Best battery powered lantern?

[Richard Simmons]

Power was off when I got home last night and was still off this morning. We found out just how unprepared we are as far as lighting goes. Had a bunch of large candles and plenty of flashlights and batteries but no good light source for reading or general living.

We do have several oil lamps but they are packed away someplace, so says the wife and we don't have any oil anyway. Thinking I'd like to pick up a couple of battery powered lanterns, something that runs off C or D cell batteries that way we'll have a useable and convenient lighting source for short term outages (12-24 hours). Planning on digging out the oil lamps and getting oil and spare wicks. Any suggestions? TIA

[Mark Ducati]

Do you need to light up a whole room to play Twister or Scrabble while the wife cooks over a gas stove? Or do you need just enough light to read a book, or see another person's face in the room to have a conversation?

http://www.rei.com/media/hh/fbb91f90-7f2a-439f-8b32-bfcd6bdc2592.jpg
http://www.rei.com/product/807910
$30 bucks from REI

Runs on 4 AAA batteries... LED puts out 45 lumens on high and 10 lumens on low; illuminates an area approximately 13 ft. in diameter on high.

It will run 15 hours on high or 24 hours on low... hold the button in on the side and its like a dimmer switch, you can make it as bright or dim as it will go.

I have two of these for camping, the ring at the top opens so you can attach it to the loop at the apex inside your tent...

The lamp opens and closes by raising it up or down... meaning, it collapses to make it smaller to fit into your back pack, or perhaps your kitchen drawer... its only 5.5" open or 4" closed to begin with... pretty small, but a wonderful little lamp that lasts a long time on 4 AAA batteries.

[Mark Ducati]

I know you asked about batteries...

But did you see my post about these?

$15 bucks for 3 ceramic wine bottle corks with a wick:

http://www.winebottleoillamp.com/?gclid=CI-EuZyu_KYCFUJm7AodfDWBCg

http://www.winebottleoillamp.com/images/3%20BW%20Pict.jpg

My order just arrived a couple days ago... I've used these before, the wick though is NOT long enough to reach the bottom of a wine bottle, perhaps 1/2-2/3 of the way only... its better suited for using in a beer bottle.

You can use Kerosene or Lamp Oil, but this also works with Vegetable/Peanut/or Olive oil... C'mon, who doesn't have cooking oil in their house? Or left over Tiki Torch oil from summer?

I haven't tried it, and I'm sure it'd smoke like heck... but I bet even motor oil would burn with this wick...

[Richard Simmons]

Thanks for the reply.

I opted to give this one a try. With a gift card I had it only cost $15 delivered. According to the reviews it looks like it might work pretty well.


http://www.amazon.com/Rayovac-SE3DLN-Sportsman-Extreme-300-Lumen/dp/B0018S4XIS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1298033896&sr=8-1

[FunkyPertwee]

I've got some rechargeable Coleman lanterns that I like. I keep them plugged in the wall, and just unplug it when I need it.

[Richard Simmons]

I've got some rechargeable Coleman lanterns that I like. I keep them plugged in the wall, and just unplug it when I need it.

Those are pretty handy but if your power is out for 24 hrs like mine was, you can get in a bind depending on how long the charge lasts and how much you use it. Thinking about getting a converter I can plug into the power outlet in one of our cars. At least that would let me recharge stuff as long as I have gas to keep the car battery charged.