolest thing for a tent light! Once we were ready to retire, I would set the light to its lowest level (nightlight mode) after enabling sleep mode. Suprisingly, it still lit the entire tent well enough to see everything, yet was dim enough to not be annoying at all. The light was off when we awoke each morning. Very cool, George! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
The lantern was not needed for use outside at base camp because despite the near total darkness of the moonless nights, the warm glow of the campfire provided more than enough light for navigation around camp. Also, our Dorcy 1AAA lights worn on a neck lanyard provided the additional task lighting needed for cooking on the stove and whatnot.
I did take the lantern on the backpacking excursions, since it only weighs in at 317 grams with 4AA Lithium Energizers. It turns out that I didn't need to use it in the tent, but I did find it very useful as an outside area light. Our remote site was fairly large as it's intended for groups, though we were alone during our stay. The site was uneven and had many tripping hazards such as rocks, roots, etc. The lantern was tied to a birch tree trunk about 7' above ground, roughly 20 feet from the fire pit and 50 feet from our tent. Even at level 2-3 (out of 8 levels) it lit the area suitably well for avoiding all those tripping hazards around the site.
I discovered that it was kinda hard to eat our tasty soup from the cook pot while holding the Dorcy light in my mouth, and hanging from the neck didn't light the inside of the pot at all. The firelight was no help, either. The lantern's elevated position on the tree easily cast enough light into the pot to make things much easier - even from from 20-25 feet away. I suppose I could have used my headlamp, but the lantern just made things easier altogether.
It rained again during the night, but I don't think the lantern even noticed while hanging out there on that tree. It's very well sealed against water - and it even floats (I tested it back in March).
It's amazing how little light is actually needed when it's really dark to begin with. The brightest levels were not needed as they were simply too bright for semi-adapted eyes.
I'm very pleased at the overall performance and usefulness of my lantern mod for camping/backpacking - and Georges80's uFlex driver makes it just perfect for what I wanted in a small lightweight lantern. Thanks again to George for the uFlex, and for doing those runtime tests (12 regulated hours at max brightness on Lithium AA's!).
Now, when will my next camping trip be...
