Solar Powered Camping Lantern. 6V/70 mA Solar Panel. 12 LEDs. Solar and Hand Crank. 8.5 tall

My husband and I just lived through the So.Cal. power blackout debacle. We had just enough candles and two battery-operated lights to get us through a very long night. Fortunately for us, the moon was bright and we're old enough to appreciate getting to go to bed early once in a while. But we vowed we'd be better prepared for the next outage. We researched enough to know that this light isn't what you''d buy to illuminate an entire room. We also checked the dimensions of the unit before we purchased it because we did't want a small light. What we were after was a light we could keep charged easily without batteries, recharge if necessary, that will help us get around the place the next time the power goes out. When we received the lamp, I took it out of the box and immediately understood the handle on the bottom of the unit is what you use to crank up a little juice. I cranked it up for about a minute and decided to press the easy-to-find button on the handle to see if it turned the unit on. It did. I pressed it again and noted that the first 4 LEDs that lit up were joined by 4 more lit LEDs. I pressed it again and all 12 LEDs lit up. I pressed it again and the unit turned off. Pretty great! Let the power go out again - even if I forget to buy batteries, I'll be able to see well enough to get around my house without falling down the stairs or stubbing my toe on furniture. Oh yeah. Remember I said I wound the unit up for about a minute when I unpacked it? Well, that was at 8 p.m. in full dark. I put it on my dining room table and left it there to see how long it would last. That was exactly 40 minutes ago. It's still glowing. I'm happy! So, day to day, this little gem will live as a decorative piece on our dining room table where it will get direct sun from our east windows, happily soaking up energy until the next time it is needed to cast a warm glow in a very dark night. My best advice is - buy the kind of light and power you need. Solar is not comparable to battery or electrical power. LED bulbs don't generally burn as bright as incandescent bulbs. If you are buying this unit to provide enough light to read by, you will be disappointed. If you want an emergency light that doesn't require batteries, that you can re-charge in the sun or wind up to provide you enough light to keep from stubbing your toe in a power outage, you'll be happy with this handy little lamp. We sure are!

I like this as an emergency light. It is solar powered, and as a backup it has a handcrank. There are three levels of light with 4, 8, and 12 bulbs lighted accordingly. Three of the bulbs burned out shortly after I got it. And even with all bulbs on it doesn't put out a lot of light. However, it is okay when the power is off, and a lot better than burning candles.

I've used this lantern a few times and in different situations, so I feel I have a pretty good handle on what to expect from this product. For power outages at home: This is a handy thing to keep around in a closet for when the power goes out. I let it sit in a window for a few days and let the battery charge up just in case I need it. It works well enough to give you some minimal lighting for any small or medium size room. The light output is like having a couple of those solar powered lawn lights. For camping: It is large. The handle is too large for hanging on a standard hook. I had to devise my own nylon cord to be able to hang it. Light is low, so it doesn't attract bugs like brighter lights do. I use this for my outside lighting just to be able to see around between the campfire and the tent. I've never had to use the crank because it holds a charge (for now) and I've just never used it long enough to drain it completely. It's a good light, but not a great light. If you're looking for something to last for a 2-5 day camping trip, you can find plenty of other items that run on batteries and will last the entire trip that will only use a fraction of the space and give you better light. I keep this around for low lighting and for emergencies.

Don't go on advertised 12 LEDs because they aren't even as strong as 4 LEDs of Wind N Go Mini. I bought both but now I'm returning this one for 3 major reasons. 1.) Size - Too huge for too little light. Wind N Go Mini is 1/3rd the size but throws as much or more light than this. 2.) LED quality - Very low so produces insufficient light. 3.) Light coverage - Because of a big cap on the top, most of the light is concentrated and focused at the base of the lantern which gives too little light coverage..barely lights up the room. While on the other hand Wind N Go mini lights up the entire room. The coverage is much much better than this. Another minor reason is build quality. It seemed and felt flimsy and prone to breakage while Wind N Go Mini with an unbelievably small size felt very sturdy and well made. Overall, a waste of money and a sheer disappointment. Look out further and skip this one. Update: So I tried 2 more lanterns - 1.) "Athena Brands Soladyne 7-Inch Mini Solar Lantern" - Great lantern. Sufficiently bright and lights up the entire room fairly well. Very small size and light is evenly distributed. This is one of the best mini size hand crank solar lantern of all available ones on Amazon right now (I tested at least 6 of them). I landed up keeping it as light is sufficiently bright with an advantage of solar and hand crank. Recommended! 2.) "CREE 40450 185 Lumens Multi-functional LED Lantern and Torch" - Very bright! I was astounded by the light CREE lantern throws. Its feature to use it as a torch makes it even more awesome. One of the smallest yet powerful lanterns on Amazon as of now. Although it's not solar powered and hand crank (needs 4 AA size batteries) but the awesome light made me decide to keep it. Absolutely recommended if you're not just looking for solar and hand crank.