Best LED Lantern

I, too, am looking for the holy grail in lanterns. Where can we find an LED based lantern that is lightwieght and casts a decent light over a fairly wide area — and doesn’t burn out the batteries in one use? I have purchased and returned a number of contenders. So any suggestions will be eagerly anticipated by me, too.

Hmmm, I hang my headlamp from the overhead when in a tarp or tent. What we need here is a gizmo to put a headlamp into that will act as a diffuser/reflector.

Lessee… get two of those REI plastic signal mirrors (item 407197) and make a duct tape hinge. Drill holes and make a Spectra line harness that will hold the mirrors in a inverted V shape. Mount your headlamp hanging upside down to reflect off the mirrors. Extra points for incorporating the headlamp harness as much as possible. You may be able to pull it off with one mirror in a roughly parabolic shape, as they will flex.

If one of the LED headlamp makers is listening, here is an opportunity: make a light molded plastic frame with a removable mirror and a mount for your lightest headlamp. It should beak down flat and the mirror should be able to do double duty for grooming and as a signalling device.

Some drafting vellum or tracing paper can be used to make a shade/diffuser rather than the reflection method.

A styrofoam cup works pert’ good as a diffuser. And it’s, well, also a cup.

I have tried several diffusers including a paper cup (never a styrofoam one) and they all lost too much light in the process. Did try using one of the multi LED headlamps with an inverted diffuser from a flashlight unit that had one built onto the end of the light. It was too combursome to really work well. I like Dale’s idea of using two REI signal mirrors hinged together. I think I will try that one. I think all of us would really like to see a manufacturer like Petzel or Black Diamomd create a wide area LED lantern either using one of their existing units or creating one that has the same utility as their stellar headlamps. A lantern weighing in at about 2 to 4oz that would have the life of one of the headlamps would be ideal. The LED ones I have seen are weak or send the light in all the wrong directions.

Any other do it yourself solutions out there?

I take a white plastic grocery bag and puff it up over my headlamp. The headlamp can be hanging from your tents gear hammock or you can lay it on the floor facing up. It turns the puffed up grocery bag into a ball of soft light.

Depends on what LED power you want.
If you want BIG power, then you will have to buy one of the more expensive models. But if you can live with the light from one or two 5 mm LEDs, then the brand of headlight does not matter, as they all use the same white LEDs.

So, … buy the cheapest you can find and trim the weight down. This means playing games with something from Walmart or Tandy.

Btw: I can cook dinner with the light from one 5 mm LED set on low power – about 5 mA rather than the nominal 20 mA. You do NOT need a beam which dazzles deer at 50′ – unless you are playing macho games or have a wallet going to waste.

Cheers
Roger Caffin

If you want a cheap lantern here is one option:

http://www.batteriesandbutter.us/led4aa1bp.html

You can buy them at Target for about $7. They are relatively light, but they require 4 AA batteries, which nearly doubles the weight:

weight of lantern – 2.5 oz
weight of 4 AA alkaline batt – 3.5 oz
weight of 4 AA lithium batt – 2 oz

So with lithium batteries, it’s 4.5 oz total, which isn’t exactly light when you already have a headlamp. The lithium batteries were $9 and the lamp was $7, so it was $16 total.

It does give off a fair amount of light, and the light is nicely diffused. It also has a hook on it, which would make it very easy to hang from one of the clips inside my Double Rainbow for reading or card playing.

It’s rated to last 200 hours on low, and 100 on hi.

Check Office Depot for this lamp too– they were $4 and change a year or so ago in the store. There is a hole in the back you can hang on your shirt button for working hands free– perfect for untangling lines in the dark. It does make a great reading/writing/tent light.

For those looking for a deal on a headlamp, Sierra Trading post has the Black Diamond Ion for $12.95 http://www.sierratradingpost.com/product.aspx?baseno=98619