Gas lantern for £4, too good to be true?

[mick91]

Funny you should say that M... my wife has got me a candle lantern for this weekend to try out. No idea on the costs, but I should imagine it was cheap to buy and candles are quite cheap.

Someone not sitting 100000 miles away from me buys too many candles, the thick ones out of the pound shop burn for an absolute age mate. I wouldn't even like to guess how long

 

[rorymax]

That is pretty amazing.... so roughly 2 and a half hours per cannister... if you used it whilst cooking and clean up in the dark hours, then again for getting everything stowed away for the night, you'd probably use about 2/3rds of a cannister. 2 nights in the woods, 1 and a half cannisters (although you're carrying in 2)... not massive amounts of weight to carry in either.

Taking into account the price difference between the solar light and the gas powered light, the gas would give over 41 hours of light before it became more expensive than the initial cost difference of the solar... which is roughly just over 27 weekends out in the woods.

Hi dewi,

I am basing the cost on the lamp manufacturer's claim of 78 grams per hour, to run a mantle the gas will be run at a 'peep'.

For cooking you are going to use a lot more gas, I guess that you will have to measure your 'cooking' gas usage to come up with a reliable overall figure.

I use a lot of gas for cooking as I boil a lot of water for making numerous cups of tea, and the stove is pretty much at full lick for heating food.

For 2 days and 2 mornings (lots of tea\coffee in the mornings) I take three 220 gram canisters, I never get by on just two, but everyone will be different, I also use up gas for boiling water to clean pots and cups and personal hygiene etc., and have been known to fill a hot water bottle, I'm not exactly careful with gas consumption .

 

[dewi]

They aren't very good, I've used one in the past. Everything is loose and they didn't even last 2 hours before breaking

Realistically though, that could have been your experience and it could have been a bad product... what I mean is, there may be better made versions, or you might (and I know this is not possible ) have been a little rough with one lol

We should do some proper tests... put all these things side by side out in the woods and see what performs... also run them and test how long they last in the real world.

I used to believe my Mini would do 80mpg, but after the recent scandal, I don't think the numbers given by BMW are honest real world numbers.

 

[dewi]

Hi dewi,

I am basing the cost on the lamp manufacturer's claim of 78 grams per hour, to run a mantle the gas will be run at a 'peep'.

For cooking you are going to use a lot more gas, I guess that you will have to measure your 'cooking' gas usage to come up with a reliable overall figure.

I use a lot of gas for cooking as I boil a lot of water for making numerous cups of tea, and the stove is pretty much at full lick for heating food.

For 2 days and 2 mornings (lots of tea\coffee in the mornings) I take three 220 gram canisters, I never get by on just two, but everyone will be different, I also use up gas for boiling water to clean pots and cups and personal hygiene etc., and have been known to fill a hot water bottle, I'm not exactly careful with gas consumption .

Thats why I got the Kelly Kettle... I figured if I could get it to work with bits of wood from the woodland floor, I'd be saving money.... as it works out, I do have to take starters (latest is cotton balls covered in vaseline) so there is a cost. Maybe as I get better at bushcrafting skills I can reduce those costs as I learn more.

 

[Toddy]

They aren't very good, I've used one in the past. Everything is loose and they didn't even last 2 hours before breaking

Ah, so not worth it unless I can get them for a couple of quid the pair, and persuade HWMBLT to play around with them with a soldering iron then.
Oh well, sod's law.

M

 

[mick91]

Ah, so not worth it unless I can get them for a couple of quid the pair, and persuade HWMBLT to play around with them with a soldering iron then.
Oh well, sod's law.

M

Dewi may be right that the ones I had where of very poor quality to start. And they where carried externally clipped to a bag so did get jolted around. I'm not rough with my gear don't get me wrong (except sharps, they're there to graft and if they break they break) but I do expect moderate use before they go

 

[reddave]

Not half as much fun though! I'm wondering if a white balloon over a torch would have a lantern effect

headtorch with eneloop batteries, wrapped around a 2 ltr milk container that's been refilled with water. Led's facing towards the bottle. Water transmits throughout and dimples on bottle surface diffuse light so no glare.
So, 2 things that you should already have, combine to give you extra but without the added weight