I wrote in an older post about my candle lantern. I gifted it to one of our hosts on our journey and decided to replace it with the very snazzy looking Black Diamond Apollo Lantern. The lantern had pretty positive reviews on REI so I decided to pull the trigger.
The lantern is approximately the same size as a can of pop. It is largely plastic with a few metal bits that feels like it won’t immediately disintegrate but not what I would call rugged. The body telescopes from its closed position to it’s open position, exposing a rubber button that functions as the ON/OFF/DIMMER switch. As far as controls, it’s dead simple and nicely done.
There is also a metal D ring that flips up and down from which you run a line and hang off a tree or the inside of your tent. We used a small S-Biner to hang it from the loop in our tent’s roof which worked great.
The lantern operates on 4 AA batteries or the Black Diamond NRG kit (sold separately for $30). We used it with rechargeable batteries that I was juicing up with my own charger. We would get approximately 2-3 nights worth of good light before there was a noticeable decline in brightness/operation.
At about $50, the question is, is it worth it? Well, yes and no.
The light output is good, but not great. I would say you get good light when it is on the table with a radius of about 3-4 feet. After that it drops off rather quickly. It is a good amount of light to prepare food and do camp chores by, so long as you don’t wander too far. When hung from the roof of our tent, it is apparent that the light is optimized to spill out horizontally and doesn’t reflect downward very well.
I tend to lay on my stomach when I read in the tent (Laura likes to sit up). She got good light but by the time it reached sleeping bag level it wasn’t very bright.
Now, I don’t mean to bash the light since it does have its uses. It is great for car camping, weekend tours, or week long tours during the summer when the nights aren’t SO long. We found that when we were camping for many consecutive nights it was a bit of a pain to try to find electricity to charge the batteries. After enough weeks of use, we found it pleasant but a bit redundant since we both had headlamps.
I also felt that given its size and number of batteries, it wasn’t using the LEDs very efficiently. Headlamps that weigh a lot less and have smaller batteries are more efficient and put out more light at greater distances. It seems like LED lanterns still seem like an immature technology and have a lot more room to grow. If I were at Black Diamond I’d work on making more efficient use of the LEDs and reflectors. Maybe have two distinct settings that control light spill - one specifically for highly efficient horizontal spill and another for highly efficient downward spill.
Conclusion: Sorta Recommend
If you are gone only for a short period of time where battery life isn’t an issue (or during the summer when the nights are shorter), then I would recommend it. For us, its battery life and brightness aren’t justifying its bulk and weight. I’m no electrical engineer (nor do I play one on TV), but I feel that there’s a lot more room to grow in terms of efficiency with the LED lanterns on the market at the moment. Perhaps one that uses 4 AAA batteries and throws out light like a cluster of headlamps is just around the corner. For now, we have this good but flawed lantern that may or may not be right for you.
첫댓글 1개 주문합니다. 묶음배송
네 감사합니다. 예약되셨습니다. 발송은 2~3일 걸립니다. 엑스피크
1EA신청합니다
네 감사합니다. 예약되셨습니다. 발송은 2~3일 걸립니다. 엑스피크
1개 주문합니다.
네 감사합니다. 예약되셨습니다. 발송은 2~3일 걸립니다. 엑스피크
밝기가 어느정도 나오는지요? 캠핑용 리빙쉘에 설치하면...
스펙상 3-Watt 입니다. 실제 밝기는 저도 미사용해본 제품이라 특별히 드릴 말씀이.. 인터넷 검색해보시면 사용기가 제법 많이 나오는 듯 합니다. 한번 알아보겠습니다. 감사합니다.엑스피크
== 재고 3개
1개주문합니다
네 감사합니다. 엑스피크
1개 주문합니다...
네 감사합니다. 엑스피크
한개 주문합니다. 그랑져 신발 보호제와 같이 배송 부탁합니다.~~~
네 감사합니다. 내일 발송해드리겠습니다. 엑스피크
===재고 없습니다.