Rayovac Sportsman 3D LED Camping Lantern, 305 High Lumens, Water Resistant, Battery Powered 70 Hour Run Time, Lanterns for Camping

I am not sure about how long and well these lanterns would stand up against everyday use for an extended period of time. I am writing from the perspective of just using them for camping or power outages. Last year I bought three of these (Rayovac Sportsman LED) lanterns for family members, and I just finally bought one for myself after having borrowed one of them throughout the summer for camping. (I will be replacing the one I have borrowed with the new one!). I had noticed all of the high reviews, and this was one of those times where the relatively low cost (under $30) combined with the positive reviews just compelled me to purchase them. It has been a very good purchase, to-date. The lantern has worked very well for when the power has gone out. We live in the Pacific Northwest and while our storms are not terribly powerful, our power grids leave much to be desired, so often times minor winds will take it out. My family members who have needed this (including on Mother's Day last year around dinner time) have loved it. On the brightest setting it probably is TOO bright for practical use indoors, but on the lower setting it easily illuminates an entire room. To my knowledge neither of my family members who I didn't borrow the lantern from have changed the batteries yet. When I went camping I brought one of these along. The first time camping we used this as the primary source of light at night for two nights outdoors. This sat on top of a truck, then using the hook on it we hung it on a makeshift tent using tree branches and tarps. It rained the first night and was misty the second, and the lantern worked (and still works!) just fine. The lantern kept its brightness on one set of batteries being used constantly for many hours both nights, and for the most part on the brightest setting. It has continued to work the same (reliable and durable) subsequent times camping. When I have changed the batteries (just to be safe) before camping, after watching the demonstration video here on Amazon, it is very easy and obvious to figure out how to align the arrows and twist the battery compartment closed. You only need to pay attention to the instructions/directions, and it is simple. Cons: I only have a few MINOR cons, but two are both just related to how efficient the light is and the third is more just an FYI for one of the modes: --The first is the lantern is VERY bright on the brightest setting - as another reviewer said, you may need to set it above you if you have it on that setting. --The second is as my girlfriend pointed out, the light is very "sterile" - it is not soft at all, though this may be how LED lights are (as opposed to the old traditional light bulbs). Want a very bright, white light that is indeed very very bright and very very white? This will do the trick for you, definitely! --Lastly, there is a really obnoxious strobe mode (to use as an emergency beacon I guess), which you hope you don't accidentally stumble onto by pressing/holding the power button too long (especially if you are prone to migraines or seizures!) since it is instantly disorienting. Hopefully you will never have to use this mode. Unless you are on something and enjoy bright strobing lights in your eyes, there is no practical purpose for this mode other than emergencies to alert people that you need help, but hopefully you would have another method of requesting assistance anyway (cell phone if in range, whistle, flare, flashlight, etc.). Those are the only things I noticed that I did not really like or love about this lantern, and the first two things really don't matter for the purposes of when you might need a lantern like this (camping or power outages), and the strobing is just a minor annoyance if you do accidentally find it. Bottom-line: at under $30, for my purposes and those of my family these lanterns are well-worth the cost for the reliability and durability. You will not be disappointed.

I must agree with others here.... this is THE very 1st Rayovac item I have EVER been happy with - let alone THRILLED with. However, the reviews here did entice me to 'take the plunge' and I'm a happy beaver about doing just that. Well worth every penny spent and then some. The price is right, the lighting is fab, the lantern is nice and compact.... everything is perfect about this puppy!! Others complain about the 'blinking on' light.... It's SO small, who cares!! You can't even notice it. Sure, Rayovac would do good by eliminating it - but whatever, tis the way of almost all lights these days.... Whatever battery life that little blinker is draining - it's undectable by my standards. I find no need to remove the batteries for short trysts about & around. Storage @ home is a different matter. This lantern lights the way -- and lights the way to everywhere! And, as with ANY other battery-powered something - one should never keep the batteries in it until 'kingdom come'.... they'll corrode, leak, and ruin the unit.... so common sense says to remove the batteries but keep them readily available (nearby) for any emergency armageddon that may arise. Personally, I have this lantern in my 'weekend outtings' kit. Batteries 'in' cuz I'm out & about most weekends. She sits nice & pretty until I need it to use in the back of my suv to wrangle thru whatever I'm in need of wrangling thru. She's also 'basecamp' for many other outtings where my 'stuff' needs to be centralized outside the vehicle and I need to see.... both my stuff (all of it) and just where homebase is from afar. I'm ready for ANYTHING with this puppy.... ET find home, ET go away, ET come talk to me..... home is where the heart is! You just can't go wrong with this lantern.... the lumens outdo any others out there for the price. Not only is it BRIGHT, but she just keeps going and going and going. Sure, I'd recommend a spare set of batts to keep alongside with this unit... but I've yet to need them. She doesn't just 'turn off' - she just gets a bit tired -- and so far, depending on my needs (aka: lack of breadcrumbs), that's when I'll replace the batteries. I'm back for another lantern; this one for the EQ kit. And I figured, that while I was here that perhaps I'd waste a few minutes of my time and write a quick babbling review. Babbling accomplished, quick - maybe not - yet every word has been ripped from the pages of my heart in order to share that 'yet one of those gosh-darn good deals out there' where perhaps someone else is searching for that review that 'turns on their nightlight' and allows them to perhaps more wisely choose one product-over-another-product without searching thru those 'blank stares, just happy to have rec'd, non-real-feedback' reviews that seem to exist everywhere else otherwise. Godspeed... and to all those that believe - "ET, with this - you will find home!" ~~~~~~~~ FORGOTTEN THOUGHTS (aka: more babbling) RE: The battery problem scenario that some speak of here -- it really isn't a problem whatsoever..... just line up them arrows (as the instructions say) and you're good to go. And should you have no other light in order to see those arrows, just line up the lantern and the screw-bottom in such a way that 'touch' allows you to feel the exact 'proper alignment moment' when parts catch and you're then ready to screw top to bottom properly. It really isn't deep but a light will surely help.

