Coleman DUO LED lantern
Posted: 11 Nov 2012, 17:46I've always been a bit of a tackle tart-too tight to be an extravagant one but I'm a tackle tart wannabe maybe. Anyway I get SOOOO annoyed at constant shop + magazine reviews where EVERYTHING is bloody brilliant and I should buy it right away. Terrified of losing advertising revenue it seems many medias are reluctant to focus on anything negative,leading to anglers buying into some real garbage before users' reviews filter out through sites like ours and onto the grapevine,finally warning off potential punters about to throw their money away.Not everything we are offered is great and its only fair anglers get a cross section of opinions to help make up their own minds so I'm going ,time allowing,to throw up a few reviews,the section's a bit neglected at times so hopefully others will get involved and share their experiences.
Some time ago I bought a Coleman Perfect Flow gas lantern. Much the same as any Northstar but without the petrol hassles. Ok petrol's not really a hassle as a rule but I've got an old mate who still has a 30cm burn scar on his leg from the night his dad's old Northstar turned fireball and squrted him Napalm style on the Jetty.(Sadly we laughed our B******s off at him at the time as we're often won't to do!) An old lamp of mine once tried to do the same and only ended better as the pressure was on the low side at the time.
So I've kinda fallen out of love with Petrol lamps and thought the gasser was a solid alternative. THEN-every bloody shop locally stopped stocking the large size gas cannisters leaving the only option as the internet at £20+ for 2. Now doing about a session and a half on a can its £6 or 7 a session at that,added to bait/petrol/tackle costs it gets a bit prohibitive so I've been looking elsewhere for a lighting solution.
I've used a Petzl Ultra head lamp for some time for all my night fishing-thats another review Ill get to soon-and though not a lover of the white,cold LED light I admit its economical,long lasting and minimal on costs being generally all usable on rechargeable batteries.It's usable and that's what I need on the beach,a California sunset glow might be nice but we've got what we've got with LEDs and as long as I can see to bait a rig or remove a deep set hook then it'll do me.
Last year I spotted some rechargeable LED lanterns from Coleman but they were only available in the USA so I jibbed,I hate the damn import duties and the shameless way that couriers add a wedge on for their own 'clearing fees',often adding 30-40% to a £50 item. Then a month or 2 ago I stumbled across them again,in the UK now and not too badly priced. You're currently more likely to find these online or in higher end walking/camping stores than in angling shops at the moment.
So I picked up this one,the Coleman Duo LED lantern.
So called because it comprises 2 seperate detachable lamps that attach to a centre section that carries the main power source. This can be the supplied battery holder that carries 4 x 'D' cell batteries
or you can,for another £20 ish procure a rechargeable 6 volt battery pack thats compatable with all of the Coleman 'CPX6' range of products.
I decided to go for this being tight and hating coughing up for batteries at £3 for 2 decent D cells!
The rechargeable CPX6 battery pack comes with the mains charging unit and also a useful car charging adapter.As with these things it requires a good charge the 1st few times out to assure optimum battery performance.
The lantern,as mentioned earlier,comes with 2 seperate detachable sections. Each of these comes supplied with 3 on board rechargeable AAA cell batteries to run the unit when detached from the main lantern. This unit,when removed,is switchable by a rubber push button switch on the rear,hidden from the user when on the main lamp. When on the main lantern body these AAAs charge from the main battery supply-when in use.Seems a tad odd that theyre not seperately rechargeable and that when running the lantern theyre sucking power to fill their own cells while not actually using this source unless removed to be used individually.
I noticed that the 1st few uses tended to run the lantern low quite quickly but this was down to those darned AAAs dragging power from the main battery. When detached and running on their own AAAs they were actually brighter than on the main battery,so much did they drain the supply on the main unit. After a few uses this seemed to improve somewhat as the AAAs didn't seem to be as greedy for the main cell's power.
The 2 seperate sides carry 6 decent LEd's each and (manufacturer's figures) output a fairly meagre 97 lumens. Theyre actually a bit more practical than that sounds as theyre not all in 1 spot or focussed to a beam,the silver reflector helps push out a fairly usable light from each. Get the 2 onto the main body though and they combine to produce a very respectable 220 lumens. NOT on the scale of the advertised power of the gas Northstar but in use its brighter than its figures suggest. We took this to the beach last night,it was pretty dark and there was no light source at Rossall beyond our own lighting,the pic shows our shelter with no flash and no headlamps etc,as you see its a fairly bright light.
