Tac Light Latern

As seen on TV they look pretty good, and 2 for $19.99 isn’t bad unless the postage eats you up
Anyone tried one?
Thanks,
Jerry

They are cheap junk chinese lanterns sold under many names, with hideous blue light. You can buy them in packs of 4 lanterns on amazon for 18 bucks or cheaper, like these

All the lights Tac light sells is cheap junk. Those “can your light do this?”, are sold on Gearbest for under 5 dollars with free shipping, or 5 bucks on aliexpress

Funny thing is, those beasties are getting 5 stars almost across the board. :smiley:

And <5bux each for a 4-pack isn’t bad, even for a cheap POS.

Wonder if they can be deep-fried…

Anyway, for a throwaway “lantern” to just throw better’n-nothing light all around from a trio of AAs, it ain’t too bad for the price.

The collapsable design and magnet on the base might make it worthwhile. Don’t think I’d get any, but I suppose people’d consider them handy, even with Angry Blue™ light.

I wouldn’t want anyone camping next to me with one of those. You see these people all over campgrounds with the ugly blue lights setup next to their $75,000 campers. To be honest, it’s an eyesore. Fenix CL lanterns are much more neutral white, bullet proof, take 18650’s, and will last a lifetime of camping. Pay once, Cry once.

Hey, I’ll defer to your experience, as I know zero about lanterns.

My “lantern” during a blackout or when a fuse blows is ceiling-bounce from a tailstanding flashlight. :smiley:

No idea when I’d even use a lantern. Probably would just unscrew the lens from a ’98 and use that as a mule.

Who cares if they have a horrible blue tint when you can boil them in water, freeze them in ice, and let an elephant sit on them and they still work…lol!

You forgot, run over them with a Humvee

Wow, You’re right! Forgot about that!

Is it Fenix that makes my single AA powered LA10(?) ‘lantern’ with the high CRI (Nichia?) and magnetic base?
I have the OP’s $5 light plus that one (less than $20 on sale somewhere late last year) and felt that they were both great for the price paid.

I saw that commercial also. Thought it looked useful for the price. But I passed

But I’m not a FMR Fighter Pilot… would that still work for me??

That’s the Nitecore LA10. Both high CRI Nichia and CW Cree versions. They’re both great little pocket lanterns.

That Tac Light and similar ones branded differently are kind of a waste of money (even at $5). I’ve seen versions now with COB emitters which probably wouldn’t be as bad, but I still wouldn’t trust the overall longevity.

If you want a cheap, reliable AA lantern I would recommend the 4AA Defiant lantern Home Depot recently started selling. $10 and it comes with a set of alkaleaks. You can also find an EverBrite variant on Amazon.

Glad I did not order them. Thanks. However, my own reason for buying them would have been when the power was lost :smiley:
I have several lanterns and emergency lights anyway. In an emergency I don’t mind if the color of the lights is bad as long as the lamp burns.

Thanks again for the comments.
Jerry

I have a few Fenix CL25R clones for that reason. Ugly blue light, but who cares when there’s no power in the house. You can see in the picture how much warmer the Fenix is (middle) for camping. But with 18650 3500mAh cells in the clones, they will last over 2 days on one charge in low mode.

A LED swap in the clones might be worth it, is the quality the same than the Fenix?

The build quality is actually very good on the clones, however, these things are glued together. The only way I can think of to get them apart would be to cut them open.

[quote=RobertB]

You forgot, run over them with a Humvee
[/quote

I’ve got something we could run them over with!
(LOL)

I agree about the light temp though. It’s also less noticeable when you’re outside (i.e.-camping) and you don’t have white walls and surfaces constantly reminding you of high the color temp is. My concern with that type of light is more with the reliability of the electronics. I take care of my stuff (even the cheap stuff) so it’s very unlikely I’m going to be inadvertently backing over it with my car. :innocent:

Well, I hunted and camped most of my life, and at 84 I can say I never ran over a single item of my equipment. BUT, I never got paid to do a commercial either. :money_mouth_face:

I live in southern NM where we get very few power outages, and when we do they are short. However my sister lives in AR, and some years they get ice storms that disrupt power, and in some areas maybe for weeks. I have encouraged her to be prepared in case there is an extended power outage. As for me, I have enough camping equipment to be OK in most anything.
Jerry

Ah yes, a camper is always prepared! Nothing like enjoying a nice, hot meal during an extended outage instead of milk and cereal for dinner. :partying_face: