Lanterns

[The Hikers]

In damp and chilly weather nothing beats the extra heat thrown off by the gasoline or propane lantern. ....not to mention lighting up the whole campground

 

[Grumpy]

For car camping, Mrs. G. and I have used a Coleman battery powered, one-bulb lantern for a number of years. It puts out adequate light, and runs on four D-cells. This may be just what you're looking for.

We also occasionally use a Coleman Peak One single mantle, white gas lantern. In longer ago years we used the full size Coleman double mantle gas lanterns. All the gas lanterns are prolific heat and powerful light producers.

G.

 

[Trout]

Wal*Mart sells some small (maybe 6" round) LED lights that hang in the tent for about $7 in their camping dept. They have about 20 small lights in a nice circle & put out some very bright light--like a small flying saucer.

 

[IndianChris]

Thanks all!
I went with a Coleman Retro Rechargeable. Here. Seems pretty bright and we'll be able to recharge it while we drive from place to place (and not have to spend $$$ on the Ds)
Wonder why they don't make it any more though. Anyone know why?

They make this one that seems very similar. Wonder why they discontinued the one I just got. Of course no reply form the Coleman customer service via e-mail yet.

I know they're probobly not as bright as the liquid fuel ones but like I said earlier, just don't like the idea of flame + tent + kids.

Thanks again.

 

[Little Rickie]

Nice. Where did you buy it?

 

[IndianChris]

Big Dick's.
EMS left the mall so it's either Dick's or Sport Authority now by me.

 

[Gwynna]

A friend of mine had a battery-powered and hand-cranked lantern that he was trying out last weekend. Though this was its first test run, it seemed to be nice to have both wall-charged batteries good to go for those first nights and the hand-crank for the rest of the time. For those of us not terribly interested in using up a bunch of batteries just to pitch them, seems like a nice alternative. Can't for the life of me remember the brand, though, and he didn't say where he got it. I'm sure Google is your friend there.

 

[MichaelJ]

Thanks all!
I went with a Coleman Retro Rechargeable.

Best I can tell the new model is a little bigger and heavier, probably an improved battery.

I have this lantern (though I'd be hard-pressed tell you 838 vs 850) and it has worked wonderfully. It does claim to require a lot of charging, so before any trip I charge it up overnight then top off the charge on the drive with the car adapter; however, I have no idea if that's actually necessary as I've never run it out of charge. While camping up in NW Maine I would plug it back into the car each day for the hours of driving on the old logging roads; it did go three nights at Baxter with no recharge without a problem.

The only thing I've found is that there's not much of a difference between high and low.

 

[IndianChris]

MJ, I checked with Coleman on it...it's exactly the same, just a different color. Yeah, seems like a good lantern for what I'll be using it for. Would like to get a hard carry case for it. Do you have one?

Someone mentioned the Black Diamond Apollo I think earlier on this thread...I saw it the other day at EMS...wasn't impressed at all. Very small and not too bright (although the store model probably has some hours on it). It looks like it might work well in a small two man tent, that's about it. If you're carrying a headlamp, no need for the Apollo in my opinion.

 

[MichaelJ]

No, the only hard case I have is for my white gas lantern.
One thing to watch out for is that the handle has a little rubber strip on it. Make sure it stays there, it keeps the handle from scratching the heck out of the clear part of the lantern.
It's a really great camping lantern for any situation when carrying heavy gear isn't an issue. I'd love to know how its battery performs in the cold, it'd be nice to take on a sled into Baxter (as a supplement, of course).
Oh, and in midsummer it does attract bugs with a vengeance.