Being a lantern with quite a lot of solid body surrounding the LED area the only little grumble is it casts a light a little horizontally,when held up as in the pic it throws a very good light coverage but as with many lanterns,on the floor its more usable for working on your rigs etc. Sitting it atop a tackle box gives it a little elevation and makes for more practical general use,finding things round the shelter etc.Its claimed as 'weatherproof' but not sure how ANY lantern would hold up in a torrential downpour-as with any you'd cover it-at least unlike a petrol there's no heat ussue so it can sit in a clear plastic bag happily in the p*****g rain.
We brought it home from its 1st fishing session last night and left it on overnight.The packaging suggests the lantern can run 56 hours but I'd be a little doubtful. Maybe 56 hours til it extinguished completely when used with 4 brand new TOP quality D cell batteries but most of that time would be at a much reduced lumen output. By this morning,approximately 17 hours of solid use later, it was very feeble but hey who needs 17 hours??
For the entire session last night and up to finally staggering to bed at 3 am,10 hours in,it was still just as bright as when 1st switched on ,FAR more than I'll ever need 
With the car charger you'd be easily able to take it away to use on a fishing trip over several days.
Being a bit teed off with the seperate sections' AAA batteries digging into the resorces of the main 6v rechargeable-and not wishing to seperate it for use anyway (might be of use for kids camping when split but not really for fishing) I personally removed the AAAs completely. Though after 3 charges they'd stopped grabbing too much power too rapidly I was concerned after 6 hours they'd again draw enough to dim the power output of the main unit. This might be better with D cells but like I mentioned I'm too tight to pay for them so for me removing the side unit's AAAs made a world of difference,giving the 10+ hours of 220 lumens as reported.
Recommended?? I'd say so yes,its a good sturdy unit,all plastic but nice and solid as you'd expect from Coleman and should be reliable. At £40 + £20 for the 6v battery its not a cheap start and some will argue its not as bright as a petrol.On the other hand itll not give you CO poisoning if you use it in the shelter,won't fuse your flesh to the casing if you touch it when its been running 2 hours and it won't cost £6 of fuel a sesh like the bloomin' big gasser. More practical than a headlamp sometimes and always nice to have a base lamp in the shelter for ease of siting your posterior on the chair. Ill keep using it this winter and I'm sure itll not let me down.
Some time ago I bought a Coleman Perfect Flow gas lantern. Much the same as any Northstar but without the petrol hassles. Ok petrol's not really a hassle as a rule but I've got an old mate who still has a 30cm burn scar on his leg from the night his dad's old Northstar turned fireball and squrted him Napalm style on the Jetty.(Sadly we laughed our B******s off at him at the time as we're often won't to do!) An old lamp of mine once tried to do the same and only ended better as the pressure was on the low side at the time.
So I've kinda fallen out of love with Petrol lamps and thought the gasser was a solid alternative. THEN-every bloody shop locally stopped stocking the large size gas cannisters leaving the only option as the internet at £20+ for 2. Now doing about a session and a half on a can its £6 or 7 a session at that,added to bait/petrol/tackle costs it gets a bit prohibitive so I've been looking elsewhere for a lighting solution.
I've used a Petzl Ultra head lamp for some time for all my night fishing-thats another review Ill get to soon-and though not a lover of the white,cold LED light I admit its economical,long lasting and minimal on costs being generally all usable on rechargeable batteries.It's usable and that's what I need on the beach,a California sunset glow might be nice but we've got what we've got with LEDs and as long as I can see to bait a rig or remove a deep set hook then it'll do me.
Last year I spotted some rechargeable LED lanterns from Coleman but they were only available in the USA so I jibbed,I hate the damn import duties and the shameless way that couriers add a wedge on for their own 'clearing fees',often adding 30-40% to a £50 item. Then a month or 2 ago I stumbled across them again,in the UK now and not too badly priced. You're currently more likely to find these online or in higher end walking/camping stores than in angling shops at the moment.
