GUIDE GEAR 8-LED LANTERN

Guide Gear 8-LED Lantern, retail $19.97* (www.sportsmansguide.com...)
Manufactured by (Unknown) for Sportsman's Guide (www.sportsmansguide.com)
Last updated 01-28-12




The 8-LED lantern is...well...a lantern.
It features 8 white LEDs aiming outward inside a diffusing ring inside, and is powered by four AA cells. It comes in a dark green and black plastic case, with a transparent globe or cylindrical window around the outside.

The four AA cells this lantern feeds from are not included with it, so be sure you have them or go buy some before you try this lantern out.

* The price of $19.97 is for two lanterns, not one.


SIZE



To turn the lantern on, press & release the black button on the side of the unit.

Do the same thing again to turn it off.

The lantern is equipped with a small handle so you can easily carry it around, or hang it from something. This handle folds down when not needed.

The lantern is also equipped with three small "legs" on the bottom of the unit 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 change the batteries in the 8-LED lantern, unscrew and remove the bottom, gently place it on the forest floor, and kick it as hard as you can into that grove of trees over there so the skunks & squirrels get angry at it and pee on it...O WAIT, YOU'LL NEED THAT!!! So just set it aside instead.

Slide the black plastic battery carriage out of the lantern's body. If necessary, remove & dispose of or recycle the used AA cells from this carriage.

Install four new AA cells into the battery carriage, aligning each cell so its flat (-) negative side faces the spring in the chamber for it.

Insert the now-full carriage into the lantern's body so that the end with the two large shiny contacts goes in first; turning the carriage on its axis until it slides in. The carriage only fits the lantern's body one way, so you cannot easily foul this part up.

Screw the bottom of the lantern firmly back on, and be done with it. Aren't you glad you didn't kick that bottom piece into the woods with all those urinated (angry) skunks & squirrels now?



This lantern appears at least reasonably durable, and ordinary flashlight accidents (like nocks, bumps, short-distance falls, light kicks, etc.) should not do it in.
No guarantees here, but I think you'll be alright.

The lantern should offer some light splash-resistance, and some light rain resistance too. But I don't believe it's totally weatherproof, waterproof, or submersible. Therefore, water, milk, diet vanilla Pepsi, cold (or hot) coffee, urine, ice cold fizzy root beer, disposable douches, disposable enemas, tranny fluid, gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, brake fluid, motor oil, or other liquids could get inside. So please try not to drop it in creeks, rivers, ponds, lakes, oceansides, docksides, snowbanks, puddles of rhinocerous pee, tall cold glasses (or short lukewarm glasses) of milk, slush piles, mud puddles, tubs, root beer floats, toilet bowls, cisterns, sinks, cups of coffee (hot *OR* cold), fishtanks, dog water dishes, old yucky wet mops, wall-mounted porcelain urinators, leaky water heaters, busted garden hoses, or other places where water or water-like liquids might be found. And you'll probably want to cover it up or otherwise get rid of it (such as by putting it in a pocket or bag) if you need to carry it in rainy or snowy weather.

A little rain or snow probably wouldn't hurt it though, so you need not be too concerned about using it in 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, got thrown into a glass of milk, if it fell in a root beer float, if somebody squirted a Massengill brand post-menstrual disposable douche or a Fleet brand disposable enema at it (and hit it with the douche or the enema), or if somebody or something peed on it, rinse all the parts out with fresh water before setting them out to dry. You don't want your lantern to smell like seaweed, sour milk, flowers, fresh butts, or rotten piss when you go to use it next. Besides, salt (from seawater, disposable douches, disposable enemas, or urination), lactic acid (from moo juice), glycerol (from antifreeze), or sugar (from root beer & ice cream) can't be very good for the insides.

Because of its mainly plastic construction, I will not perform "The Smack Test" on it. Therefore, I won't throw it against the wall, stomp on it, run over it with a 450 pound electric wheelchair, swing it against the concrete floor of a patio, bash it open to check it for candiosity, fire it from the cannoņata (I guess I've been watching the TV program "Viva Piņata" too much again - candiosity is usually checked with a laser-type device on a platform with a large readout or with a handheld wand), send it to the Daystrom Institute for additional analysis, or perform other potentially destructive tests that all-metal lighting products might have performed on them.

The diffusing ring inside is a good idea, but it doesn't quite do the job, as evidenced by the spots of light and darkness (not "darkness" as in blackness, but "darkness" as in reduced illumination) this lantern displays.


Here is a somewhat close-up photograph of the lantern, turned on, so you can see where the light comes from.



"Beam" photo on the test target at 12".
This photograph isn't the best, as it was still daylight (though the shades were closed) when it was taken.
This photograph was purposefully left uncropped to show the light spots the lantern projects.



Photograph of lantern's output in a bathtub enclosure.
The lantern was placed on the edge of the bathing chamber (tub) ~2.5 feet from the wall you can see in the photograph.


Spectrographic plot
Spectrometer plot of the LEDs in this lantern.



Spectrographic analysis
Same as above; newer spectrometer software & settings used.


Spectrographic analysis
Spectrographic analysis of the LEDs in this light; yet newer spectrometer software & settings used.


Spectrographic analysis
Spectrographic analysis of the LEDs in this light; spectrometer's response narrowed to a band between 430nm and 480nm to pinpoint native emission peak, which is 458.994nm.

USB2000 spectrometer graciously donated by P.L.






TEST NOTES:
Test samples (2) were purchased on 08-22-07 and were received on 08-27-07.
Although I only needed (wanted) one, these lanterns are sold in pairs only.

Product was made in China.
A product's country of origin really does matter to some people, which is why I published it on this web page.


UPDATE: 12-22-10
The products (yes, both of them) were used during a recent 21-hour electrical power failure.


UPDATE: 01-29-12
These products were used during a recent extended (over 90 hours!) electrical power failure.


PROS:
Reasonably bright
Uses batteries that are relatively inexpen$ive and readily-available


CONS:
Light is a bit "spotty" rather than being smoothly-distributed


    MANUFACTURER: Unknown
    PRODUCT TYPE: Miniature LED lantern
    LAMP TYPE: 5mm white LED
    No. OF LAMPS: 8
    BEAM TYPE: N/A
    SWITCH TYPE: Pushbutton on/off on side of product
    BEZEL: LEDs protected by diffusing ring and clear plastic globe
    BATTERY: 4x AA cells
    CURRENT CONSUMPTION:
    WATER RESISTANT: Yes
    SUBMERSIBLE: FOR GOD SAKES NOOOOO!!!
    ACCESSORIES: Zippered nylon pouch (holds both lanterns)
    WARRANTY: Unknown/not stated

    PRODUCT RATING:

    Star Rating





Guide Gear 12-LED Lantern * www.sportsmansguide.com...






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