Camping Lanterns
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What's the best lantern for camping?
A lantern is a common piece of equipment that you might need when camping. It sounds pretty old-fashioned - why not just get a flashlight? They're really for different purposes, though. A flashlight is good for when you need light focused somewhere, a lantern is better for when you want to see an entire area. In the woods, that can be a big plus - and it's also good to have around your campsite so people can see where they're going. If you just use flashlights, you often miss hazards that you don't happen to shine the light on.
Usually these days people rely on electric lanterns instead of any kind of oil-powered ones. They're obviously a lot easier to deal with, and you can use them in a tent without risk of a fire.
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Coleman Portable Electric Lantern - This is a good-quality lantern that runs on batteries. It can last for about 15 hours on a single set, so you can leave it on overnight to light up the camp. It's pretty light, weighing about 2 pounds, so it doesn't add much to your load. It's also really cheap - only about $13. You can get it online here. |
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Garrity LED Camping Lanterns - This 4 LED bulb lantern is great for energy efficiency and extending the battery life, but it's not as bright as some of your other options. It has several different modes so that you can put it on low if you want to save energy. It's also very light, weighing about a pound. I would get this mainly if you're worried about the cost of batteries / the environment / how long you can use it without the hassle of changing them. If you want something really bright, you can probably do better. It costs around $25 and is available online here. |
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Guidegear Camp Lanterns - This is a very high quality camping lantern, but it's more expensive. It uses LED bulbs for energy efficiency, and they last for quite awhile without replacement (supposedly about 11 years on average). It gets very bright, but it's got a dimmer switch so that you can lower the light levels as needed. To let you use it for longer, it's got six D battery slots - that gives you a huge reserve of power, and it can go for up to 17 days on a set of batteries (although if you run it at full brightness the whole time it might go out sooner). The only downside are it's more expensive and weighs about 5 pounds - it's about $40 and available online here. |
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GE Steelbeam Fluorescent Lantern - This is a very bright lantern, with enough light to read by. It weighs 2.5 pounds, which is still pretty lightweight. It's a little big though, about a foot tall, so it would be harder to carry it around when backpacking. It's a good mid-range option that costs about $22. You can get it online here. |
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