Don't get me wrong. I really like this little lantern. The size is just about perfect. Not massive like your old gas or propane lantern, but still very sturdy and decent quality. It is what you would expect in a $25 lantern. It is all plastic (except for maybe the carrying handle). The handle doesn't feel super sturdy... I would have appreciated a bit more sturdiness there; but we'll see how it holds up. I also agree with many reviewers that the plastic tent 'hook' on the bottom feels quite flimsy. It seems very out of place since the rest of the product has generally a nice feel to it. One thing I don't understand is how many people complain about replacing the batteries. You really needed instructions? I thought it was fairly intuitive and not hard at all. Took me literally two tries to get the bottom on... all of maybe 5 or 6 seconds. There are two big red arrows that you line up and then twist to snap the bottom into place. Even if the red arrows weren't there, there is a notch and groove that obviously are meant to line up. This is not nearly as difficult on mine as others have stated. So don't let that scare you. Now for the brightness. Some stated this lantern was 260 lumens... others 300 lumens. I wasn't too worried since the difference between this two numbers is pretty negligible to me. But when I got my lantern, it said right on the packaging that it was 300 lumens. Maybe previous models were lower... Hard to say if this really is 300 lumens. I wouldn't necessarily doubt it, but it seems more in line with about 200 lumens. And that's probably because the light is dispersed in all directions so it's hard to compare. I wouldn't quite go as far as to say it 'will brighten the whole room' (average size of say 18 x 24 ft or so), but it does give off a good amount of light. One thing I noticed right away is that like most lanterns, the light gets cast outward and downward. If you're sitting at the table, best results would probably be achieved if the lantern was about three ft higher than the table you are sitting at. This is just generally true of all lanterns because of their design. The top of this lantern does come off to be used more as a 'dome light'. Probably for use in the tent hanging upside down. With the top portion removed, the light is dispersed non-directional. Overall, it is a great little lantern. I love the size, the feel, and the light is pretty decent. Battery life is also a plus... but I have yet to test that (but if it lasts as long as it advertises, it is very decent).

Last week I had the opportunity to shower and get dressed in the dark in the light of my 9 hours emergency candle(s). Right away I understood the shortcomings of my backup lighting system. I did not have candle stands, the slender candles were easily tipped over and thus a fire hazzard and you have to have fire to light them. These holes in emergency preparedness could have been plugged with candle trays and storing matches or a lighter with my candles and if you so choose, this is a perfectly acceptable approach. However, for me I decided to search for an alternative that was safer, energy efficient and that produced better lighting. Enter the Rayovac Sportsman Xtreme Lantern. I went to Amazon to do my normal research and the Rayovac bubbled to the top because it has an LED lighting system that works well, is very easy on batteries, has two main light settings and has a fairly rugged construction. The lantern takes 3 D-cell batteries and on the low setting will provide 150 hours of lighting (72 hours on high). The low setting still throws a good amount of light and even for an extended power outage (lets say a week long) I can't imagine running the lantern for more than 6 hours a day. That means it will keep me illuminated for 25 days before I need to replace the 3 batteries. That is incredible performance that would take about 17 9-hour candles to duplicate (and throw about 1/4 the light). To match the low output power of the lantern it would probably take about 4 times that number of candles or about 68 candles! By the way it will cost you about $102 to buy 68 candles; for that price you could by 4 of these lanterns with money left over to buy a boat load of batteres. The lantern has a nice handle that neatly folds into the latern body and a hook on the botttom so you can hang it upside down to provide overhead lighting. I have read some reviews where people talk about the difficulty of reattaching the battery lid. It is really very simple, just allign the arrows of the bottom of the lantern with the arrow on the inside of the battery lid and give it a 1/8 turn to secure it in place. I think there is a nice picutre of how this works in Amazon's description of this item. If you do not align the arrows (or have no light to see them ... hmmmm) you probably will have trouble. I bought two of these lanterns to keep me going in two different rooms in the event of another power outage. I am also an outdoorsman and will be taking one of these with me next deer season. Soooo, if you are an outdoorsman or want to beef up your emergency prepardness kit I thnk you will be very happy with these inexpensive, power sipping illumination wonders!

