Princeton TecHelix Lantern

Awesome little lantern. Puts out a surprising amount of nicely diffused light for its size, not too heavy for an overnight or multi-day casual backpacking trip, and has a bunch of cool features that really make it worth the extra weight over the ultralight alternatives unless you're the kind of person who cuts the handles off your toothbrushes to save a few grams...I wouldn't take this on an AT through-hike, purist alpine style ascent, or anything else where carry weight is of primary concern, but for the types of trips that most of us do most of the time, this is a perfect fit. Also a great backup to have around the house for power outages.Solidly constructed, well thought out with regards to the adjustable legs and multiple hanging options, and the glow-in-the-dark shade is more useful than you might think when bedding down for the night.Very highly recommended, and Princeton Tec (from my experience) is in the top tier of customer service in the outdoor products industry.

Light works well when hung in the tent.

This is definitely one of the best tactical lights ever made for fob. I ended up buying 5.

What is not to love about this light. Durable quality with both red and white led light (not at the same time) and a locking switch to prevent it from turning on in your pack or storage. Battery compartment closes solidly and the light collapses for easy packing. The feet are fabulous in that you can hang it from a line or position it in a number of different ways. My favorite feature is that it glows in the dark--you can charge it for a few seconds and have enough of a glow for basic functions in the dark and it is super easy to find too. I'm a real Princeton Tec fan and this one is no exception to what I've grow to love about their lights.

This light is very compact, but bright. It’s versatility makes this light stand out from all the rest. This light can be used as a lantern with different brightness levels .. an emergency beacon with white or red flashing light .. the dome can be removed and used as a flashlight. Highly recommend this light!!

This is a really slick little camping lantern, with a lot of nice features. It is easily the nicest small camping lantern I own.There is no switch - instead you control it with a little conductive touch pad. You swipe one way to turn it on white, another way to turn on the red light that protects your dark adaption. Then you just press down on the touch pad to adjust the brightness up and down. Swipe the little pad again when you want to turn it off. It is a really slick little way to control the light.The four feet articulate individually, meaning you can get it to sit level even on uneven ground. Weirdly, it is actually very nice to get the light to sit up a few extra inches using the feet, it makes it feel like a much larger and more substantial lantern. It gets quite bright, plenty bright enough to fully illuminate a small campsite, tent, etc.The flexible diffuser/shade thing collapses down and is removable if you want to change it from a lantern into a directional spot light, and it glows in the dark for a while after you turn off the lamp, which turns out to be a nice feature in total darkness.You can hang it up on your tent using either the hooks on the feet, or the metal hook on top. Note that the top does NOT have the split hook design that Black Diamond and some other lamp makers use. So in your tent you are going to be hanging it by the hooks on the feet unless you bring along an extra carabiner.Downsides:If you are backpacking, any light beyond a headlamp is really an unnecessary luxury. This lantern, while not extremely heavy, is neither the lightest nor the smallest lantern of its type. It has a lot of high-end features and works very well, but I can see it getting left behind in favor of more basic, but lighter options. If you are going out with a group of people and want a nice, bright area light for a big campsite, this is a good choice. If you are going out solo and trying to keep weight to the absolute minimum, this is just not the ultra light choice.Even at its lowest setting, it is still kind of bright. I wish it had a moonlight mode (ultra low power) in both red and white.The slick little touch pad control can be hard to find/trigger in pitch darkness. You will be able to do it by feel, but it can be a little clumsy.

This is a camping or emergency bag must have. Very compact and durable. The size is defiantly a positive, In terms of back packing.

Great to see anything made in USA instead of China!This a quality light with clever design and function, nothing not to love about this one, we're putting it thru the paces now on the deck, camping next, no doubt it'll continue to exceed our expectations.And it's made in America, sweet.

Love the red light for night camping when I wake up in the middle of the night, no one is bothered by the red light. Quite luminescent, easy to operate, I hang stuff to dry on it.

Costosa ma affidabile. Bel prodotto per il campeggio e la visibilità notturna.

I just received my lantern and unfortunately it is defective. I've requested a return and hopefully the seller will send me a new unit. I will update my review as soon as I test it.When turning the knob to the OFF position, sometimes and randomly, the lantern simply doesn't switch off, I have to turn it ON and OFF again in order to be able to switch it off. This is quite annoying as it is very expensive for a 250lm camping lantern. You can see in the photos that while the knob is on the OFF position the lantern is still ON, this happens in both directions with White or Red light.From my little testing, the output seems to be sufficient for a 3-4 people tent, I haven't checked battery life yet. I love the portability, the collapsible globe (although not so easy as it sounds, its tricky to get it right) and the foldable legs.One other annoying thing is that although you can use alkaline batteries as a backup, the springs where the batteries are fitted are all facing the same way while the batteries are facing 2 to the right and the middle one to the left. That's very weird and unusual (I am attaching a photo as I understand this is difficult to process).

For starters shipping was lightening fast arriving two days ahead of the estimate at time of purchase. The light is exactly what I wanted and is actually more robust then I expected. Puts out great light for a small package. I like that it has red or white light, and the swipe feature allowing to select the setting works nicely. Ive never been let down by any Princeton Tec product, and this will be a nice addition to my camping gear or as an emergency light source

been using one of these lights for 3years now, bought this one as a back up, i go to kruger park in sa this light is great at the chalets/campsites, the red light function excellent for keeping the bugs away whilst letting you see and helps with your night vision, the white light great, the fact you can dim it down good, very useful, lots of different options for hanging it up, or tying to a wood log to shine down etc, get one, you won,t regret it.