In another thread, we discussed
How Many Lumens, and How Many Batteries are needed for an outage to keep Everyone comfortable. Some are comfortable at just a few lumens of light, while others may go bonkers unless they have a hundred or more. One must consider the needs of everyone in his party, because one very uncomfortable person can make life unbearable for everyone else.
Each year StarHalo reminds us to practice a night without power.
The last time I did that, it was just my grandson, and myself.
When I flipped the switch, my auto-on lights came on. He casually walked to my bedroom, grabbed a flashlight, walked to his bedroom, changed into his PJs, and went to bed!
This was a reminder, that depending upon the time of year, one may not need more than a few hours of artificial light a night.
Like Timothybil, I have a couple of the
Energizer folding lanterns that run on 4 or 8 AA cells. They were reviewed in our lantern section.
Here is a review of the 4AA Energizer lantern with light fusion technology.
For reviews of other lanterns you make look here:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?90-Lanterns
I wouldn't suggest getting a lantern with more than 300 lumens. Typically the glare they put out is terribly distracting, AND they will drain your batteries significantly quicker than one that does 100 lumens, or less. There are many that have a high and low of 100-300 lumens. Again, I'd cruise through the lantern section of this site, for reviews of any particular model, but I would look for one that runs on 3D cells and has a 100 lumen setting (or thereabouts) and perhaps a low... nightlight setting.
Regarding 3D lanterns, I have a
300 lumen Ozark trail lantern, a couple
Defiant 3D extended run time, and a
GE "Enbrighten" lantern
Each are less than $20 and will give similar run times to the more expensive 30 day lanterns.
Like others, I prefer a ceiling bounced flashlight to a lantern. Of course that does not work too well outdoors.
I also like rechargeable 18650 batteries. In preparation for an outage, I'll top off a bunch of them, and know that I can recharge them in my car if needed eventually. If I were to make a specific recommendation for power outage flashlights, I'd suggest the Convoy S2+ with the XPL hi and biscotti firmware, and a little plastic white diffuser. While I generally prefer the XML2 led to the XPL hi, simply because it has a broader hot spot; Convoy doesn't make the S2+ with an (XML2 led AND biscotti) firmware. The Biscotti firmware allows one to select a lower low, that will sip battery energy, at night light levels (2-4 lumens) if that is wanted, for I am guessing 200-300 hours. OTOH one with an XML2 driven at 1400ma, will run on low (35-40 lumens) for about 40 hours.