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Whether you're using your lantern to light up your tent or cabin while camping or to help you see during a power outage, you'll be glad you have a lantern on hand to ward off the dark. The CORE Equipment 500 Lumen CREE LED Lantern is our top pick because it's bright, compact, and shines for hours on end.
In 2017, I went on a 10-day trek through the jungles and mountains of northern Colombia. The expedition was sponsored by an outdoor sportswear brand, so needless to say most of the team members were well equipped with gear and apparel. Being a rather experienced outdoorsy type, I brought along some gear none of the others had on hand, such as a water filter, binoculars, and a rather large and very sharp knife. Two items more than any others, however, elicited the attention and dare I say envy of the rest of the group.
The first was a paperback book featuring dozens of classic short stories. The second item was my trusty solar lantern, a device that weighs a couple of ounces and requires nothing more than a few hours of sunshine to provide enough energy for hours of soft, steady light after the sun slid behind the peaks.
Having a lantern stashed away somewhere in your home is just a good common sense idea. In the event of a prolonged power outage, a lantern creates room-filling light that allows for easier cooking, reading, and other basic activities than you can accomplish with the directional beam of a flashlight. A lantern is immensely helpful in an emergency situation should you need to administer first aid, repair a piece of equipment, and so forth. The long battery life (or fuel burn time) of a good lantern is another bonus when compared with most flashlights, which tend to consumer batteries more quickly.
For the camper, a lantern makes a tent, cabin, or the campsite itself more comfortable and inviting. The beams of headlamps and flashlights can be unpleasant and even blinding as they slash through the night, leaving most of the surrounding area dark while often washing out the spots on which the fall. Lantern light, on the other hand, is softer, filling a space with illumination and allowing all in its proximity to enjoy the glow.
When figuring out which lantern best suits your needs, consider its weight, size, and power source, brightness output, and special features. But also give equal thought to where and how you will most likely most often use the lantern.
SEE ALSO: The best tents you can buy
The best lantern overall
Why you'll love it: The CORE Equipment 500 Lumen CREE LED Lantern puts out enough light to fully illuminate a midsized room or to light up your campsite, porch, or picnic area.
The CORE Equipment 500 Lumen CREE LED Lantern casts a halo of light that brightens an area measuring 60 feet wide — and that is on its low setting. When at full power, the lantern's beam stretches out 45 feet, illuminating a space 90 feet across.
Equally impressive are the runtimes: The lantern will shine for 19 hours at full power and for an amazing 65 hours at the lower setting. Its diffusor tube ensures that its light is evenly distributed and is bright but not harsh.
The CORE Equipment 500 Lumen lantern weighs a little less than a pound and is small enough to tuck into a backpack. While it's slightly heavier and larger than the distance trekker or the climber will want to carry, it's a great choice for use on shorter hikes or for the car camper or RV enthusiast.
Despite its small size, the power of this lantern also makes it a fine choice for use in equipping an emergency preparedness kit or for more mundane, everyday tasks like grilling after dark or just hanging out in the backyard.
If you'll pardon the first of what will probably be many dimwitted puns, the CORE Equipment 500 Lumen CREE LED Lantern enjoys glowing reviews on Amazon. It has a shining 4.6-star rating, with owners highlighting its ability to "light up a room" and the fact that it offers an "amazing amount of lumens in a compact unit."
Across the web, the professional reviewers agree with those sentiments. A writer with Amazing Outdoor Adventures noted how CREE LED bulbs provide "maximum life and effectiveness," while a Best Brand Reviews write up noted its "impact resistant construction."
Pros: Super bright output, great battery life, good price for the quality, durable construction
Cons: Uses pricey D batteries, needs dimmer setting
The best propane powered lantern
Why you'll love it: As long as you planned ahead and stocked up on fuel, the Coleman Northstar Propane Lantern can provide you hours upon hours of amazingly bright light.
LED lanterns are all the rage these days, and for many good reasons: They produce no appreciable heat, making them safe for use in confined spaces and around pets and kids, they tend to be compact and lightweight, and they're easy to use. But that doesn't mean there's not still a place for a propane powered lantern at the proverbial table — or at the actual campsite, in your yard, at the RV park, and more.
The duration of burn time you can expect from the Coleman Northstar Propane Lantern is entirely dependent on the size of the propane bottle you choose. With a compact one-pound tank, you can expect about eight hours of super bright light, and as much as 20 or even 24 hours on a low setting. With a 20-pound tank, you could leave the light burning for a week straight.
While shopping for a propane tank and connecting one to the unit are both more involved tasks than buying and replacing batteries, the sheer volume of light this lantern creates beats out almost every battery-powered electric lantern money can buy. Its top1,500-lumen setting matches the light output of a 100-watt incandescent light bulb.
Once you have the propane tank connected and the lantern securely placed on a flat surface or hung from a branch, you fire it up, using a simple push button ignition system. Brightness is controlled with an easy-to-use dial on the front of the unit. And that's that. This is a durable, reliable lantern that works much the same as devices people have trusted for many generations.
The only real drawback here is that indoor use is ill advised, but not because of the fire hazard, but rather because propane burning equipment should always be operated in open air environments.
With hundreds of reviews in, it's clear the Coleman Northstar Propane Lantern is a shining example of great hardware. It has a 4.2 out of five star rating, with a customer named Daniel summing up the thoughts of many when he says: "This thing is a beast; forget the rest and buy the best."
A gear writer with Amazing Outdoor Adventures calls the Northstar lantern "one of the brightest lanterns on the market," while in a video review on YouTube, a reviewer noted its ease of setup and demonstrated how simple it was to ignite the lantern.
Pros: Amazingly bright, long run time, wide range of brightness settings
Cons: Slightly loud while operating, not suitable for indoor use, large and heavy
Best low-cost lantern
Why you'll love it: The Etekcity Collapsible LED Lantern is small, bright, and built to last, but best of all, it costs only $10.
What can you get with ten dollars? Quite a lot, really. You can get a decent cocktail or a fine sandwich, a month's worth of streaming video and TV programming, or a compact and capable lantern that will shine for hours at a time and last for many years of regular use. The Etekcity Collapsible LED Lantern costs only $10 but it comes backed by a 10-year manufacturer's warranty. That's money well spent, if you ask me.
When fully collapsed, the Etekcity LED lantern is less than five inches tall, and it weighs well under a pound. That makes it a fine choice for the trekker whose watching gear weight.
The intensity of light output is regulated based on how far you extract the globe section from the outer casing. The more of the 30 individual LED bulbs that are exposed, the more light the lantern emits. This is a pleasantly simple way to regulate brightness, but there's also a drawback in that the bulbs that are hidden away are still glowing, thus draining a bit of power needlessly.
The lantern is powered using three AA batteries and runs for 12 hours on its lower intensity setting and eight hours at maximum output. That's not a laudable runtime, but the money you save on the unit can be applied to some extra batteries.
With more than 2,200 reviews in, this Etekcity lantern has a shining 4.5-star rating. A customer named El said the lantern is "perfect for camping, fishing, emergency light for a camper/RV/Auto or as an emergency light for home use," while an owner named Levin called it simply "bright as heck."
A reviewer with Top Two Reviews noted the lantern's excellent portability thanks to its minimal weight and collapsible design, while a video tester demonstrated how easy it is to adjust the brightness output, but also showed how the lantern can easily be inadvertently turned on in your pack.
Pros: Great low price, compact and lightweight, durable construction
Cons: Short run time, light quality rather pale and harsh
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