Campingaz lantern has always worked for me. Last one I got was off a boot sale for £1.50. New mantle & its working fine, uses the pierceable cartridge. Current ones use screw on cartridge.
I love my North Star Dual Fuel. It does require more faffing (as my wife calls it) than a gas lantern, but I love fiddling with gadgets so it suits me well.
It is so bright that you can't look directly at it when it is on full blast. It is also very cheap to run.
I think it is well worth the initial outlay as the returns of bright light and cheap running pay it back easily.
Depends on what fuel you use and how you want your lighting. If you sit outside in the evening then your requirments are different than if you go to the pub and just need something for getting into the tent.
If you have a big gas bottle then a screw on gas lamp is a good idea. Usually you finish cooking before dark anyway so you can swap over from your stove. I would not go for the small gas ones with piercable cartridge unless you only want it as temporary light for half an hour or dont mind using lots of cylinders. It would turn out very expensive if you were to use it every night from nightfall until bedtime. So I use a coleman dual fuel and you get about a full 3 evenings from one fill of petrol or coleman fuel (0.75 liters). That works out less 50p per night. I just leave it on and dont worry about the cost or running out of fuel. I just looked at the gas lights and they look to be £4 to £5 per evening to run (one cylinder per two eve of 4hrs). For that price wine by the tent becomes more expensive than the local pub! Tillys and Petromax use kerosine(paraffin) which you can get from DIY stores (paraffin for greenhouse heaters) but because its less volatile they are more of a faff to light. You have to heat them up with some meths before turning on the lamp.
If your car runs on petrol go for the dual fuel. You can just fill up a jerry can when you go away for the lamp and at the end of the season poor it back into your tank. I just have the single mantle dual fuel (285 model) and its plenty bright and run it on low. I dont think you need the full northstar or dual mantle one unless you want to light up the whole campsite! Look for a coleman lamp on ebay, they last years so are a good 2nd hand buy.
A Campingaz lantern will run 12hrs on the large CV470 cartridge so cost around 70p/hr or less if you buy in bulk.
If you get an older piercable cartridge(C206)type lamp secondhand you will get well over 4hrs, so less than 50p/hr depending on price of cartridge. I don't think the C206 cartridge lamps are sold in the UK any more, but the cartridges remain available as do identical & cheaper non Campingaz brand cartridges.
Depends on what fuel you use and how you want your lighting. If you sit outside in the evening then your requirments are different than if you go to the pub and just need something for getting into the tent.
If you have a big gas bottle then a screw on gas lamp is a good idea. Usually you finish cooking before dark anyway so you can swap over from your stove. I would not go for the small gas ones with piercable cartridge unless you only want it as temporary light for half an hour or dont mind using lots of cylinders. It would turn out very expensive if you were to use it every night from nightfall until bedtime. So I use a coleman dual fuel and you get about a full 3 evenings from one fill of petrol or coleman fuel (0.75 liters). That works out less 50p per night. I just leave it on and dont worry about the cost or running out of fuel. I just looked at the gas lights and they look to be £4 to £5 per evening to run (one cylinder per two eve of 4hrs). For that price wine by the tent becomes more expensive than the local pub! Tillys and Petromax use kerosine(paraffin) which you can get from DIY stores (paraffin for greenhouse heaters) but because its less volatile they are more of a faff to light. You have to heat them up with some meths before turning on the lamp.
If your car runs on petrol go for the dual fuel. You can just fill up a jerry can when you go away for the lamp and at the end of the season poor it back into your tank. I just have the single mantle dual fuel (285 model) and its plenty bright and run it on low. I dont think you need the full northstar or dual mantle one unless you want to light up the whole campsite! Look for a coleman lamp on ebay, they last years so are a good 2nd hand buy.
You dont heat meths up for the petromax, it has a rapid lighter on it. Just light it, let it run for 90 seconds and release the gas
Quote: Originally posted by Tentz on 12/10/2011
A Campingaz lantern will run 12hrs on the large CV470 cartridge so cost around 70p/hr or less if you buy in bulk.
If you get an older piercable cartridge(C206)type lamp secondhand you will get well over 4hrs, so less than 50p/hr depending on price of cartridge. I don't think the C206 cartridge lamps are sold in the UK any more, but the cartridges remain available as do identical & cheaper non Campingaz brand cartridges.
My feeling is 70p/hr is quite expensive if you want to run it as background lighting all evening (3 4 hours). Thats almost £20 for a weeks use. With the liquid lamps (Coleman, tilly etc) and you use petrol or kersone its more like 10 p per hour or less. Plus you dont have the danger of a gas cylinder leaks or pierced cans to worry about. If a pressurised liquid lamp leaks then you get a small amount of vapour, and a smell but most of the flamable stuff stays in the tank. If a gas cylinder leaks, it all comes out which can be quite dangerous. Plus you dont have the enviromental waste of lots of cannisters. Like I said, it depends how long you use it for. I have a small gaz lantern with a piezo ignition and its really easy to use but now only use the coleman. I prefer to put it on at nighfall and off at bedtime.
I'm with elanman on this - the Coleman 285 is excellent: proper adjustable brightness, economical to run, fuel can be used/taken from my Coleman double cooker or indeed the lawnmower! Coleman parts are easily available, even for very old equipment. I've had issues with using gas in very low temperatures where gas pressure seems to disappear to a trickle, so out of season the "briefcase" cooker stays at home and the Coleman gear mentioned plus a Trangia on meths do me fine. Headtorch for general movement and inside tent completes the set-up!
HTH
------------- The flagon with the dragon holds the brew that is true
I bought a GoSystem gas lamp over the internet this summer. The piezo ignition failed after a day or so, and even when lit by a match, it went out after about 5 minutes, presumably as something heated up and expanded, cutting off the gas as it could be relit again after it cooled. Just badly made, I guess.
Hamiltons Gas Products refunded me without quibble (good for them - reccomended), and I replaced it with a Coleman F1 which is basic to say the least but works well.