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Hello,

We have just bought our first tent. We need a light for it - something that we can have a glass of wine, read the paper or play a game of cards in the tent with. Can anyone suggest anything? Not sure if gas or battery is best (is gas safe in a tent?)

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Anthony

Any sort of flame device isn't safe in a tent, especially a synthetic one. Gas lamps get hot enough to fuse skin onto the glass surround, can burn through groundsheets and are of course a fire risk.  But of course lots of folk do use them. Just be very cautious.

A head torch is best for reading but for other things, a battery or rechargable battery lamp is more than adequate. Or if you have EHU you can use an electric camping light of course.

Hi Anthony, I can't comment on the gas light as I don't have one. But I have a variety of lights for diff things, a couple of lanterns for general lighting - good for drinking wine! A tourch for .... well sure you can guess, and just bought one of those ufo lights everyone on here seems to rave about, for in the living area. It is v. bright. All of the above run on batteries apart from one lantern which is wind up. Hope this helps.

B 

Quote: Originally posted by LQA! on 11/5/2008

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I don't know what a UFO light is but we a light which consisted of two concentric rings of LEDs, of which you can illuminate the outer, inner or both and it runs off 3 AA cells. Its very bright and doesn't get hot.

Think we got ours from Morrisons.

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This is a UFO light and I strongly recommend them: small, light (as in "not heavy") and very bright.  Mine have 48 LEDs in two concentric rings.  I've not yet tried them in the tents but, judging by how bright they are in a darkened bathroom, I'm guessing that two will more than suffice in the living area of our Minnesota.

Last I checked, Morrisons don't have them this year.  I got mine from a local Poundland-style shop.  But check out previous threads on this topic and you will find other outlets that sell them.

we just got a ufo light today from morrisons for £3

wow they are bright in daylight they shock your eyes im sure they are going to be bright enough for our frame tent

can any of you tell me how long the batteries last(i know it depends on what type of batteries they are but a rough idea would be good) as there is no wattage info for the led diodes that i can find on packaging

Hello 007cammie,

I seem to remember on a recent thread that some one mentioned that they got three or four camp out of one set of batteries before the lights began to fade, though that was with one ring, not two, lit; they were bright enough to only have the one ring lit.

I'll be able to tell you how they last the first camp for me in a couple of week's time....I'm counting the minutes!

We have had the remote control lantern type, they are ok, ( need new bulbs now though), last year we bought a gas lantern, which works off the disposable canisters, that is great, but as val said, use with caution, ( i.e, after kids gone to bed, porch area only). But one canister lasts for ages.

This year we bought 2 UFO lights ( 60 LED's) from E bay, used them a couple of weeks ago and they are really bright, you can have them on three different settings, the batteries held up fine for the 4 evenings we were away.

Oh, and we always have a couple or three torches kicking around!!

Quote: Originally posted by miss campette on 15/5/2008

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Safeway56 - what is that ? Is that a ufo light? I've never seen one before, they look really strange! Are they better than lantern lights then?

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That is one of several designs in UFO lights, Miss Campette.  Mine looks more like this:

.......and this: