Subterrestrial
Newly Enlightened
OK guys, this is one I've been wanting to post for a bit now. This is just a quick review of the Energizer Weatheready lantern. It's part of Energizer's Weatheready line-up of lights, marketed at folks preparing of emergencies. They sell them at big box and home improvement stores (I got mine at HD). Compromising output for extended run time, this lantern is definitely better suited to home emergencies than camping. One could probably use it as a tent light or personal area light, but it's still quite bright on low and I feel that there are more compact and practical lanterns for this purpose.
A size comparison with some comparable 3D lanterns.
The Weatheready lantern runs on 3 D cells in serial, but also includes a carrier for 3 AA cells along with a trio of alkaleaks (guess which brand?). In a prolonged outage where your D cells are reaching the end of their charge, you can cannibalize batteries from other sources namely TV remotes, toys and other non-essential devices.
UI is a simple click on, subsequent clicks to cycle through High->Low->Nightlight to off. The light is cool white, but not obnoxiously "blueberry flavored". The diffuse globe also helps with this and with an upward-pointing emitter aimed at a very broad cone reflector, the light gets distributed quite nicely. Energizer is a bit vague about some of the specs. Stated output is 180 lumens on high and 50% on low…. so 90 lumens right? Well, Energizers states on their website….
….which I'm sure is what you figured as well. At any rate, it's definitely bright enough for safety and ambient lighting while riding the storm out. Run time is stated on the packaging as 66 hours (on low?) and 195 hours on their website (which has got to be nightlight mode). No actual IPX figures given, but they say it floats so it's got to be at least IPX7. There is an o-ring where the globe screws onto the fount and while I can't see one in the battery compartment, everything fits very flush and screws down tightly so at the very least it shouldn't be a problem if you drop in in the toilet.
Build quality seems fair. It's all plastic and obviously not designed to take an outdoor beating though the base is composed of quite a substantial piece of rubber. You could probably drop it at least a few times without breaking it. The power button is glow-in-the-dark silicon that sits flush with the surface, but the clicky is a little deeper in a requires a mild bit of digging to reach it. I can only assume the reason is to prevent accidental activation. The bail is comfortable to hold seems reasonably strong as long as you don't start swinging it around violently. There's also a folding hook in the base to hanging.
Now let's look at some inside shots. This thing may not be a bright work light, but it's bright enough to move around your home safely and hang out. It's obviously brighter in person than it appears in the pics, but I hope they help illustrate the way this lantern illuminates interior spaces none the less.
High
Low
Nightlight beamshot against a white wall. It's much brighter than the nightlight mode on my Dorcy 4C lanterns, but still not the easiest thing to photograph.
Kitchen shot on High. Lantern is on top of fridge.
Dining area shot on High (never mind the mess). Lantern is suspended from ceiling hook.
Living room shot on High. Lantern is…. well you can see where it is.
So that's the Energizer Weatheready lantern. Bulletproof it is not, but not a bad little guy to have on hand for emergencies. The "duel-fuel" option makes it stand out in my opinion. Also, good overall light distribution and a simple UI, because the last thing you need during a power failure is to have to recall some complicated series of button long and/or short presses right?
A size comparison with some comparable 3D lanterns.
The Weatheready lantern runs on 3 D cells in serial, but also includes a carrier for 3 AA cells along with a trio of alkaleaks (guess which brand?). In a prolonged outage where your D cells are reaching the end of their charge, you can cannibalize batteries from other sources namely TV remotes, toys and other non-essential devices.
UI is a simple click on, subsequent clicks to cycle through High->Low->Nightlight to off. The light is cool white, but not obnoxiously "blueberry flavored". The diffuse globe also helps with this and with an upward-pointing emitter aimed at a very broad cone reflector, the light gets distributed quite nicely. Energizer is a bit vague about some of the specs. Stated output is 180 lumens on high and 50% on low…. so 90 lumens right? Well, Energizers states on their website….
….which I'm sure is what you figured as well. At any rate, it's definitely bright enough for safety and ambient lighting while riding the storm out. Run time is stated on the packaging as 66 hours (on low?) and 195 hours on their website (which has got to be nightlight mode). No actual IPX figures given, but they say it floats so it's got to be at least IPX7. There is an o-ring where the globe screws onto the fount and while I can't see one in the battery compartment, everything fits very flush and screws down tightly so at the very least it shouldn't be a problem if you drop in in the toilet.
Build quality seems fair. It's all plastic and obviously not designed to take an outdoor beating though the base is composed of quite a substantial piece of rubber. You could probably drop it at least a few times without breaking it. The power button is glow-in-the-dark silicon that sits flush with the surface, but the clicky is a little deeper in a requires a mild bit of digging to reach it. I can only assume the reason is to prevent accidental activation. The bail is comfortable to hold seems reasonably strong as long as you don't start swinging it around violently. There's also a folding hook in the base to hanging.
Now let's look at some inside shots. This thing may not be a bright work light, but it's bright enough to move around your home safely and hang out. It's obviously brighter in person than it appears in the pics, but I hope they help illustrate the way this lantern illuminates interior spaces none the less.
High
Low
Nightlight beamshot against a white wall. It's much brighter than the nightlight mode on my Dorcy 4C lanterns, but still not the easiest thing to photograph.
Kitchen shot on High. Lantern is on top of fridge.
Dining area shot on High (never mind the mess). Lantern is suspended from ceiling hook.
Living room shot on High. Lantern is…. well you can see where it is.
So that's the Energizer Weatheready lantern. Bulletproof it is not, but not a bad little guy to have on hand for emergencies. The "duel-fuel" option makes it stand out in my opinion. Also, good overall light distribution and a simple UI, because the last thing you need during a power failure is to have to recall some complicated series of button long and/or short presses right?
