Tips On LED Lanterns
For Camping.

The new LED lanterns make backpacking and camping easier and more enjoyable. Never has a light offered so much.

If you're looking for a flameless light-weight lantern to use in your tent for camping or backpacking you'll want to look at LED lanterns. LED's draw less juice than incandescent or florescent bulbs and put out a good amount of light especially when you consider their compact size. How long your batteries last though will depend on how many LED's you're lighting and how efficient they are. The type of battery will also effect how long your batteries will live.

Alkaline batteries might be cheaper but they don't perform as well as lithium. Lithium lasts longer, works better at low temperatures, and weighs less than alkaline. More power means fewer batteries and less weight to carry. And longer battery life means less batteries go to the landfill. Also...

LED's can also take an amazing amount of shock. I've heard of people banging their lights against rocks just to see if the light could take it and they still worked fine. Don't try that with glass globe camping lanterns. ;-)

One of the disadvantages of an LED is that some don't throw out as much light as far as an incandescent light bulb. This probably isn't that big a deal though because most people use a lantern to see things relatively close to them anyway. LED's are also more expensive short-term than incandescent bulbs, but the reliability and length of life make them less expensive in the long run, especially if you use your LED lantern often or if reliability is a critical issue.

As batteries lose power LED's will dim like a regular bulb, but will still project a white light not a yellowish-orange like incandescent bulbs do. The best LED lantern I've come across is...

The two LED CMG Bonfire lantern can run for up to 8 hours on bright (19 watts) or for up to 72 hours on the lower red power-saving LED with 2 AA batteries. If you want longer battery life you can always upgrade to lithium batteries. This LED lantern has attached lanyards so it can be hung from the ceiling loops in your tent and at 4.6 ounces and 4.6 x 2.5 x 1.7 inches it's definitely light and compact. It might be an ounce heavier than a candle lantern but the brighter light, durability, and piece of mind you get from not worrying about a fire is more than worth the consideration. I'd sweat the 2 ounces and go with the Bonfire LED lantern at REI, but if you want something lighter and smaller...

The Brunton Lamplight Extendible LED Lantern Flashlight is only 4.25 x 1.25 inches and weighs in at under 3 ounces. It also will burn for up to 200 hours on 3 AAA batteries. Don't expect the single LED to put out as much light as the CMG Bonfire above, but if you're backpacking and looking to save an ounce or two and some space in your pack you may want to check it out. BackCountry has these LED Lanterns.