I'm looking at adding the battery powered chem sticks...well they're not chem but they look like it.

I'm looking at these two things:

http://www.amazon.com/Fenix-LD15-High-Pe...3395&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Fenix-Accessory-Ki...3435&sr=8-1

The second item is just to get the white cone diffuser. The other included accessories look to be pretty useless to me.

Runs on a single AA battery, and is advertised as 117 lumens for 1.5 hours or 8 lumens for 39 hours. You could store a couple of spare AA batteries with it and have a very long time of light. It will stand on end to act as a lantern. With the white cone diffuser it looks like it would make a very nice little lantern.

I have one of the Target "Rock River" lanterns. It was cheap. It is bright. Batteries last forever. But it has a lot of glare if your eyes are in line with the LED/reflector. Wrap the plastic shield with masking tape or wax paper and it's much more pleasing to the eye, albeit dimmer.

The Amazon web page for this lantern is kind of funny. If you scroll down a bit to where it says "What do customers ultimately buy after viewing this item?"

51% buy the light
27% buy some dancing software program for the Nintendo Wii

That just seems kind of random...

Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaa! I can see it now "Hmmmmm This light seems nice for camping and possible blackouts but....Id rather much Dance!" Then the other 26% are like "Hmmmm This guy would rather dance then illuminate his home? He must be onto something!"

FWIW, 8 lumens through a diffuser will be mostly useless IMO. You will get much better results by shining the light on a home-made ceiling reflector made out of aluminum foil. You can shape it any way you like.

BTW, have you looked at the 4sevens offerings in this price range? It's nice to have a 20-ish lumen mid-range setting. No affiliation, I'm just looking at similar 1-AA offerings on the market.

I improvised a lantern with a standard AA light (4sevens quark, but any light will do) that I forced into the opening of a plastic PET water bottle. When suspended over our table it worked like a charm - it gave pleasant light for our evening meal.

Nothing wrong with dedicated tools for the job, just following up on some make-shift alternative solutions...


I get ever more reluctant to bring new gadgets and ever more gear out in the field. I try to minimize and de-clutter. This leaves little room for neither dedicated camp lantern nor 8 inch plastic diffusers for regular flashlights. But our needs are different, and I am sure these lanterns do a pretty neat job.

I decided that I shouldn't be reviewing a light without having tried it; so I bought one.

Construction: Excellent
Size: Too large to use as a flashlight, my hand doesn't go all the way around.
Batteries: 4AA, lasting 25 hours on high, 50 on low, a long time on strobe mode...
Weight: 307.5 grams (with batteries and attachments)
Cost: $27 Canadian
Lumens: 185 on high, low is about half.

Flashlight mode - Beam description:
This lantern has a VERY nice floodlight, it is a better floodlight than it is a lantern. The color is very nice and PERFECTLY even.

Lantern Mode:
There are significant rings in the light, making frosting preferable. A clear plastic bag seems to work nicely in testing, but I haven't used it long enough to know how hot the light will get.

Conclusion:
I expect I will mostly use this in low flashlight mode.

Summary:
PRO: bright, well made, good run time
CON: too large

I have several Fenix flashlights. The are very well made and put out an amazing amount of light for an even more amazing length of time. I use Energizer L91 Lithium batteries in mine, which increases the run-time and cold-temperature performance.

The only complaint I have is that the action on the twisty cap-switch is very stiff. A little silicon lube on the threads helps a bit, but still it can be a struggle to work the 1xAA/1xAAA flashlights with one hand in the cold.

You might also want to look at the Maratac AA from Countycomm.com. Not quite as bright on high as the Fenix, but it has a low 1.5 lumen range that lasts 100 hours and is good enough for illuminating the ground in front of you or reading a menu. The action on the Maratac is also much smoother than the Fenix. The Maratac also has a more useful 18 lumen mid range, and an 85 lumen high. Bought individually and with shipping, the price is a bit lower than the Fenix on Amazon, but you'll probably find other interesting items worth buying on the Countycomm site to dilute the shipping costs.

I have two Black Diamond Apollo lanterns and am very satisfied. They have frosted globes for good light distribution. I plan on getting one or two more. They are frequently on-sale by me for $30-35.

I have several Fenix lights, and they've all been solid. The Quarks I own have better output and runtime, and may have the edge in build quality -- I've had no failures, but the Quarks have suffered far more abuse with little cosmetic damage. The moonlight mode available on some Quark models is incredibly handy.

My experience with Maratacs has not been as positive. I had one Maratac AAA (same electronics as an iTP A3 EOS upgrade) where the keyring clip broke off. I also had a Maratac 9290 (identical to an iTP C7T except anodized in green) with a bad tailcap.

Disclosure: I have no affiliation with any of these companies other than as a customer. I own more 4Sevens flashlights than is healthy for any one person, however.