BRIGHT! This thing is definitely good enough for any scenario I could imagine. Tried it out in our dark basement, and this thing lit the place up. I read all the "bad" reviews and these are the two biggest complaints... Battery cover and "easy find" blinking LED that slowly drains batteries. Battery cover - not bad at all if you line up the RED ARROWS!... although changing in the dark would be tricky, I don't think it would be impossible. Blinking LED (that's only really visible if you're looking directly straight on at the front of the light, so I don't really see it being that useful anyway - Easy solution if you don't mind taking it apart and voiding the warranty, which at this price I was willing to take a shot. There are 3 screws in the battery compartment that you have to unscrew to separate the battery and light assembly from the outer case. Once I took this out I used a pair of needle nose pliers to GENTLY twist and break the blinking LED off of the circuit board. No LED = no completed circuit to drain the batteries. Put it back together and the light works same as it did before, and now I can confidently leave the batteries in and know that I'll have a working light a month or two from now. Problem solved. I'm sure the manufacturer wouldn't recommend this, but I'm a problems solver and I couldn't help myself. So in conclusion... this is a compact and super bright lantern that is built to last. The only flaw is the (barely visible) blinking light, but as you can see... it can be remedied. For the price... you can't go wrong. Update 5/21/2010: Took this thing camping for the first time last weekend in the Shenandoah National Park, VA. I was very excited to try it out, and was not disappointed! First night there were some strong T-storms coming through, but we managed to get tents up and a small fire started before they hit. I ended up using the lantern in the tent to get stuff situated, and used the tent hook on the bottom of the lantern(some reviewers are skeptical about the sturdiness of this) to hang in the tent. Well, it didn't rain much, so we stood out by the fire in our ponchos to enjoy what was left of the fire. The wind was the worst part of the storm (I'd say 15-20mph)and bounced the tent around quite a bit. That lantern was swinging around inside but never fell, and was so bright it made our tent this glowing pod that cast plenty of light that we could see perfectly out by a now smoldering fire. It was actually pretty enjoyable to watching the top of the tent dance around in the wind with the light swinging around inside. So after that, I feel very confident and pleased with the design of the tent hook on the bottom of the lantern... it comes in very handy.

After reading quite a few positive reviews of this lantern, I decided to purchase it for use as an emergency lantern, a camping lantern, and a light to have on the shelf in an unlighted closet. I'm happy to report that it fills each of these roles quite well! An emergency lantern is only good if it works when you need it, and the fact that this one uses three D-size batteries to power the LEDs that provide the light, I'm confident that not only will it have enough battery life after sitting on the shelf for months, but it will also last for at least a couple of hours if not more during a power outage. I've been using it on and off over the last several months and see no signs of the light dimming. A small LED on the front blinks every few seconds, which will make the lantern easier to find in the dark as well. As a camping lantern, this unit also serves quite well, due to the diffuse light that it projects, as well as its ability to be hung from a hook embedded in its base. I see this as being quite versatile, with perhaps the only complaint for this use being that its stature may cause you to stack it onto something to raise it off the table so more area is illuminated. That's a minor concern, though. Lastly, it serves as a closet light where it is stored, as there isn't a light installed (my mistake during remodeling, but electricians are expensive workers). Place on the front of a shelf at about 6 feet high, it illuminates the closet nicely. Sure, it's not the same as a 75W light bulb, but it does the job nonetheless. Another handy feature is that the switch can vary the brightness intelligently. Pressing the power switch once goes to full brightness. Once on, pressing the switch turns it off. However, if you turn it on by pressing the switch twice quickly, it will come on at about half brightness. It's a nice option to have, while keeping you from having to cycle between high, low, and off when you just need on and off. Overall, this lantern feels durable so I think it could handle use without getting damaged too easily. I didn't hand it to my toddler nephew to see if skipping it on some rocks would do any damage, but I think it would sustain normal wear and tear just fine (I'll leave the toddler test to someone else).

