The importance of lanterns has increased over the years. If you want to make an unforgettable camping trip, you will need a high-quality camping lantern to light up your campsite. There are various types of lanterns available on the market. A perfect lantern should be strong enough to illuminate the campsite, allowing you to read the map inside the tent or provide assistance while cooking.
In this article, I will be talking about various types of lanterns. I will share the benefits of each type so that you can choose the best lantern for emergency power outages or for a camping trip.
Types of Lanterns Available on the Market
In the following section, I will be discussing various types of lanterns with their benefits and problems:
LED Lantern
LED lanterns are the most popular and widely used lanterns. These modern lanterns are designed to look almost similar to the vintage lantern. But, they run on a completely different system. While traditional lantern runs on fuel or gas, modern LED lantern uses electric power to run.
Features & Benefits of LED Lantern
The LED lantern comes with a lot of features and benefits. This is why these are the most popular lanterns among campers. Let’s take a look at some of the features and benefits of LED lanterns:
- LED lanterns are safe: If you use fuel or gas lanterns, there is always a chance of fire or burning.
- Lightweight: LED lanterns are very lightweight compared to gas or fuel lanterns. Usually, the body of these lanterns is made of plastic materials which makes them very lightweight.
- Compact Design: These lanterns are very small and portable. You can easily take them inside your travel bag or backpack.
- Brightness: The brightness of modern LED lanterns is also great. These will cover a large campsite.
Types of LED Lanterns
LED lanterns are available in three different types – rechargeable, battery powered, and solar powered.
- Battery-Powered LED Lantern: Battery powered LED lanterns are the perfect option for camping and emergency use. Usually, these lantern runs on 2-4 AA batteries. You can easily find those batteries in a local store. With a battery-powered LED lantern, you don’t need to worry about the electric power source. So, you can take them anywhere you want. However, you need to make sure that the batteries have enough charge. It’s better to keep additional batteries for emergency use. I recently wrote an article related to the best 6-volt lantern batteries where I shared some most popular lantern batteries. You can also check those.
- Rechargeable LED Lanterns: Rechargeable lanterns are a better form of battery-powered lanterns. With these lanterns, you never need to worry about finding AA batteries or keeping additional batteries for emergency use. However, you need to ensure a proper electric power source to recharge them.
- Solar-Powered LED Lantern: These are the most innovative type of LED lanterns on the market. Usually, these LED lanterns come with multiple power supply methods. First, you can recharge them by placing them under the sun. Second, you can use AA batteries to supply the power. Third, some solar-power lantern comes with a rechargeable battery. So, you can recharge them too. Since solar-powered LED lantern has multiple charging methods, these can be the best camping light when camping in any remote location.
Fuel Lanterns
For people who don’t have any power source, fuel lanterns are a good choice for them. These traditional lanterns are available in different fuel types – butane lanterns, propane lanterns, gas lanterns, and kerosene lanterns. Sometimes, these lantern provides brighter light than the LED camping lanterns.
Features & Benefits of Fuel Lantern
The followings are some of the features and benefits of fuel lanterns:
- Fuel lanterns are dangerous to use: Usually, fuel lanterns are dangerous to use inside tents. Since they generate a lot of heat, they are also dangerous to use in the home.
- Difficult to carry: Fuel lanterns are usually heavy weight and large in size compared to the LED lanterns. So, these are difficult to carry.
Types of Fuel Lanterns
Let’s take a look at the different types of fuel lanterns:
- Butane Lantern: The butane lantern comes with a disposable canister. These are usually compact in size and easy to use.
- Propane Lantern: The propane lantern comes with refillable tanks. These lanterns are also very popular for camping. Companies like Coleman manufactures top-quality propane lantern. You can check my top Coleman lanterns review to find a good performing propane lantern for your upcoming camping trip.
- Kerosene Lantern: The kerosene lantern emits light by burning kerosene. The earliest kerosene lanterns date back to the 9th century. The invention of the kerosene lantern changed everything because the quality of the lighting that has been used over the years has been greatly improved. Although kerosene is better than solid fuel in terms of these things, these lanterns are still very dangerous because they can cause fires, explosions, and cause injuries. Check my best hurricane lantern review.
- Gas Lantern: The gas lantern often provides better brightness than kerosene or propane lanterns. You can use these lanterns for camping purposes.
Final Words
So, these are the types of lanterns available on the market. Among all of these, rechargeable LED lanterns are the most useful lantern for camping and emergency use. Don’t forget to check out the built quality, brightness, performance, and features before buying a lantern for your needs.