Thursday 28 January 2010

Flashlight - camping lantern, emergency light


I own two Coleman Max Family Size LED Lanterns (purchased at Wal-Mart) that emit 175 lumens each. In comparison, this Coleman Twin-LED Lantern purchased through Amazon.com emits more than twice as much light (390 lumens), and its light is more diffused, whereas the other two have shadows cast by the four obstructive metal supports, plus the light they emit is more glaring because it isn't diffused. My other two lanterns also have only high and low settings while this one has a variable settings dial.



Anyway, I liked this unit so much that I purchased another. I think it is the best one of its kind available and that you will like it, too. The only disadvantage that I can so far determine is that the lack of the four lid supports may cause loss of some of the protection qualities of the clear, unobstructed plastic protective outer casing against scratches. Coleman Twin LED Lantern

We bought this lantern for my husband's 95 year old mother. She lives alone in a northern (snowy) state, and we wanted to be sure that she had an emergency light for power outages. Her fingers don't have the strength to turn some lights on and off, so we liked the totally variable brightness dial on this lamp. It smoothly dials from almost no light to bright, bright, bright. She loved the lamp and said she would use it not only for emergencies but for every day use at her bedside. With this lamp on a night table next to her bed she can just reach over and turn the dial when she wakes at night, instead of having to sit up and struggle with an on/off switch.

As for the warnings in other reviews about not being able to buy replacement bulbs, LED's do not burn out. In addition, they require very little energy to produce light, and you will be surprised at how long your batteries will last.

We did not think that changing batteries in this lamp was challenging.

It's a good buy. The price is very reasonable for what you get.

My mother-in-law liked the way it looked just like the old Coleman lanterns that used kerosine for fuel.

I bought this Coleman lantern just before going on a week long camping trip, so there wasn't much time to really get to know what to expect from it. I read other reviews, positive & negative, but purchased it anyways because it was not a fueled lantern, but battery powered LED's.



The first thing to keep in mind about this lantern is the level of light this unit makes. The first evening out in the campsite, I used my flashlight for a while until it got very dark. Then I set this lantern on the picnic table there and turned it on. It literally lit up the whole campsite, just as a propane or camping fueled lantern would. In the total darkness surrounding me out there, I could clearly see about 50 or 60 feet around my campsite. That was with the light at full brightness. Knowing that full brightness would eat up the batteries, I adjusted it down a bit. Still, it puts out plenty of light to see around me, even on low to medium power.



This is an adjustable LED lantern, meaning the levels of light will vary with the rotary knob. It isn't like the tall torch floor lamps most people have in their homes, where the level of light will slowly vary with the knob as you turn it, but will brighten up or dim down with a "fixed" amount of light coming from it. LED's don't vary in their intensity slowly like an incandescent light bulb will when you increase or decrease their intensity.



There are 7 levels of light from this unit, which is nice if you want to light up the whole campsite, or dim down far enough to read a book, but not disturb others in your tent while they sleep. The twin frosted globes doesn't have "bright spots" as clear globes would, because there is no direct light coming from it. It's all diffused all the way around. But the best thing about this light is, since it's an LED light, there is no heat coming from it to attract bugs. Some of the other campers around me used fueled lights, and I could see moths buzzing around their lanterns, as well as them swatting mosquitoes. I had the occasional moth fly by me, but no mosquitoes. BIG PLUS for me right there!



I would've given this light 5 stars, but I've only had it for about 3 weeks now, so I can't comment on it's durability and longevity. I *can* say that for the money, it's a GREAT camping light. It's about a foot tall and weighs about 4 or 5 pounds, but most of that weight is the lithium batteries I put in there. Sure if you want to save weight, put dry cell batteries in there, but dry cell batteries won't last for very long. That's something you DON'T need when you're out in the middle of the woods, is no light and dead batteries!



If you're an avid camper, OR you need an LED lantern that puts out *plenty* of light, this would be the one I recommend. I put it to the test for a week out in the woods, and it didn't fail me. But, that's only a week's time so your mileage may vary.



Two thumbs up!

This lantern puts out great light, but watch out when loading in the batteries. The compartment isn't very user friendly and poorly labeled, so I may have switched the polarity of one of the batteries when loading them in. The lantern started hissing and was hot to the touch after a few minutes. I couldn't open the battery compartment until I gave it a really hard jolt. The batteries were boiling over. I would hate to think of what would have happened if I hadn't been sitting next to the lantern when it was overheating!

First of all, ignorant humans should be banned from recording feedback.

Second, if one can't see the difference between a + and - one needs to repeat the second grade.

Third, this classic is ~twice as bright(390 lumens compared to 190 lumens)as compared to other 8D LED lanterns.

Fourth, its easy to find D batteries on sale for 50% off, so just stock-up when you see them on sale.

And finnally, LED bulbs will last decades, so for as often as the powers-out, or camping 50x per year-no bulb needed.

Wheehhww! Now that we have cleaned out the ignorant clutter, you the prospective buyer, can be assured that this Coleman Twin

LED Lantern is truly a Five-Star! I've had mine "burning" for hours now. The "cool-factor" for this is five-star as well,

its virtually a twin to the old-classic-propane lantern in size, appearance, and charm.

Anyway, there ain't nothin wrong with this lantern, its all good. Buy one, you'll be glad you did. - Camping - Lantern - Emergency Light - Camping Lantern'


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