Camping Lanterns:
Safety vs. Light.

What kind of camping lanterns best fit your outdoor needs? Need light-weight for backpacking or maximum light?









Camping lanterns have been around for quite a while, especially fuel lanterns like kerosene and gas lanterns. LED lanterns, rechargeable lanterns or electric lanterns, butane lanterns, propane lanterns, battery lanterns and candle lanterns are newer to the scene though. All of them being different they have advantages and disadvantages...

If you already have a camping stove or other camping equipment that uses fuel consider getting a lantern that uses the same type of fuel so you won't have to remember to bring both fuels and you'll use less space too. Although some dual-fuel Coleman lanterns will burn both white gas or unleaded gasoline (check to be sure).

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Camping lanterns that burn fuel can come with either glass globes or metal mesh globes. The advantage to glass is that it lets more light through but since it's glass it is fragile. Metal mesh globes are much tougher than glass but they do block some of the light.

When you buy a camping lantern make sure to get extra mantles, fuel, bulbs, and/or batteries, it's not much fun needing a lantern part in the middle-of-nowhere and not being able to get it when you need it.

Candle lanterns can be light at 3.7 ounces but as camping lanterns they're light output leaves something to be desired at 1 to 1.5 watts. They're pretty much a candle with a protective sheath to help prevent the flame from blowing out in the wind and keep things a little safer by avoiding an open flame. Of course it also makes it more difficult to roast marshmallows over your enclosed lantern too. ;-)

While great LED lanterns put out a good amount of light I haven't found one yet that can match the light output of well-designed flame camping lanterns. If you need a lot of light in a local outdoor area have a look at butane, propane, and gas lanterns. Some of these lanterns crank out up to 235 watts of light! That's more light than most people use to light a room at home. One of the butane lanterns even allows you to focus the light more intensely with reflectors and another is refillable with lighter fluid helping to make it great for backpacking.

Keep in mind butane doesn't perform well in below freezing temperatures. Mixing butane with propane (isobutane) can help down to about 20 degrees F (-7 C) or so then performance starts to fall off again. Propane is good down to about 0 F (-18 C).

Propane is convenient in that you don't have to add fuel with a funnel (like white gas), but you'll have to bring one big tank or extra propane cylinders/cannisters for back-up. Burn times can range from about 4.5 hours to 24 hours. Propane lanterns give off anywhere from 34 to 235 watts of light.

Electric camping lanterns usually give off 10 to 42 watts of adjustable electric light. Some offer dimmers that save the batteries. They can last up to 15 hours (at 70 degrees F) on 8 D cell batteries. They do offer easy instant light although they can get a little heavy at up to 5.5 pounds.

White gas camping lanterns or fuel lanterns give off intense bright light. White gas (naphtha) gives off a consistent steady light when it's pressurized by pumping up the fuel tank. Something to keep in mind is white gas is usually easier to find than cannisters at most stores.

Double mantle camping lanterns can put out 78 watts of light and can burn for 1 hour and 50 minutes at full brightness, but can be adjusted down to use less fuel. At around 3 pounds you'll probably want to stick to using them at the campsite. They do require some camping lantern maintenance like replacing inexpensive mantles. Some gas lanterns also burn two kinds of fuel, usually white gas and unleaded gasoline making them easier to find fuel for but they also some disadvantages too. They put out a medium amount of light, can burn up to 14 hours, and weigh in at about 3 pounds.

As you can see different camping lanterns will be right for different people depending on their needs. In general though electric/battery-operated camping lanterns are the way to go because they're safer and easier to use, unless you need a huge amount of light.