Customer Reviews

Battery Free 12 LED Crank Powered Lantern

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This lantern was a godsend following Hurricane Ike. We had no power for 8 days and I couldn't have survived without this. It may not have given the most brillant light, but it gave consistent white light that allowed me to prepare dinner each night. I read by it and it was our basic nighttime light until the power came on. I'm buying another one - hurricane season isn't over and this time I want to be more prepared.

A great lantern in concept; a dynamo powered LED lantern that uses Ni-Cad batteries, instead of a rechargeable lithium-ion coin cell like you find in many of the dynamo powered LED flashlights on the market today, which can be easily damaged by overcharging, or by leaving the battery uncharged for long periods. Most of these lights will not hold a full charge after a few uses.

Press the "On" button once for 4 LED's, twice for 8, three times for all 12, and a fourth time to turn the lantern off. The overall construction seems sturdy enough, but I had to look through a few of the lanterns on the shelf before I found one that had an "On" switch that seemed to work well. (I bought mine at a local retailer, but it's exactly the same lantern.)

The crank handle for the dynamo turns easily and smoothly. Once I got it home and out of the package, I heard something rattling around inside the base, which after removing the bottom turned out to be a small nut which had fallen off one of the bolts inside the lantern, but this appeared to be a minor issue. All in all, assuming the LED's and Ni-Cad batteries are fairly good quality, it seems to be a good lantern. My only real concern is whether the "On" button will continue to work.

My wife brought this home and it instantly became mine. The light was still going strong 2 hours after a 60 second charge (crank). It's perfect for camping, no batteries needed, it gives off no heat so its safe to use in a tent. It gives off enough light to read by or to use on a picnic table for late meals or card games. I want to buy some more as christmas gifts for members of my jeep club.

The dynamo does not do a great job for this lamp. If you crank for a minute, you will get about 3 minutes of good light and then it fades fast. Perhaps this is normal with dynamo charging, but I expected a longer charge, especially when it is running off low power LEDs.

This is a good product that performs well. The hand crank obviously provides sufficient power for an acceptable amount of time. The lantern has 3 settings for brightness: 4 leds, 8 leds, and 12 leds. At 12 leds this lantern provided enough light to compare with a propane lantern except you don't have to deal with the gas, heat, or threat of burning yourself. I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 because the overall sturdiness seemed a bit flimsy, but it has not broken thus far.

I bought this lantern because of the crank feature, it works nicelly and the mechanism is very easy to use and gives you long light lifetime.

The shame is that even with the 12 leds on, it doesnt gives you much ligth range. I use it as an emergency light in my house for blackouts but it doesnt even fill a room.

if you want it for camping, it could be nice for inside the tent. Or for a night guide light inside the house, but if you, like me, are looking for a replacement of a electric bulb, go for something bigger, like 30 leds lamp or up.

Bought this lantern to use in Afghanistan to augment the room lighting. Should have thought twice, and I hope others do too. It says to crank the lantern for one minute rapidly; this causes quite the glow for about 30 seconds, which is not what it said in the listing. The handle also has broken; I would not recommend it if you are looking for a decent light output. It just isn't there.

As mentioned by another reviewer, I saw these lanterns in a retail discount store. I was very close to purchasing it until after cranking for a minute, the on button wasn't cycling through the light modes. Only the 12 led mode worked. The rubber covered on button is also simply a cover, if you push, and slide by accident the rubber cap slides under the casing. After trying to play around with it in the store, the 4 light came on and flickered, then went out. Unfortunately there wasn't another exact model to test/buy so I opted away from this one.

I love these crank up lanterns. They give off enough light, last good when you crank them 120 times as per the directions and are cool. They really give you that camping feeling and I am sure will work great in a power outage.

The Battery Free 12 LED Crank Lantern works great in emergency cases. You can actually see what's going on around you. You can move around in your home without falling over furniture.