I bought this Rayovac latern off of Amazon after reading tons of reviews and visiting some other sites about the quality of this product. I did happen to give this lantern it's full fledged test at a camp out this past 4th of July weekend and put it head to head with other lanterns. One of the other lanterns were Energizer's 3D cell 12 led Weather Ready from Walmart, the other was a Coleman 8D cell CFL type lantern, and the third was your basic Coleman propane lantern. The Rayovac was the most compact of the bunch, next was the Energizer, then the CFL Coleman, and lastly the propane lantern. Now when it came to my shopping there were 2 things that were high on my list. 1st was the brightness level. 2nd was the energy (batteries,fuel, etc.) needed to run the product and the longevity of the energy (how long could I run it before having to change the batteries etc. Let me run through the energy and consumption level. Obviously since the propane lantern runs on "fire" it did consume it's fuel the fastest, because we had to change the propane canisters at least twice for the 3 night camp. As for the other 3 I still have no idea. I would think that the CFL lantern would go out before the Rayovac and Energizer, that and the fact that it takes 8D cells make running it a little more costly. The Energizer claims 3 weeks running time at 5 hours a day use and the Rayovac claims around 75-150 hours running time, so I would call it a fairly even match between the two. Now let's get to what your really interested in and discuss brightness level. This is purely based on what I saw and has nothing to do with comparing LED's with CFL's etc. On an overall brightness scale reguardless of type, the overall winner was your standard propane lantern. On max output it clearly outperformed the lot. To my surprise, the Coleman CFL was the second brightest. It was equivilent to your standard CFL light in a household setting and we were all impressed at how bright it was coming pretty close to the propane output. As for the LED lanterns... the Rayovac outshown the Energizer. With the top portion of the Ravovac removed and flipped upside down as a tent light, the Rayovac quickly impressed me with lighting up a fairly reasonable amount of area with light. The only edge that I thought the Energizer had was it's adjustablity to brighten and dim at the turn of a switch while the Rayovac had either bright or semi-bright. Though this is about light output and 2 of the Rayovacs hung upside down with the top removed can easily light a 10X20 camping area (the size of our canopy tent). My conclusion on overall performance. One of the three propane lanterns caught on fire due to some kind malfunction and the fact that you have to light them with a match, change canisters on a regular basis, and change those bag things every other trip puts propane at the bottom. 3rd place would have to be the Energizer. Although it uses only 3D cells and had light adjustment equivilent to the propane lantern, it was still the dimmest (although still very bright) of the lot. 2nd would have to be the Coleman CFL. It uses batteries, although a wopping 8D cells, but is much safer than a propane lantern catching on fire. It is extremely bright, 2nd only to the propane. It's only downfalls would be the price and I'm assuming battery life as compared to LEDs. The winner in my book, is obvioulsy the Rayovac. It was the brighter of the two LED models, it's very compact, uses only 3D cells, has long battery life, can change from a free standing lantern to a hanging light(very good bonus feature), and is very well priced on Amazon. I am the owner of three of the products tested and am giving my unbiased opinion. I would highly recomend the Rayovac and plan on buying one or two more for some serious light.

