OSRAM GOLDEN DRAGON
LED CAMPING LANTERN

Osram Golden Dragon Camping Lantern, retail $36.00 (www.osram.com)
Manufactured by Osram (www.osram.com)
Last updated 02-27-07




The Osram Camping Lantern uses the Osram Golden Dragon high-powered white LED (a first for an LED lighting product, that I'm aware of anyway) under a milky white diffusing dome.

It feeds from four AA cells, and has two brightness settings (100% and 25%).

The lantern is a lot smaller than I thought it was going to be, measuring just 5.6" tall by ~1.9" in diameter.

It comes in a mostly plastic body, colored primarily a matte silver and dark grey. A transparent, clear plastic cylinder (found where the "globe" on a white gas lantern would be found) keeps the LED and conical reflector out of the elements.


SIZE



To use the lantern, feed it first (see directly below), and then you'll be ready to go camping.

Press and release the button on the front of the lantern once for high (100%). Press and release it again for low (25%). And press & release it a third time to turn the lantern off.

There are three metal legs with rubber feet on their bases on the bottom of the lantern that swing out to help improve its stability. To deploy them, just grasp one of them and twist it counterclockwise (as if unscrewing it). All three legs should come out when you do this.
To stow the legs when they're not needed, just grasp one and twist it clockwise (as if screwing it in); the other two should automatically stow when you do this.



To feed the lantern, unscrew and remove the silvery base of the lantern. Tip the battery carriage out of the lantern into your hand, and recycle or dispose of the batteries in it as you see fit.

Insert four new AA cells into the carriage, orienting them so the flat-ends (-) negative of them face the springs for them in each chamber.

Place the battery carriage back in the lantern, orienting it so the two metal terminals on it go in first. Rotate the battery carriage as necessary until it slips into the lantern. It only fits in there one way - it's kinda hard to screw this part up.

Finally, screw the silvery base of the lantern snugly back on.

Unable to measure current use due to how the lantern was constructed.

Battery life is stated as "up to 100 hours on the dimmed setting".



This lantern comes in a plastic body, so "The Smack Test" would really not be appropriate here.

In my opinion, "The Toilet Test" is also inappropriate, as I see no O-rings or other environmental protection. The lantern *DOES* appear to be splash-resistant, but I don't believe for one second that it is waterproof or submersible. So please try not to drop it in creeks, rivers, ponds, lakes, oceansides, docksides, puddles of wolf pee, slush piles, mud puddles, tubs, toilet bowls, cisterns, sinks, fishtanks, dog water dishes, or other places where water or water-like liquids might be found. A little rain or snow probably wouldn't hurt it though, so you need not be too concerned about using it in lightly to at most moderately bad weather.

If it fell in water and you suspect it got flooded, disassemble it as you would for a battery change, dump out the water if necessary, and set the parts in a warm dry place for a day or so just to be sure it's completely dry inside before you reassemble and use it again.

If it fell into seawater or if somebody or something peed on it, douche all the parts out with fresh water before setting them out to dry. You don't want your lantern to smell like seashells or piss when you go to use it next. Besides, salt (from seawater or pee-pee) can't be very good for the insides.

(Edit 10-03-05 8:36pm PDT): I removed the base, relieved the lantern of its battery carriage, and performed that dreadful suction test on it. Guess what? It held a vaccume (vaccuummnne, vacumn, vaccum, vacume, vacuum, etc.) so it really *IS* water- and pee-resistant.

The tint of the light emitted is a pure white, with no pink, yellow, blue, purple, or "rotten moose urine green" coloration to it at all.

The light is diffused by a milky plastic dome over the LED; it is spread out even farther by a cone-shaped reflector over this dome, so the light coming from the top of this fixture is not wasted.


Photograph showing both the dome and conical reflector of the lantern.

A beefy fold-down loop on the lantern's top allows you to hang it from small-diameter tree branches, nails, hooks, or similar articles.



Photograph of the lantern lit at 100% on my computer desk.



Photograph of the lantern lit at 100% illuminating a bathtub.
Lantern was placed on a shower chair ~3 feet from the bathtub faucet.


Spectrographic plot
The white Osram Golden Dragon LED in this lantern.
Ocean Optics USB2000 Spectrometer on loan from TWO-CUBED.



TEST NOTES:
Product was purchased on Ebay on 09-27-05, and was received on 10-03-05.


UPDATE: 11-28-05
I've decided to rate this lantern a full five stars and place it in The Trophy Case on this website.


UPDATE: 03-07-06
You can now purchase the Osram Golden Dragon Lantern at AdvancedMart (this link opens the actual web page for this lantern) for just under $40.


UPDATE: 04-15-06
The pure white color I found in mine may *NOT* be absolutely guaranteed; another popular flashlight reviewer found his to have this obnoxious purple tint to it. Because of this, I'll have to derate the product by ½ a star, but it will still remain in The Trophy Case on this website.


UPDATE: 02-27-07
I received postal mail from a user of this product today that it is being sold as the "Sylvania Mini Lantern", and is available for $20.00 to $25.00 online at Wall*Mart, Amazon.com, and the online Sylvania web store at http://store.sylvania.com.


PROS:
Reasonably durable construction
Bright for its size
Compact size
Convenient metal fold-out legs
Handy loop at top for hanging
Uses batteries that are inexpensive and readily available


CONS:
None that I have yet found


    MANUFACTURER: Osram
    PRODUCT TYPE: LED Lantern
    LAMP TYPE: Osram High Powered LED
    No. OF LAMPS: 1
    BEAM TYPE: 360° horizontal; ~100° vertical
    SWITCH TYPE: Pushbutton high/low/off on front of product's body
    BEZEL: Cylindrical transparent "globe" to protect LED
    BATTERY: 4xAA cells
    CURRENT CONSUMPTION: Unknown/unable to measure
    WATER RESISTANT: Splash- and rain-resistant at minimum
    SUBMERSIBLE: No
    ACCESSORIES: None
    SIZE: 5.6" tall by ~1.9" diameter
    WARRANTY: Unknown/not stated

    PRODUCT RATING:

    Star RatingStar Rating





Osram Golden Dragon Camping Lantern * www.osram.com






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