Review on Enhanced UCO Original Candle Lantern Value Pack: 3 Candles + Storage Bag for Unmatched Convenience by Angela Mitchell

I bought this for a power outage and maybe camping use. I'm an experienced hiker with candles, not much. Candles are unbeatable for warm light and relaxing glow. An LED headlight can easily surpass it in terms of persuasiveness and usability. I lit the included candle to see how long and well it worked. The candle is rated to last 9 hours and I got over 12 of them. I thought I was getting a "Made in USA" product as several descriptions and comments clearly state "Made in USA". I saw the "Made in China" logo, looked at the packaging and saw a statement similar to "Designed in Seattle" and "Made in China" for UCO. Very disappointing. Apparently only very expensive beeswax candles are made in the USA. It's not that offensive as the Chinese can produce high quality products if the US importers do their best to keep their feet under fire in order to fulfill the contract. And test batches to make sure they match. Most US companies don't do this. The Chinese have a big problem making good brass. After burning a block of 3 candles, I realized that you should change the candle around the time it disappears above the site window. Unless. you will regret it. If the candle gets hot enough to melt, or the candle gets stuck in the stand, it will melt and drip everywhere. This will jam the pipe when it hardens, making disassembly difficult (nearly impossible). Clutter can be cleared by submerging parts in boiling water. Don't use your good pot for this and don't do it where you don't want to grow (tip: do it outside). The melted wax spurts out everywhere from the boiling water. Surfaces with a film of hardened wax can be cleaned with a paper towel dampened with lamp oil or liquid paraffin. You'll also need to wipe off any remaining wax film from the pieces after removing them from the boiling water. Do this while it's still warm enough for the wax to stay liquid. It's an utter agony to clean up after the meltdown. If you try to restore wet wax, be sure to dry it thoroughly. Custom-sized candles are slightly more expensive; especially the wax ones. I suggest that candles are best limited to 4 hours or less at a time. Also, it works as advertised. The included paraffin candle takes about 30 minutes to burn the tip and an hour to start squeezing. After an hour it's easier to carry/move without spilling too much melted wax. You have to watch it. If it does not rise, the candle will burn badly and melt, blocking the mechanism and the lantern. Overall I'm disappointed with the switch to cheaper imports, but as long as it works I'm fine with it.