I’m going to plan a camping trip sometime in the summer and I’m planing ahead to get the best and brightest camping lantern available for sale right now. I am lead to believe the Fenix CL30R is the best one on the market. What are your opinions on this lantern? Is it the best available for sale now?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HB4WK3M/ref=ox_sc_mini_detail?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A38GBW24HDG5AI
To my knowledge the CL30R is the best. The Streamlight Super Siege has more output but it uses a sealed battery.
Have you considered getting diffusers for the lights already in your collection? A $5 piece of plastic turns most flashlights into an acceptable lantern.
I have to love the quality of Amazon answers.
To this question: “Is this warm white, neutral white, or cool white?”
There are 3 different answers from users: “warm”, “cool”, and “neutral”.
Yeah, that really helps.
Aside from that, 650 lumens doesn’t seem all that bright for a 3x18650 light. I’m surprised there isn’t a brighter lantern.
Second this. I don’t see the purpose of having a lantern any more after getting MTNelectronics diffusor. It works perfectly with slim tube 18650 lights like convoy S2, BLF A6 etc. Note that fenix pd35, nitecore P12 do not fit. They are a tiny too thick.
I bought like 5 diffusor tips for my camping trip last year. Worked great. I can easily hang the light upside down from a branch or in the tent.
As far as lanterns are concerned, I’d say the CL30R is the best. It’s definitely neutral color temp, and 650 lumens is extremely bright with this lantern. I never run it over the 100Lm mode while camping, and that’s 38hrs of runtime. (50hrs with 3500mAh cells)
Both FenixStore.com and FenixLighting.com have discounts. FenixStore is a $20 discount for orders over $100 for new accts. FenixLighting has a 20% code for new members. I think it’s “newmember20”, but you should email them and ask.
Hope that helps
When camping, less is more. I’m not trying to light up my site like my living-room, and I wouldn’t want to be pitched up near anyone doing this.
Agreed, a simple torch with a diffuser is all that I need, run at low levels. This way I can appreciate my surroundings, as the light fades, but still see well enough to cook and eat my food, read, play card and board games etc.
Here’s another thing you can do if you have a DQG Tiny III 26650 light. Go get a Sylvania LED bulb from walmart, and take the plastic diffuser off of it. It snaps right onto the bezel of the DQG. Could even make a table lamp base, and get a small lampshade for it.
The Goal Zero 400 is probably the best one. There is a backup hand crank and also comes in very nice warm white led.
If you want a smaller one, the new Nitecore LA30 high CRI lantern looks like a good one. I can’t tell whether it is CW, NW, or WW though. I don’t like CW because it is not cozy and attracts more insects than WW.
http://flashlight.nitecore.com/product/la30
I agree, less is more when camping. This is a CL25R in 50lm mode if I remember right. Granted the light is bouncing off the white tent walls and the trailer, but more than enough.
Wow that’s gotta be way more than 50 LM! My CL25R on 350 LM turbo looks nowhere near that bright. But of course pictures can be deceiving.
Depends what you need the light for. If you have kids playing cards or a game outside at a picnic table, you need plenty of light. The old Coleman gas or propane lantern hanging from a tree must put out over a thousand lumens, but it’s needed for easy reading.
If you’re in a tent, sure, 50-100 lumens is plenty.
Yeah, the light is bouncing off the white walls and ceiling of the tent. But even if it were 350lm, which that picture isn’t, the CL30R can go twice as bright, and with (3) 3500mAh cells, you have 10,500mAh. Which is the point I was trying to make.
That is very cool! I have mostly Philips LED bulbs, and a few generics, but I’ll check if I have any Sylvania ones that look like that.
Nice! I ordered it. Can’t wait to get it. I suppose I could have put a diffuser on my other lights, but I was looking for a specific built lantern. The CL30R seems like the perfect choice. Having the battery bank function is also a plus. Being able to put it on a tripod is great too. This will go nicely with the Blitzwolf 28w solar charger.