Apparently a relatively new item. This claims to be a 1000 Lumens output LED lantern from Coleman, almost double the brightness of any prior LED lantern from Coleman. It can run on four D batteries or a rechargeable CPX6 battery pack.
Based on the Amazon reviews though it looks like the CPX6 batteries are very likely to be SLA technology and will die on you if not recharged regularly so the light is best run on D size NiMH batteries such as Tenergy Centuras. If Coleman is using SLA battery technology then it is an obsolete and IMO DUMB choice for a light that many will buy primarily for seasonal or emergency use.
Per listings from Target and REI the Coleman CPX6 rechargeable battery pack is confirmed to be an SLA battery. The header for the Target listing says it is a NiMH pack but the specifications lower down list the battery as a SLA type and the specifications listed by REI clearly state that the battery is a lead acid. IMO definitely better to use NiMH batteries in this light or anything else that Coleman lists as CPX6 rechargeable battery pack compatible until Coleman comes up with an NiMH or Lithium Ion rechargeable replacement for this short lived and antiquated battery technology.
It appears that they have the most powerful LED lantern available and are trying to run it on unreliable, short lived and CHEAP rechargeable battery technology. Absolutely a STUPID marketing decision it appears.
I have the 3AA to D adapters and have used them in my TK50 light. Work well. However I also have some Tenergy Centura LSD NiMH D size batteries with more on the way. A bit greater total capacity than using 12 Eneloop high capacity batteries in the adapters
Its sad that most Coleman products took a huge dive in quality several years ago. Buy an antique Coleman 237, arm it with a thorium treated mantle and experience output that far exceeds 10-20 or more of the brightest household consumer market LED lanterns available. All the lanterns in this vid were under-pressurized with the cam set at min exposure to capture the glory. With moderate care, these lanterns are handed down through several generations and have only appreciated in value.
_
While I would never recommend the cheap POS lantern in the vid below, this will give you an idea of just how many lumens the 111 size thorium treated mantle on kerosene will crank out with a fully pressurized lantern. The cam is in auto. Watch it struggle to capture the panning shots and readjust exposure. lol. The real-to-life experience is far more dramatic. Also excuse the content… my GF and I were just having some fun. What can I say? Great illumination is foreplay. :heart_eyes: Yesss… she is one of us. :bigsmile: I was going to market these Chinese lanterns until I discovered how poorly made and dangerous they were. Again, do not by one unless you want to commit suicide.
Also, never burn any lantern indoors unless you are willing to accept the risk of killing people and burning your house down. This was a one time mass demonstration and all Coleman 237 model lanterns were meticulously rebuilt/blueprinted to a far higher standard than when they were brand new.
In modern LED camping lanterns, you’ll be hard pressed to beat this GE at any price:
http://www.amazon.com/General-Electric-Bright-Latern-Technology/dp/B007IIYL5C
The emitter uses a remote phosphor technology like the high end LED household bulbs, so it produces a true flawless omnidirectional beam without reflectors and cones. Its also cool running and extremely efficient. The only thing that I dont like about it is that the low mode could stand to be a great deal lower. The switch is electronic with high/medium/low modes. If you dont mind the size, Im not aware of an offering that comes even close to matching its overall performance, efficiency and flawless beam pattern.
It can run from either 4 or 8 D cells:
With 4 batteries, it can run for 50 hours on the High setting and 100 hours on Low setting.
With 8 batteries, it can run for 100 hours on the High setting and 200 hours on Low setting.
I paid $20 for mine at Costco. The one I bought shows a 300 lumen rating on the box and I had absolutely no problems loading the batteries. I suspect the poor early amazon reviews were from the first generation release (260 lumens) and all the bugs have been worked out long ago on the new 300 lumen version. Its hard to believe what you get for your money with this well designed lantern. :bigsmile:
i wouldnt bet on that….18sixfifty is currently building me a custom lantern with 24 xml2’s.
it should give them gas lanterns a good fight, but my led lantern should come out on top.
