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You mean the hot water heater is already being sold to the public? Yikes! That is a bad idea. Our council got one several months ago to test or something like that and we tried to use it at a Lodge event. The thing was totally and completely without any redeeming value as far as any of us could tell. It also had the disadvantage of requiring both propane and electricity to run. I would not encourage anyone to purchase one of those, assuming it is the same model.

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nlds Scout - your post just about set me on my heels....but, unless I'm mistaken, your handle equates you to being a member of the Mormon Church. The Word of Wisdom says coffee is a no-no. However, you seem to be very knowledgeable about the finer points of coffee.....well, if you're ever around my campfire, I would surely be tempted to splash a bit of brandy in your cup of Joe...:)

 

Now for good camp coffee, I've found that an infant" cotton sock works just fine to keep the brew from being crunchy...of course, you could do as some of my re enactors do for their coffee....they pound the beans to dust with the butt of their musket, stuff it between cheek and gum, and chug hot water....extra crunchy

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  • 9 months later...

Getting back on the original topic of inexpensive lanterns.

 

$5 is not a bad price for a single mantle lantern. I would have bought it assuming that it looked like it was safe, was gonna work, and hold up through repeated use.

 

One of the large discount chain stores (Name deleted but you probably have one nearby), usually sells single mantle propane lanterns for about $15. They usually have two brands, Coleman and Century. There is usually a couple of dollars difference between them. I own both and they both work about the same.

 

Our unit is gradually converting to these single mantle propane lanterns. They are less expensive, smaller, easier to pack and carry (they are packable in a backpack), the globes don't break near as much or often as those on larger lanterns, and the mantile holds up better, and they emit more than enough light.

 

 

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Lanterns for backpacking?

Even back in the day, we made do with flashlights or to use the English we used our torches.

Our Patrols had lanterns in their patrol boxes.

Coleman a few years back came out with a lantern, which I either must have read the instructions wrong or the mantle went on upside down. Every time you moved the darn thing the mantle broke. I have one that requires two mantles. I don't use it very much.

I really do like the big Coleman flashlight that has the two small what look like florescent bulbs along the side. They list for about $20.00 The light is good enough to read with and the batteries seem to last a very long time. I have tried reading in bed with my fancy LCD lamp that you wear over your head, I can't get used to it. But for hiking at night I really do like it. I think I paid about $30.00, but that was when they were new on the market they have come down a bit.

It must be the Cub Scout in me I love flashlights I have a tiny mag-lite on my key ring, a belt sized one in the glove box of all my cars and a big one (3 D Battery size) in the trunk (Boot) We have flashlights in the garages, the game room and the basement as well as the kitchen. I don't know what the attraction is? Some people in a word association game would answer knife to camping I would say flashlight.It could just be a phase I used to have a thing for compasses. That was the Boy Scout in me - Could it be that I'm going back to my early childhood?

Eamonn.

PS No! the truth is I'm losing my night vision.

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Candle power! I really loved my candle lantrns for "packing", including my 'mother of all candle lanterns'- "3 stick"! (uses three rather than one candle). Don't hike all that much since 'they' chopped out a lung but I still canoe and wouldn't think of leaving home without 'em. Even truck camping I'll fire one up after the day is done to enjoy a last cup of coffee without the "hissssss" of the propane lights...

And Eamonn, the folks who make the nifty single candle lantern now have a small attachment for the bottom that turns it into a FLASHLIGHT!

anarchist

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I have backpacked for a short distance a few times with a small propane lantern.

 

Eamonn: Eveready makes several florescent lanterns. Some look very similar to their white gas lanterns. But the one I use the most has 2 6" florescent bulbs and runs on 4 D cells. It is box shaped about 3X6X8 inches and has a green housing. The lamp part is hinged so you can adjust the angle of the light. A very good tent light. About $12.

 

Eveready also makes a very small twin LED tube light about the size of a pack of cigarettes and runs on 4 AAA batteries. The lamp part also is hinges to adjust the angle of the light. These are very nice lights. LED so they last a long time on one set of batteries. Good reading lights too. ABout $8.

 

And Eveready make a little LED headlight that runs on 3 AAA batteries and features both white and red lights. ABout $15.

 

But in camp, most of the time I use a little one mantle Coleman propane lantern. Emits lots of light, small, inexpensive.

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I don't take lanterns on backpackers, so I'm not concerned about weight. I place a big importance on light output, ease of lighting, how good the case is, and ruggedness. From what I've seen, the Coleman North Star wins hands down. I've got one of my own, got it on sale ($29) with the case that butterflys open from the top rather than that hideous two-piece thing that guarantees a broken globe when you try to open it. Wire birdcage around the globe, dependable igniter, and bright? Like a magnesium flare!

 

KS

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Our troop uses the Coleman two mantle lanterns that accept the disposable propane cylinders. Of late we have had problems with the globes breaking or cracking, of course we don't find this out until set-up on Friday night. I think this has more to do with how the boys are packing the trailer than anything else, but I was wondereing if we could retrofit these lanterns with the screen type globes and has anyone had any experience, good or bad, with these screens.

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Spiney Norman,

 

screens work but you will lose 20% of your light and in a "blow" lighting and keeping lit can be a problem...

 

some of the coleman two mantle propanes have more than the appropriate 'space' or are lacking the "lense retainer" bracket found in many other colman lanterns. This will result in the screen 'slopping' around which will eat up your mantles...solution is cut a piece of perforated muffler/tail pipe straping and bend in a flat "u", (2 90 degree bends). When turned upside down, if you measured hole spacing right, the top post will fit in a perforated hole, the 'bracket' will slide on and brace the screen 'globe',then the top and nut go on...it works! Wind can be tamed by picking up some of colemans 'light shifters'...er reflectors (that was not hazing!)...only throws light one way but handles wind issues.

 

That the way we did it anyway...Adults still use glass... and the North Start does "rock" if you want to pay for it.

(still like my candle lantern!)

anarchist

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