Not making the cut for quality gear for my 2015 excursions is the Energizer Pop-Up LED Lantern. Great in theory, and really, it should be a great piece of gear – BUT, it just doesn’t do the trick for me and my adventures.
It runs on 4 AA batteries and produces a really great light output that you can even dim down when necessary. The handle detaches on one side so you can loop it around a tree branch. It even collapses down when not in use.
So what’s not to like about it?
Despite it being LED technology, you’re stuck feeding it new batteries every time you want to use the thing! Perhaps it has some circuitry that is constantly draining the batteries between uses, or it just “needs” to have fresh batteries every time, but this $15.00 lantern, will increase its costs exponentially as you use it.
I enjoyed this lantern for my 2014 excursions when I had new batteries in it – but, it’s too much of a pain and I’ll be looking at coming up with a quality replacement product. Any suggestions?
Have a look at the Black Diamond lanterns. A little more money initially, but great quality. Available at MEC.