After years of carrying around big bulky lanterns and always worrying about breaking mantles I have mostly retired my old Coleman fuel model.
Big fuel type lanterns still work great for car camping. Nothing puts out the amount of bright white light like a fuel powered mantle based model. I still take mine along for setting up a car camp site at night.
With the improved brightness of the new LED Lanterns you can come closer to reproducing that large amount of light. The LED models are much smaller and easier to pack along on backpacking trips. Some of these battery powered lanterns will run on high setting for over 70 hours before new batteries are required.
Most LED bulbs will burn for over 100,000 hours before needing replaced. That is a lifetime of use for most people. This can mean no more running to the store at the last minute to find replacement mantles. Also extra batteries are a lot safer to store than a big can of Coleman fuel.
Small backpacking LED lanterns like the Brunton Glorb LED XB Lantern use 4 AA batteries and will fit in your pack. It comes with a rubber sleeve to protect it and is the lantern I carry with me backpacking.
Another option in an LED lantern is the slightly heaver but rechargeable Freeplay Indigo Lantern. This one will let you plug it in when the battery runs down or use its built in hand crank to recharge the batteries.
For the added convenience and reliability of a new LED lantern it is hard for me to consider carrying anything else on backpacking trips. Say goodbye to carrying that extra fuel and those messy candles. Hello LED.
