Review on MalloMe Battery LED Lanterns - Portable Camping And Emergency Lights - Perfect For Power Outages, Indoor And Outdoor Use by Paul Haswood

I just bought a set of these. It was almost an impulse buy. Thanks to Ebay alerting me to the great sales price "for a limited time only! Act now!” type thing. I have had a couple of Dietz cold bast kerosene lanterns for a number of years that I’d used during blackouts. I’ve owned the Dietz lanterns years before these types of LED lanterns were even on the market. While pretty looking and nostalgic, cold blast lanterns are not especially bright and they are not kid-friendly to operate. You have to fill them with kerosene fuel and light them with a match. If you knock one over, call the fire department. 2 years ago we went through Hurricane Harvey and I discovered my emergency lighting preps were not up to the level I want. Fire based lighting, not enough lumens, not enough lanterns to go around, etc.Then I saw these LED lanterns. I really like that they came in a 4-pack too! Now I have safe, bright, user-friendly light for 2 bathrooms and 2 bedrooms. They are very portable too because they are super light weight and have a carrying handle. No ON/OFF switch to find in the dark like on my Rayovac lantern. The Rayovac is way brighter and WAY more durable than these lanterns. It’s also sealed against water and the D size batteries it runs on last for eons. Still, ever time you pick it up, you have to spin it around in your hands trying to find the switch. Not with these little gems. You just pull the top and bottom apart and they spring to life! The brightness is adjustable by how much you open it too. Runs on 3 AA batteries. The size, light weight, built in carrying handles, and ease of use make these ideal for my household. I have a little toddler who has grown into the stage where she’s afraid of the dark now. I’ve trained her on how to use these lanterns so that if the power goes out, she knows how to grab one and get instant light. The convenience and peace of mind in a 4-pack at this price is hard to beat.Are there any down sides? Yes. First off, they are advertised with "military grade materials”. Not sure what they’re referring to. The LEDs? LOL! The housing is plastic, the globe is plastic, there is no o-ring around the battery cover to seal it against water. Yeah, nah. No military grade materials here. Just a decent set of household emergency lanterns. 146 lumens. They’re bright enough, but don’t expect it to illuminate like a 500 watt work light. Many companies market identical lanterns. I have an itek model that is 260 lumens. Other than the LED array it’s nearly identical to these lanterns. The itek lantern also has an array of 3 magnets on the bottom to allow it to be suspended from a ferrous surface (like steel). To me, this is a rather significant difference as the magnets make this lantern much more versatile. So when you shop for this style of lantern, you really just need to compare lumens and price because unless there are other features like magnets, they are all essentially identical.