Hello all,
I'm new to camping and have just purchased a family tent (Hi Gear Voyager 6 Elite) and I'm looking for a lantern to hang from the ceiling.
Looking on Amazon it's hard to tell what's a good choice. I thought I should defer to your wisdom. Please could you advise me on a good value lantern that will last?
I'm wondering particularly if there are lanterns that can run off mains electricity or battery power since I'm likely to have an electric hook up most of the time but not all the time.
I'd also prefer a softer white than bright/blueish white.
For use on EHU we use a Bulk Head Lamp, with tough polycarbonate lense, it is fitted with a 105watt (1800 Lumens) Halogen Bulb regular BC type fitting.
Being so bright, it has an inline rotary dimmer at the lamp end of the 7m meter rubberised cable c/w double pole 6amp rocker switch.
Total DIY build cost was under £20.
For battery Lanterns I would avoid the fluorescent tube type, well bright at 7watt but the glow is garish, and they use lots of battery power.
LED is the way to go, and the best of the bunch is the Outwell Carnelian at 600 Lumen, we have two of the Outwell 400LX Lanterns which are both remote control and Have built in dimmer function.
Of course 600 Lumens is bright, but only half the brightness of a single mantle gas Lantern, so LED still has a way to go, but they are not doing to bad as far as it goes.
I would not buy a rechargeable Lantern, but would run a regular battery Lantern of rechargeable batteries, any LED Lantern that runs on "D" Cells (LR20) will run for ages.
Lidl/Aldi often have decent rechargeable "D" Cells available for £1.50 each, EBay has plenty of scam rechargeable "D" Cells on offer, but it's buyer beware!
Think ALDI have the bulbs that use a AA Battery - same as the ones that are sold at decathlon but cheaper. You can use a couple of them and use rechargeable batteries. The light is good, not too dazzling. We have a couple in the bedrooms and use for the main room when not on EHU
I just got some rubber sheathed cable and attached a pendant light fitting onto it with a paper lantern shade. Use any bulb you wish then. We use 11 watt Philips fluorescent eco bulbs because we had spare bulbs
For hanging from the ceiling, and on EHU, you could go for the Outwell Castor light , although that is just the lampshade and cable etc. No bulb included.
(Make sure it has 5m cable... there were reports a couple of years ago about 2m cables, despite the box stating 5m!)
The beauty of that, of course, is that you can choose the wattage and warmth of light, as you get to choose your own bulb!
We went a little OTT, and spent more on our bulb than we did for the lamp, but we do now have quite possibly the best camping light going... cold or warm hues, dim, bright, and all in between... oh... and remote control!
For battery powered i have a coleman lantern from go outdoors, takes 4 x D batteries and on high or low setting suitable for the living area and batteries lasted the week. With an EHU i use a LED 1.5M bar light but a little more tricky to pack but provides great all round lighting at night
Quote: Originally posted by Mucker1884 on 03/8/2016
For hanging from the ceiling, and on EHU, you could go for the Outwell Castor light , although that is just the lampshade and cable etc. No bulb included.
(Make sure it has 5m cable... there were reports a couple of years ago about 2m cables, despite the box stating 5m!)
The beauty of that, of course, is that you can choose the wattage and warmth of light, as you get to choose your own bulb!
We went a little OTT, and spent more on our bulb than we did for the lamp, but we do now have quite possibly the best camping light going... cold or warm hues, dim, bright, and all in between... oh... and remote control!
We also have the Outwell Castor lights for when on EHU (which is basically all the time, nowadays!) and would highly recommend them.
Mucker, for info, we safely store and carry 2 x lights in an Isabella peg bag which is a zip-top, padded bag (lots of uses - we also carry our cooking utensils in one). Far too good for pegs alone!
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Topic: Best Camping Lantern?