So I picked up this one,the Coleman Duo LED lantern.
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- DSC09517.JPG (95.88 KiB) Viewed 4544 times
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The rechargeable CPX6 battery pack comes with the mains charging unit and also a useful car charging adapter.As with these things it requires a good charge the 1st few times out to assure optimum battery performance.
The lantern,as mentioned earlier,comes with 2 seperate detachable sections. Each of these comes supplied with 3 on board rechargeable AAA cell batteries to run the unit when detached from the main lantern. This unit,when removed,is switchable by a rubber push button switch on the rear,hidden from the user when on the main lamp. When on the main lantern body these AAAs charge from the main battery supply-when in use.Seems a tad odd that theyre not seperately rechargeable and that when running the lantern theyre sucking power to fill their own cells while not actually using this source unless removed to be used individually.
I noticed that the 1st few uses tended to run the lantern low quite quickly but this was down to those darned AAAs dragging power from the main battery. When detached and running on their own AAAs they were actually brighter than on the main battery,so much did they drain the supply on the main unit. After a few uses this seemed to improve somewhat as the AAAs didn't seem to be as greedy for the main cell's power.
The 2 seperate sides carry 6 decent LEd's each and (manufacturer's figures) output a fairly meagre 97 lumens. Theyre actually a bit more practical than that sounds as theyre not all in 1 spot or focussed to a beam,the silver reflector helps push out a fairly usable light from each. Get the 2 onto the main body though and they combine to produce a very respectable 220 lumens. NOT on the scale of the advertised power of the gas Northstar but in use its brighter than its figures suggest. We took this to the beach last night,it was pretty dark and there was no light source at Rossall beyond our own lighting,the pic shows our shelter with no flash and no headlamps etc,as you see its a fairly bright light.
- DSC09508.JPG (80.22 KiB) Viewed 4544 times
Being a lantern with quite a lot of solid body surrounding the LED area the only little grumble is it casts a light a little horizontally,when held up as in the pic it throws a very good light coverage but as with many lanterns,on the floor its more usable for working on your rigs etc. Sitting it atop a tackle box gives it a little elevation and makes for more practical general use,finding things round the shelter etc.Its claimed as 'weatherproof' but not sure how ANY lantern would hold up in a torrential downpour-as with any you'd cover it-at least unlike a petrol there's no heat ussue so it can sit in a clear plastic bag happily in the p*****g rain.
We brought it home from its 1st fishing session last night and left it on overnight.The packaging suggests the lantern can run 56 hours but I'd be a little doubtful. Maybe 56 hours til it extinguished completely when used with 4 brand new TOP quality D cell batteries but most of that time would be at a much reduced lumen output. By this morning,approximately 17 hours of solid use later, it was very feeble but hey who needs 17 hours??
For the entire session last night and up to finally staggering to bed at 3 am,10 hours in,it was still just as bright as when 1st switched on ,FAR more than I'll ever need With the car charger you'd be easily able to take it away to use on a fishing trip over several days.Being a bit teed off with the seperate sections' AAA batteries digging into the resorces of the main 6v rechargeable-and not wishing to seperate it for use anyway (might be of use for kids camping when split but not really for fishing) I personally removed the AAAs completely. Though after 3 charges they'd stopped grabbing too much power too rapidly I was concerned after 6 hours they'd again draw enough to dim the power output of the main unit. This might be better with D cells but like I mentioned I'm too tight to pay for them so for me removing the side unit's AAAs made a world of difference,giving the 10+ hours of 220 lumens as reported.
Recommended?? I'd say so yes,its a good sturdy unit,all plastic but nice and solid as you'd expect from Coleman and should be reliable. At £40 + £20 for the 6v battery its not a cheap start and some will argue its not as bright as a petrol.On the other hand itll not give you CO poisoning if you use it in the shelter,won't fuse your flesh to the casing if you touch it when its been running 2 hours and it won't cost £6 of fuel a sesh like the bloomin' big gasser. More practical than a headlamp sometimes and always nice to have a base lamp in the shelter for ease of siting your posterior on the chair. Ill keep using it this winter and I'm sure itll not let me down.
full of good detailed unbiased information 
that sound always reminds me of fishing with my Grandpa 
happy days, now they were a bugger to light! 
