Sierra REC Product Review of the Outlander Lanter By Aervoe Industries
July 2016 Product Review – Lanterns nowadays seem to come in just about every color and size with just about every imaginable gadget or function available. Thus, Lanterns come down to personal choice often of features that fit your typical use. The Outlander Lantern By Aervoe is a relatively new name in the industry but the company itself has a reputation of providing high quality, well-researched technology in all its products. So when asked to do a review on the Outlander Lantern, I couldn’t wait to take the product for a test run.
Unlike traditional LED lanterns, the Outlander uses Light Guide Panels that evenly distribute light and produce a smooth, yet very bright, light. It has no hot-spots and therefore is not irritating to the eyes. The light from the innovative triangular shape projects in a wide area. It is built with an impact resistant cover that makes it great for camping and outdoor use. And for those that are fashion-oriented, it comes in four colors!
The Outlander runs off 3 D size batteries and outputs three different light features – High Beam (300 Lumens), Low Beam, and Emergency Beacon mode. And it can sit upright on a table or rock or hang from a tree limb or rope from a great utility hook on the bottom that folds into the base. It also features a sturdy handle which folds around the body of the lantern when not in use to keep it compact, plus it gives you the option of placing lantern at an angle rested on handle stand if you like. According to the company brochure, the lantern is pretty efficient also claiming to last up to 135 hours on a set of batteries on the low beam and 25 hours on the high beam.
Now I have to admit, I come from the school of the Coleman gas lanterns with the mantles and the sound of gas burning int he night. So the nostalgic part of this test was missing for me, guess its time to adjust to the 21st century. LED lights have obviously become all the rage in the past 5-7 years and the Outlander three sides LED Light Panel puts out some great light.
Personally, I loved the low/medium setting which felt like a great reading lamp in the tent. Its soft glow was brighter that a candle or small flashlight but didn’t hurt the eyes when looking towards the lantern. We used the lantern on the high setting while playing an epic game of UNO around the camp table. The lantern easily lit up the campsite as kids ran around making smore’s and still playing games for the evening. However when we went for an evening walk to the meadow to watch stars we choose the lower setting, so not to disturb the surrounding campsites as we walked down the trail. We never really had the need for the emergency beacon, but the cool red blinking light would be great if I was backpacking and needed to get help.
A great little feature we discovered was this little green led light that is on the front of the lantern, it stays lit after you turn it off so you can easily find the lantern at night. Great for that early morning bathroom run in the middle of the night, or finding when getting into the tent at night if the lantern was left inside during the evening.
Weighing at just 1.5 pounds this compact lantern could be used for short backpacking trips. However, I would think long trail hikes would find its weight a little too bulky.
The Outlander is not the cheapest lantern on the marketplace, but we found that the additional light features on this LED lantern were really quite nice and would probably pay the little extra to have this lantern as part of our outdoor gear. I have to admit, it was a whole lot easier than the old gas lantern and maybe the rugged exterior will help me not have to buy a new glass globe every season since I seem to break that every year.
The company also markets this lantern to the survival prep industry, which is where the emergency beacon comes into play. Can imagine that if I kept this lantern in my car that the beacon could be very useful if I was stranded in the desert or mountains four wheeling or broke down along the road late at night.
Overall, The outlander is a great lantern. It should be considered when looking for a new LED light feature for your outdoor gear. Compact size and rugged material it is made with just gave it a great feel while we used on our camp out. The Outlander is not available everywhere yet. You can get it online in a few places and the store locations continue to grow according to the company. We found it at www.safetycentral.com