Customer Reviews

Coleman Retro Rechargeable Battery Powered Lantern (Family Size)

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(25)

 

 

The lantern is very bright and the charge holds for a long time. I would highly recommend this item and I may buy another lantern in the future.

This was just what I was looking for to give my mother in case of a power outage. She would not be at all comfortable using a fuel powered lantern and I did not want to give her something that required batteries. This way she only needs to recharge the lantern twice a year unless she has occasion to use it and it should be ready to go in case the power goes out. I was very please with the amount of light the lantern gave off. I'm seriously considering getting one for myself, although I already have 2 fuel lanterns.

We've used this several times since buying a couple of years ago. The amount of light it gives off is incredible, and it lasts pretty much as long as they say it will. It's not light though - the battery is fairly sizable and I think it may be lead-acid - not sure.

Well built & heavy. Actually it holds a curly type bulb, not a u-shaped tube, giving off more light. Storage in bottom for the 12-volt car charger. The built-in nite light is actually rather bright, bright enough for leaving on in a tent while sleeping. So far very satisfied with the purchase. Years ago I used a Coleman propane light which ran very hot, and unsafe to leave on in a tent while sleeping. This makes more sense. Eco-friendly. Guess you can re-charge it during the daytime off your car battery, except it takes many hours. Update 7/2008: We had our first 3 hour power outage last nite. This lantern worked great! Actually, I found that running it on low was bright enough to find my way around the house. Left it on the "night light" setting after returning to the bedroom. Still bright enough to see in the bedroom yet sleep. This lantern is excellent!

This lantern worked great until the light bulb blew out during a long power outage. Then I found out that the replacement light bulbs are nowhere to be found, even when ordering from Coleman direct. The bulb, ETU-HS S11W (part no. 5010000244) has been "temporarily" out of stock for over a year at Coleman and everywhere else I could search online and in big box stores. It appear that Coleman changes the light bulbs with every model and discontinues the older models. This makes these lanterns effectively disposable. My co-worker ran into a similar problem with another Coleman product. This is looks suspiciously like a scam to force you to buy new models. I will be avoiding Coleman brand from now on even if it costs substantially more.

I was really going for a no thrills lantern to take me through the power outage after Hurricane Ike hit Houston and I completely lost faith in getting my power back. All I could do was read... candles are awful for the eyes; reading lights can get cumbersome as you constantly have to adjust their aim. So I figured it's time to get a lantern.

It didn't take too long to get hooked on the "retro" appeal of this lantern. The light emitted is bright enough for anyone in the room to enjoy reading in the darkness of a power outage - or in a tent for that matter. Although there are two output settings, Hi and Low, they are close enough to the point that you won't really need to set it on Hi. It lasts for hours as advertised and the night light is a neat little feature.

My only issue with this model is that the charging takes several hours and there is no "battery meter" to know how much you have left. I would basically use it at home for a couple of nights in a row, then charge it in the office on the third day - so I know an 8 hour charge will definitely last at least 8 hours.

Now that the power is back, I kept the lantern on display in my living room as it certainly looks appealing.

By the way, if you do buy it, and I recommend you do, the 12volt charger is tucked in the battery compartment (from the bottom). So don't freak out when you open the box and can't find it.

It's heavy, and has a large lead acid sealed battery inside-if used outdoors not likely to be blown over in a strong wind. Has a very bright white fluorescent light. It has 2 light levels that do seem to be different, and a night light that might be useful.
I like the option of the ac charger and car accessory charger. Cranking lanterns are OK but they make people mad especially at 1am in the morning when car camping. I plan to use this mainly at home for emergency use when the power goes off, but may get one to carry in the car for winter travelling. It stands solidly on the ground, and ideal for using when putting on chains, also bright red. Target sell these also, I purchased mine at llbean with a coupon.
Not suitable for uses where you have to carry it some distance, it's just too heavy. As far as the retro look,
I think it looks just fine.

Update: have used 2 of these a lot with no problems.

Just what I wanted in a rechargeable lantern. Provides plenty of light for occasional loss of power or otherwise. I have never been disappointed with Coleman's products. J.C.

This lamp is definitely not a backpacking light/lantern. It is rather large, which I attribute to the "retro" design - which I don't quite understand - and weighs about a ton. It's kind of like IBM selling a "retro" designed laptop - remember those three inch thick, half ton lap-boulders. Why would you look to the past for utilitarian design. What's next; a flashlight in the shape of a flaming torch?

Anyways, buy this lantern if you want something for when the lights go out during some sort of blackout or if you are camping where you can drive right up to the camp site. Because, trust me, you do not want to have to drag this thing farther than from your house to your car and then to the tent from your car.

Besides the weight, and volume of this lamp, the apparent high and low light setting is virtually the exactly same amount of light and will not at any point make you think; "Oh, this low light setting is really low in comparison to the high setting", but rather you will more likely think something like " What the heck, low? low? how is that low? somebody needs to look up the definition of low...because it doesn't mean 'same'".

I do have to admit though, if you were to need a night light at any point during a camping trip, it would come in handy, and seems to be more of a "low" light than the fluorescent low setting.

I have bought 2 of these lanterns and they are not worth the money. There is something wrong with the switch and it quits working after 20 or so times of turning the lantern on. The same thing happened to both of my lanters, so it must be a defect for the whole line of products. Also, there is no way to remove the switch to replace it. It is made in one piece with the base of the lantern. I will not purchase another one of these or anything similar. I thought Coleman was suppose to be a good brand, but evidently not.