We bought a dual-fuel version of the classic Coleman campstove 8-9 years back. It works, but I hate it. It just feels crappy and ill put together. A couple of weeks ago, camping with friends, I saw they had a brand new version of the same stove. It seems to be much better (but I still like the old Coleman green better than the darker green they use today).
I have the Rayovac you had and changing batteries is a PITA IMO and almost impossible in dim or no light. The Streamlight Siege is a HUGE improvement over the Rayovac as far as battery swapping is concerned and also has a bit greater output in an almost identical size lantern. It also provides more hanging options for use and does not waste battery power in storage with the “finder” LED. Overall a superior product in my opinion and it has about the highest overall customer review rating of any lantern being sold on Amazon.
Those are well thought out lanterns and Ive seen them in use before. I didnt realize it until I started building my own lanterns, but the greatest problem with most high powered LED lanterns suitable for close-in outdoor use is in the enormous amount of glare, artifacts and cold crappy tint they produce. Diffusion techniques in their designs help some (while at the expense of robbing huge amounts of lumens), but they still annoy most people in camp and often become relegated to the tent. This is where the GE I listed above comes unto its own and differentiates itself from any other LED lantern produced. It employs a huge proprietary cone shaped emitter with a remote phosphor and proper heat sink, so the lighting is direct, efficient, omnidirectional and produces no glare or beam artifacts. So its like a household light bulb. It can run on 4 D cells or 8. Im still on my first set of 4 after a year of moderate use and never removed the cells because the parasitic drain is negligible (3 mode e-switched driver). The lantern was heavily discounted to $20 because the first version had problems and gave the lantern a bad rep. The new version resolved any problems, received a bump in lumens and still sells for $20… an absolute steal at that price. If GE had made a press release to market the new version, it would likely have been the top selling name brand LED lantern by a large margin to this date and been available in every major US dept store. But instead, they chose to hide their mistakes and made no mention of the new version (aside from increasing max lumens on the box) and continued selling without educating potential customers of the changes in correcting design flaws. Maybe because people would demand to swap their old lantern for the new improved version, which would be a very costly admission to GE. They lost big-time in the amount of resources necessary in designing and manufacturing the emitter and then again with improper marketing. My guess is that they are probably out of production and will never return after GE incurred such heavy losses. So if you want one, get it while you can. Just make sure its the new version.
Still, nothing comes close to the warmth, CRI, color temp and comfort of a large high powered mantle lantern. While the Coleman 237 was discontinued several decades ago, they can still be found on ebay and continue to appreciate in value every year. My hotrodded coleman 237 on thorium treated mantles puts out over 7 times the lumens of the current brightest Coleman gas mantle lantern, and likely 20 times or more than the one listed in your OP. The real advantage is the quality of the output. Throw a rope around a tree limb and hoist it up 20 feet and forget about it. Then the entire camp becomes blanketed in a pleasing warm light for 100+ yards in every direction. Or set it on a table and turn it down so the mantle is barley lit for a memorizing candle light glow that everyone stares at during close group conversations. LED lanterns… meh. They have their uses and are very convenient, but its more of a work light than something that produces a relaxing atmosphere. All that aside, nothing beats a camp fire. :bigsmile:
I have a 1000 watt Honda generator that can barley be heard while running that I use at job sites from time to time. I just ordered an industrial highbay luminaire. A bit expensive at $1,100 but its a top-of-the-line. Its a 250 watt verified 25,000+ lumen LED downlight that scored the highest marks in its class for design innovation, output, glare reduction, heat sinking and efficiency. While not rated for outdoor use, I might compare it to one of my 237 mods just for kicks to see how it stacks up.
The new Coleman 1000 lumen lantern uses a similar remote phosphor emitter and a very substantial finned aluminum heat sink so is a quite low glare design compared to most other LED lanterns. By far Coleman’s best so far IMO.
