This one is for Brian over at www.thewannabehomesteader.com. Thanks for the request! (My video review at the bottom)

Yesterday I mentioned dealing with the power outage, and showed a picture of my family eating with a lantern on the table.

Brian wanted to know about it, and I realized I’d not reviewed that lantern yet. (It’s funny how I can find something that REALLY works for me, incorporate it into my life, then forget all about it, even though I know its there when I need it. While I’m at it, I apologize to my friends and family, as I’m sure I do it to them as well. Sorry about that!)

The wife and I like to camp. Most times, it’s about as close as I can get to being Daniel Boone, someone I’ve admired most of my life. It allows me to work on my fire building, campfire cooking, spoon carving, wild edibles foraging, and various other things I normally don’t get the time to do. But the day tends to end when the sun goes down while camping. We’ve looked for years trying to find a decent light source.

I’m not a fan of the Coleman gas lanterns, although I know how well they can work. The fuel is messy, I tend to spill it, and the wife gets mad at me. I know my weaknesses, and gas lanterns play directly into several, so I avoid liquid fuel lanterns.

The wife likes to enjoy the evenings around the camp, so I have tried seven different light options, mostly LED lanterns, and none have stood up the the use and abuse I dish out. Each would last for a trip or two, then break, stop working, or once, fell apart from dropping off a picnic table. We needed something that worked, and was more robust.

We finally found it in the Coleman 4D CPX 6 Classic LED Lantern (now redesigned as of Jan 2013-ish). I was VERY hesitant to drop $30 on yet another LED light doomed to fail, but we needed something for an upcoming camping trip, so I tried it. The performance of the 4 “D” batteries was impressive. The sturdiness, while not made of solid metal, was sturdy enough for my needs. The amount of light generated was also beyond my expectations.

My only real complaint was the fact that it needed “D” batteries, something we don’t normally stock.

Like gun calibers, I try to keep as few options as needed. This means I don’t have a large number of different calibers, I try to keep all my firearms in as few calibers as possible. I try to do the same with batteries, keeping all battery requirements to “AA” and “AAA” only. It just makes things simple when stocking up.

So I looked into the CPX product line, and found they offered a CPX Rechargeable Power Cartridge. Perfect! Well, almost. If I had any complaint, it would be that they do not offer a power cartridge in lithium batteries. This would extend run time and also cut the weight by more than half.

I liked the CPX Rechargeable Power Cartridges so much, I bought two of them. The original “D” battery cartridges are for backups now. We keep the rechargeable cartridges charged up, and they sit next to the lantern. We keep the lantern centrally located in the living room on a computer hutch. Throughout the house, we have emergency lighting provided by four plug-in Energizer Weather Ready flashlights. They can act as nightlights, or sit until a power failure, then turn on like emergency lighting, allowing us to get to the REAL lights.

But more on the  will be saved for a future post.

Peace,
db

Notes: 

Coleman 4D CPX 6 Classic LED Lantern utilizes a Cree® XLamp® XR-E LED to kick out 190 lumens on high setting and 100 lumens on low.
Diffuser tube creates perfect illumination.
Runtime: 25 hours on high, 60 hours on low.
Weather resistant construction.
Runs on four D batteries (not included).
Compatible with the CPX Rechargeable Power Cartridge (sold separately)
No fumes No wicks, fuel, pumping, etc
Great for emergencies or camping
A nice soft light

The CPX Rechargeable Power Cartridge are compatible with at least 16 different lights, including spotlights, flashlights, and lanterns; a couple fans, an airbed pump, an air pump, and an electronics recharging station.

My video review: