Coleman MicroPacker Compact Battery Lantern

Our friends had one of these when we went camping a few weeks ago, and it was so great I ordered it the minute we got back home.

We used it for the first time this weekend, and it was perfect. Small and lightweight, it uses 3 AA batteries (supplied!), and gives off a very even light.

Inside the tent, we hung it from the top loop and used it to read by.

The light isn't extremely bright (I wouldn't want to do brain surgery with this as the only light source), but it's very even and doesn't create any glare.

Earlier in the evening, my husband allayed our fears of its fragility by dropping it on the cement - it didn't break, chip or even show a scratch, and worked perfectly afterwards.

It takes up the same space as a flashlight, but is way more useful for our needs - so the flashlight's out, and the Coleman's in!

I really like every detail of the look and design of this tiny lantern, except for the poor light output. I will keep it and surely I will use it a lot, but always be wishing for a little more of light. With a better luminescency, this can be an excellent product. However, the price is very good.

This is for the unit with the yellow body and the screen that slides up one side, not the unit by the same name that has a grey body and that uses the Cree LED bulbs. That unit is likely to have a much brighter output but nowhere near the battery life of this unit.

I purchased three of these for $9.99 each. I was going to purchase 2, but buying a third one qualified for Amazon's free shipping which meant the additional cost of the third one was only a few dollars more than getting two. I purchased them as emergency lights - when you have worked in the WTC until a certain date in September of 2001 that we all remember, then went through the several day blackout a few years later with only candlelight, I figured it would be wise to be prepared for anything.

The Coleman MicroPacker light puts out a decent amount of light for the compact size and the fact that it runs a long time on three AAA batteries. I have one of the Coleman Pack-Away LED lamps which is quite a bit brighter, but also doesn't emit an even distribution of light. Given the choice between three MicroPackers or one Pack-Away at the same cost, I would go with the MicroPackers. If you turn the lights off and then turn on the MicroPacker expecting the same amount of light, you will be disappointed. But when it's dark, and your eyes have adjusted to not having "full" light, there is more than enough light from one of these to do multiple tasks, whether it be playing cards, reading, or hanging in a tent to see what you are doing in the middle of the night.

After being disappointed at the light output of a "no name" brand and much larger light that I purchased at a chain drug store that uses 4 D batteries and "12 LED Bulbs", I decided to go with a name brand when I purchased these. I'm quite pleased I did, as the light from these Coleman units with only 2 LED's is the same as the "no name" brand with 12.

The screen that slides up the back makes just a minimal difference in the amount of light being projected forward, but it does make the light project out about 270 degrees, rather than all 360 degrees around the unit, so you will not have the glare of the light in your eyes when using the light on a focused area rather than as general light.

The flip up hook for hanging is plastic, but seems very sturdy, and with the light weight is much more than sufficient for hanging these. It also folds down neatly on the top of the unit.

Living in a NYC apartment with very limited space, the compact size of these is greatly appreciated for the output. I'm not a person who goes hiking/camping, but would imagine that the compact size and light weight would be also be appreciated by those who do.

As someone else mentioned regarding to the battery life, these do have an "absurdly" long life! 125 hours on 3 small batteries. Absurd, indeed! That's over 5 days left on 24/7. And note that this is not achieved by using some sort of "low" setting - it is on its standard (only one level) of brightness!

Come Christmas, I'll be buying several more of these to give to family members who live "out in the woods" in parts of the country where snow and wind storms often result in them having power out for several hours or days.

No need to go into great detail here, as the other reviewers have managed to describe this item adequately. My experience with this lantern can be described thusly: it's about the size of a can of beer, is lightweight, casts enough light to read by, and it doesn't feel like it will fall apart at the first stiff gust of wind it encounters. It definitely will not survive being immersed in water. The reflector is pretty much a joke. If you live in hurricane country or in any other place that could conceivably be subject to long power outages, then a low-output LED lamp like this one, with its absurdly long battery life, can provide a safe substitute for candles.

The battery operated lantern works as advertised. I use rechargeable batteries and the powers last a long time.