I'm looking to buy a coleman duel fuel lantern but am quite confused over which on to go for. My heart tells me to buy the northstar (£90 ish) but i'm finding it hard to justify spending that amount on a light! Any recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks
Hi Sarah and welcome. I don't have any experience of that lantern so can't comment on its advantages over any other dual fuel. I think the first decision with lighting is what fuel to use. If you're using petrol/coleman fuel to cook with, then by all means go for a lantern that uses the same. But I'd regard it as too much of a hassle to keep a different fuel for lighting to cooking, and I'd try and standardise them. If, say, you were using Campingaz for cooking, something like this might do, for a quarter of the price and probably the same output. Obviously, if you're thinking of EHU and mains electricity, there are a million and one options, but I'm guessing you're not.
I don't have that much experience of petrol fuelled stoves or lights, but I have learned that if you run them on standard unleaded they need cleaning regularly to stop jets getting blocked up and that's a pain. So Coleman fuel is much better, but that will be quite pricey if you're using it a lot.
We use the standard twin mantle Colemans, 9 in fact in our Scout Group which have to be hand lit. I personally dont think its worth the extra to go for the more expensive Northstar. They are quality lamps and you dont have to use Coleman fuel all the time. In fact we probably run Coleman through the lamps 1 in each 6 fills using normal unleaded the rest of the time. These lamps are very efficient and give off a large amount of light and are quite harsh if you look directly at them. There is also the safety considerations of using a hot petrol lamp on site - we never use them inside tents only outside. Other than that they are a cracking piece of kit. Oh by the way dont store the lamp for any length of time with fuel in, always empty it and let any residue evaporate. Stored fuel can cause residue build up and this may block the genertor.
------------- Nigel
March 2012 - Dove Meadows
6th July Moving to Hayle
We have the ordinary dual fuel two mantle Coleman lamp and it's fab. It's too bright to use anything much above low so if there is a single mantle version I imagine it would be fine for normal use.
What's the difference between the normal lamp and the Northstar?
We use a duel fuel twin mantle and i really love it. It's like a living creature that only comes out at camping time. Also, when the regulator is at the "10 o clock" position ours starts to make a ghostly humming sound - a bit like when you run a finger over the top of a wine glass - good for spooking out unwanted late night visitors - "whats that sound???", "It must be the campsite ghost - time you went back to your own tent - goodnight and...be careful ".
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Topic: Coleman Duel Fuel Lights
