Lanterns

Get a very bright floody headlamp or flashlight. Getting one from Zebralight, Spark or Xeno gets you a very nice lumens to dollar ratio.

I don't see the use for a lantern backpacking when everyone carries a headlamp. Lanterns are a must for playing Monopoly drive up camping!

In my personal opinion, lanterns might be nice, but they don't really mesh too well with BPL tendencies, especially if you're already carrying a headlamp. Extra weight, and redundant. Plus, many headlamps are featured so that you can have spot or flood lighting. Just ask yourself if you actually NEED a lantern.

I find that when it's dark enough to need a light, it's getting close to bed time anyways (unless you're a night hiker).

That being said, there are some small, lightweight models available.

Well I am in the process of trying a plan for a lantern out at the end of this week on a 3 night trip. I'm bringing a coghlan's cutting board (1 oz) since we plan on making trail pizza. I've tested this as a light diffuser for my headlamp in my house by rolling it into a tube and holding it together with a piece of shockcord. No extra weight since I was bringing that stuff already. I'll let you know if it works out. I've generally just used my Petzl headlamp in the past along with a campfire.

What's a camp lantern?

In all seriousness, I've never had a need for more than a headlamp.

I really like using one of the small candle lanterns (UCO). Not super bright, but it can burn without me worrying about battery life. Not as light as the headlamps. I do keep a small flashlight in my pocket for "quick" pinpoint light.

I have a coleman exponent f1. Light as far as lanterns go, I can see myself using it backpacking in short daylength situations in places that do not allow campfires like the high peaks region of the Adirondacks. But definitely a luxury item that purists will dismiss. 3.1 oz and burns the same isobutane fuel as my msr pocket rocket stove.

Another member here, Andy Duncan did something really neat as far as a lantern goes.

He took his Caldera Caddy and basically used it as a light diffuser for his Photon Freedom type lights. It worked very well and provided the ambiance that we lacked due to laws regarding campfires.

Otherwise, no lanterns don't really have a place on my trips. Even on group trips we usually content ourselves with just chilling in the dark or what have you.

I love this lantern.

It hangs from the top of my tent for reading and hanging out in the tent. Lanterns provide much better ambient light than a headlamp. I'll actually use both the lantern and headlamp to read in the tent.

I rarely like to sleep as soon as the sun goes down, so I need light to read by or play cards, etc.

Mine weighs 4.58 ounces. I can easily justify that over other stuff.

snow speak has a new-ish head lamp that they say can do both. I think its called miner light.

I had a BD Orbit (twice) and it didn't work out for me. It either burned through batteries very quickly or was malfunctioning. Or I didn't know how to use it.

I bought a Snow Peak Snow Miner headlamp/lantern combo. It's a very clever design and seems to work well so far. I'll probably have it on a trip for the first time this weekend.

The Snow Miner light is too bright to set the lamp down flat. The intense light is distracting. Much better hung overhead.

rayovac sportsman 3xAA is pretty nice. with batteries and no top it weighs about 6 ounces, rated 16 hours on high but probably much more with higher capacity rechargables.

Here's the light I'm talking about:

http://tacticalhid.info/e03

Get it with the lightsaber diffuser and it should do okay as a lantern. Both will set you back about $50. This light puts out good light on AA's and served well as a lantern when bounced off the ceiling during the blackout last year, but it puts out nearly twice as much light with lithium ion rechargeable 14500 batteries…which I haven't tried out yet.

I have a Fenix lantern lens attachment for my Fenix headlamp, but it doesn't seem effective. I prefer using a diffuser instead.

if you really think you need one costs $14 and weighs .18 oz

http://www.montbell.us/products/disp.php?cat_id=52&p_id=1124462

Anna, that is awesome! Adding another item to my wish list :)

This is what I bought

http://www.coleman.com/product/cr123a-lithium-pack-away-lantern/4347-710?contextCategory=24757#.T3No7GE9Al8
4.8oz

I found myself not using it since i have a headlight and end up going to bed early and waking up early after a long day of walking.

That MontBell crushable looks like it could displace the Mammut clip-on in my view for function. Our son uses the Mammut piece that clips on his headlamp and it's excellent: smooth light, easily hung or strapped to a rock/log and pretty light, mounted on an aim-able light (I note the Snow Peak can't be aimed and that kills it for me). The MontBell has to be lighter…just not sure if it's better.

You can always just make one too

http://gear-report.com/camping-homemade-diy-candle-lantern/

Yes, one way to see if you like the idea or not is to make your own, however I would stay away from glass and use plastic.
Now, how do you have an open flame inside a plastic container ?
This is how :
1 oz DIY candle lantern
With a 9 hour candle (lasts about 7 hours…) it is 60g, about 2 oz.
The light output is about 1 candle.

Not my idea, I just modified one posted here by another member.
Franco

A while ago I found a lightweight Coleman LED lantern on eBay for much cheaper than normal…perhaps it was a copy. It works fine in any case.

I worked out that lightweight candle lanterns generally weigh more than LED lanterns for the same amount of light, assuming you start with complete candles. A candle lantern might beat an LED lantern if you take a stub and only want say an hour's worth of light. Basically candles weigh a lot more than Lithium coin cells for the equivalent burn time.

"I'm fairly new to backpacking and was wondering what must of you use for a lightweight camp lantern? Is a lantern even necessary or can you get by using campfire/headlamp?"

The question is valid, the answer is not simple. A lot has to do with how one hikes. In my early backpacking days I carried a flashlight and always built a campfire, it was usually my stove too. Over time I got away from campfires and started using actual stoves, and carried a flashlight. Each iteration of flashlight got lighter.

I once bought a couple of light (for their time) butane lanterns. These were really for motorcycle camping, but I tried them backpacking. These lanterns saw little use backpacking, so that didn't last long. Too much weight for too little gain. Then I used candle lanterns occasionally for backpacking, mostly in the winter when nights were long.

When hiking I never bring reading material, music, cards or anything else to occupy my time, so I don't really need a lantern. When days are long I normally just bring a Photon II microlight. By the time it gets dark, it is usually warm enough to sit outside and just enjoy my site. During the short days of fall and winter I normally cook dinner before I get to my campsite, so a light is not really needed unless I need to put up a shelter in the dark. So on these kinds of trips I bring a UL headlamp. Batteries last a long time and they provide enough light for anything I want to do.

When at home I normally sleep about 6 hours per night, maybe 8 hours on occasion. But on winter hikes I find that I can go to bed early and sleep most of 12 hours. I often wake up around 2 AM for an hour or two, and just peek outside if in a shelter for a while, or watch the sky if sleeping without a shelter, or even go out and sit if it isn't too cold.

So long story, short. It depends on your hiking style. If you find you need a light to do things at night, more than likely a headlamp will be your best purchase. And you can do things to make it work more like a lantern, such as a "defuser" mentioned early or some sort of device to place it in. but you need to figure out what will work best for you. There is no right or wrong way.