This LED lantern caught my eye after I went through a period of several days without power and nothing but a standard flashlight. I wanted something battery powered that would light up enough area in a room to do work. In general, I believe this unit fills the need. The construction of the unit seems solid, not super heavy duty but solid. The base is some kind of plastic with a rubbery feel that gives a secure feeling when holding it or setting it down somewhere. Most of the upper part is the plastic diffuser lens (removable), with a metal handle. As others have mentioned, the batteries are inserted by unscrewing the base of the unit. This operation is a bit tricky because there is a disk with one side of the battery contacts mounted to the inside of the base. When you reinstall the base, you must make sure that a slot in that disk lines up with a tab in the body; this holds the disk in the right position to connect to the batteries as you screw the base back in place. I did not have any problems doing this as long as I was careful. The most important thing is the light output. In general, I believe this lantern puts out a remarkable amount of light for a device powered by standard batteries. The LED is mounted facing up in the top of the base. In the normal lantern mode, the diffuser lens diffuses that light around in all directions. It is not near as bright as a kerosine lantern, but it provides plenty of light to work on a table nearby, for example. If you look directly at the lantern, there is a very bright band of light around the lower part of the diffuser. I assume this is just the diffuser not being able to deal with the output of the LED with complete evenness. This is bright enough to be distracting if the lantern is where you can see see it, for example, on a table in front of you. It works much better if the lantern is held just out of one's view. Even better, if you remove the upper part with the diffuser, and hang the lamp upsidedown with the LED pointing directly down into the space you are lighting from above (hanging the lantern from an overhead hook), then you get the full brightness of the LED shining evenly on everything below it. Unfortunately, the hook in the base designed to hold the lantern upsidedown is a flimsy plastic part that does not seem as sturdy as the rest of the lantern. One more thing to consider. The lantern I received does not always work consistently. There is a single off-on button, which is pressed once for on low intensity, again for on high intensity, and again for off -- or held for a second or so for a strobe effect. Mine operates inconsistently--sometimes going full on and full off, skipping a step in the sequence. There is also a small green LED on the side of the base that flashes regularly, supposedly as a beacon to help find the lantern in the dark. With my lantern that sometimes works and sometimes does not. Neither of these has been a deal breaker because I have always been able to get the lantern on at the intensity I want after one or two tries. However, it may suggest some modest quality control issues. One other warning. The lantern comes with a lifetime warranty. However, once you get the unit you discover that the warranty does not cover the LED itself, probably the most expensive part. Also, to take advantage of the warranty you must ship the unit at your expense back to the service center. Frankly, the shipping charges are at least half the purchase price, so that is not something I would do unless I had a unit not working at all--and then I would be upset. All in all, this is a pretty well built unit that is remarkably priced for an LED device. Probably because of choices made to keep the price low, however, one does not have good options if the product has problems, and the inconsistencies on mine suggest at least modest quality control issues. By the way, I send an email to RayoVac noting the inconsistencies and that it would be expensive to return for warranty, and asking for advice. After more than two weeks I got a response that there are no replaceable parts in this lantern but they offer a lifetime warranty and I am free to return the unit if I am not satisfy for replacement. Again, I guess that is what you get with a product made to a price point. I rated it four stars only because of the relative value of what you get for the price. I am sure there are better LED lanterns out there, but they would be twice or more as expensive.

Después de comprar la edición pequeña de 150 lumens, y fascinado con la calidad de estos productos; Decidí adquirir esta linterna, después de todo en la descripción ofrece ser mas brillante y me dio la impresión de ser un modelo superior. Los materiales y el funcionamiento de la linterna son impecables, esta es mucho mas grande que la variante pequeña que ya había adquirido (la de 150 lumens). Pero, las baterías que ocupa (tamaño D) son mas difíciles de remplazar, y si tu ocupas baterías AA con el espaciador (ese era mi plan para no tener que usar las baterías D) el rendimiento de la linterna decae de manera espantosa, y ni siquiera llega a ser mas brillante que el otro modelo (150 lumens). Yo se que no esta diseñada para ser usada de la manera en la que la estoy utilizando, pero, no esperaba que el rendimiento decayera de esa manera tan estrepitosa. La parte que definitivamente no me gusto es que la tapa inferior es difícil de colocar y extraer, tiene una curva de aprendizaje que normalmente no esperarías en algo tan sencillo como una tapa. Fuera de eso, es un modelo muy bueno, me siento conforme con mi adquisición.

I liked the description, and Rayovac is a well-known company. The attributes according to the product description seemed very good for the money - and I had compared with the offerings of other manufacturers before ordering this unit. I was pleased with the lantern when it arrived. Since then, I've saved it in a designated place in order to be able to grab it when the power went out in our home some evening. That just occurred here within the last day and a half. Due to a big storm, the power went out about 5:00PM and stayed out until about 4:00PM yesterday afternoon - nearly a full day. This lantern provided most of the light for a large area in our home after the sun went down. It passed the test, I'd say! I suspended it on a thin cord, from a hook in the ceiling. I could even sit near the lamp and read. Sure, we used candles in a corner or two, and a hand-held flashlight when needed to go somewhere. But I was not tempted to go and get and light up the old kerosene lamps. The lantern was in use for hours, and did not dim down. I was impressed.

Excellent product from amazon. Gives very good bright light

Great little lantern, have used it now on several camping trips and once during a power cut, still on the original batteries, the flashing LED drain on batteries is so small that it will not be noticed. Well constructed and if you follow the instructions inserting batteries should not be a problem, just ensure you line up the arrows on the cover and on the lantern. Very happy and can recommend as standby during power cuts or for use when camping.

Easy to use - good quality durable materials - solid and robust - good quality light - lasted 4 week trip no problem; Could have benefited from more flexible alternative hanging mechanism but overall v.practical and v.satisfied