i'm looking for a lantern for our trip to france and was considering something like the 'coleman northstar pr' or campingaz stellia cv are these type a good bye or would i be better with a battery powered led or similar? thanks Corny
If you intend using it inside a tent, I'd forget about the two gas lights because of the possible danger of fire and carbon monoxide. Gas lanterns also have the disadvantage of a fragile globe and an even more fragile mantle, so I'd go for the battery/rechargeable/wind-up option, preferrably LED.
To be fair Battery Lanterns are getting better, probably the best around at the moment is the Outwell 400LX also marketed by BaseCamp amongst others.
It uses 4 Cree LED's, so quite bright, and runs of 6 "D" cell batteries, of course some decent NiMh rechargeables would be best to use.
As for brightness, still only about half as bright as a single mantel CampinGaz lantern, which chucks out 80watt's in old money, so the fuel lanterns you mention are about double that.
Tube lanterns are OK, and at 7watt are about the same as a 400 lumen LED lantern, although Tube lanterns tend to attract every flying insect within a km of your tent, also the light is quite harsh.
I still have my old (1950's) Bialladin 300 Pressure lantern, a lovely 60watt Glow, but all that faffing around with meths and paraffin, it really must be considered as a museum piece, even though nothing can touch it for the Glow it gives.
We have and use a Stellia CV twin mantle lamp and it chucks out a very good bright light. We have transported it to and from camping trips without the mantle or the globe being damaged.
The only time we use it inside a tent is in our Vermont L (will not be used in our Nevada M) in the porch area which is well ventilated as it does not have a SIG in that section and the over window vents are also open.
We only tend to use either head torches when going to bed, or a strip light on ehu inside the tent. Nights in France were outside with the glow of the Coleman Northstar propane. Great lamp. As others have said wouldn't use it inside a tent though.
------------- Christine
2014
April -
BunRoy Fort William 3 sleeps
April / May
Invercaimbe Arisaig 4 sleeps
Bleatarn Brampton tbc July
lidl often sell a led rechargeable light , looks a bit like a short light sabre , which also comes with a car charger , the light is very bright and it lasts up to 5 hrs between charges , i last saw them in there for about
£8 each , well worth buying two at the price ,,
I'd forget about wind up lanterns, nearly everyone you speak to says they're utter rubbish because of the cheap nasty battery that are in them not holding charge.
We use gas for outside where the extra output is needed and LED inside where it's a lot safer.
hi. We have the campinggaz stellia CV for outside. I haven't used it yet (as don't have the mantles - can anyone tell me where to get them???)- but am told its good & bright.
Have also just bought a Vango lantern from Argos - approx £17 which is perfect for inside the tent (getting ready for bed in the dark, checking on the children, finding the wine etc!)
Battery ones give out such a cold and sterile light. I use a Coleman Dual Fuel Northstar for outside. The amount of light it throws out is astonishing. Inside I use a Primus EasyLight which runs on gas cannisters.
I'll take the point on the CO issues with using a gas lantern inside a tent, but as long as your outfit is well ventilated and you don't fall asleep with it on there's no real problem.
My favourite lights by far are the £5 EverReady head torches we use to get to bed and for night trips to the toilet block.
I use an Outwell LX300 and not only is it one of the brightest LED lanterns I've seen but the light is the same warm colour as most of the bulbs in an average house.
Can't go wrong with it and theres none of this 5 to 6 hour battery life rubbish... 35 hours is the quoted figure.
Battery lanterns are well.... as we say in France Merde! Go for the stellia cv because it throws out lots of light and the cartridges are widely available in France (decathlon :) ) As for CO poisoning as long as you don't have a sig or use it in inner tents you will be absolutely fine because tents naturally have good ventilation.
Cheers Matthew,
As for finding mantles for it michellej go outdoors is your best bet and they are usually the cheapest. They are the insta-clip ones
http://www.campingaz.com/p-23116-insta-clip174-mantle.aspx
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Topic: lanterns??