As for the GE Lantern there is now a third generation version it looks like with output increased to 350 Lumens. The GE Enbrighten 360 Bright White Latern, 350 Lumens. With a claimed 80 hours run time on high with eight D batteries used I suspect that it is like most lanterns, unregulated. Using alkaline batteries with their lousy current producing capability at substantial current draw levels most lanterns seem to fade from maximum pretty fast. NiMH bateries hold brightness better but do not last as long, particularly at lower light levels and current draws. It seems like few lanterns have regulated output, maybe because the designers figure it is better to fade out than go off quickly with little warning. I suspect though it is largely a matter of manufacturing cost.
Please do not leave those D cells in that lantern.
My mother gave me a new D powered LED lantern, and with very little use, those
crappy alkalines leaked within six months.
I personally try to avoid leaving alkaline batteries in ANYTHING I value at all. I have a pack of D alkaline batteries from CVS drug store that has had multiple batteries leak while not yet within 3 years of expiration date, listed as Dec 2017. Made in USA batteries too.
So far as I am concerned alkaleak batteries are obsolete technology compared to NiMH or Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries.
Ordered the coleman from the top post, and will be trying it out this weekend. I'll report back on my experience.
Primary reason I ordered it, over other options is the higher output on high, although that does come at the expense of run time... only 5 hours on max supposedly.
Still, so far camping, I have yet to come close to completely running down any light.
Edit: Just ordered the GE Enbrighten 360 too. Will be interesting to compare.
Another way to reduce glare in an LED lantern is illustrated by the design of the lantern linked to below. Quite inexpensive at $10 from Amazon at the moment, the blue one was $5 briefly as an add-on for a few days. One on the way. It has the LEDs in the bottom of the light and is using light pipes to feed the output up in to the globe. On the left side of the screen click on the third photo from the top of the light to see the details.
No idea of the efficiency loss in the light pipes or whether it is as efficient as the remote phosphor LED technology used by GE and Coleman in their new lanterns for glare reduction but an interesting concept in itself and probably cheaper to produce. It looks like some makers are starting to respond to complaints of excessive glare from their lanterns.
Another glare reduction technology is being used by Energizer in their “Light Fusion Technology” which basically looks to be a similar concept to the light pipes in the lantern linked to above but it is using a double sided flat panel for the light emitting surface in the below linked to product.
Looks to me like the big advantage of the Energizer lantern linked to earlier is how compact it is when folded up compared to most lanterns. The designers came up with a quite original concept for the design.
Any tail standing flashlight fitted with a dome type diffuser can make a decent area light and I have heard of people making diffusers for the big lights from cut up 1/2 gallon plastic milk jugs. Unfortunately it seems like no one makes such diffusers commercially for the big lights. Olight makes flat front diffusers for some of their SR series lights but they are still unidirectional while what is wanted for a flashlight used as a lantern is more of a cup shaped diffuser so it allows light out in a 180 degree hemisphere.
So I received the Energizer LED Folding 360 Area Lantern with Light Fusion Technology, and the GE Enbrighten 360 today, to add to my camping gear.
The GE Enbrighten is basically what I expected. Decent plastic quality, ok output, although at ~300 lumens it's nothing to write home about. I also find the light to be somewhat too cool personally. I expect it will hold up well, and given the run time on low, will probably last forever on the one set of alkaline D batteries I put in.
The Energizer folding area lantern is the surprise dark horse. It's equally as bright, and produces a nice quality, artifact and glare free light. The best part, folded up it's not much larger then a paper back book! So far I'm extremely pleased with it. Construction is decent, not great, but think it will hold up.
The one thing has me concerned about it, is run time, 100 hours on low (supposedly) is nice, but I wonder if it will last through the night on high.
A larger version, the size of say a school textbook, powered by a bank of 8 18650's would be unbeatable.
