Brightlyt lanterns

[Hillmann]

I was wondering if any of you lantern collectors have any experience with brightlyt lanterns. They are multi-fuel (gas, kerosene, diesel, #2 oil and probably others as well) and they have attachments as well, one to convert it into a heater one to use it as a stove. Just wondering if they are worth the $150 cost.

[High Desert]

They don't have a very good reputation with most people that know these type of lanterns. They are a Chinese made knock-off of the high quality Petromax lantern, but I've heard lots of complaints about the quality control. I personally wouldn't pay much for one, just my opinion of course. They get attention because of the design and plating, too bad they don't perform as well as they look.

[Zollinger]

They don't have a very good reputation with most people that know these type of lanterns. They are a Chinese made knock-off of the high quality Petromax lantern, but I've heard lots of complaints about the quality control. I personally wouldn't pay much for one, just my opinion of course. They get attention because of the design and plating, too bad they don't perform as well as they look.

Ditto what Shaun said.

[teardrop_focus]

They are multi-fuel (gas, kerosene, diesel, #2 oil and probably others as well) and they have attachments as well, one to convert it into a heater one to use it as a stove.

My two cents' worth:

Any liquid fuel other than white gas/Coleman fuel will be sooty and require much more frequent servicing and replacement of lamp parts like it's generator, etc.

And one would want a lantern -AND- a stove working at the same time when cooking at dusk or in the dark...

My advice would be to stick w/ the known superior quality of a few Coleman items; a stove and a couple of lanterns... and perhaps Coleman's newest propane-powered Catalytic Heater... 'cause trying to heat w/ much else is risking carbon monoxide poisoning.

Coleman's newest Catalytic heater retails for approx $99... the other $51 would buy you a Coleman stove and a couple of Coleman lanterns from sources such as craigslist, etc.

Good luck!

[doug hodder]

At 150$....why bother? you can get a whole lot of stuff that will work on dual fuels from Coleman. White gas or unleaded....and after all...unleaded will be a whole lot easier to obtain than kero or diesel usually. Doug

[caseydog]

Making a lantern that is good with white gas and unleaded fuel is not hard, and makes sense in the US. When you get into kerosene and diesel, you are getting into heavy, waxy fuels.

If you are going on safari in remote parts of Africa, you may need that flexibility, but any lantern or stove that can handle that range of fuels will need a lot of maintenance and will not likely burn clean.

Coleman duel-fuel lanterns and stoves allow you to use unleaded gasoline if you can't get Coleman white gas. That should be more than enough flexibility for camping in the US.

CD

[eamarquardt]

On boats, diesel is easily available. Diesel stoves have been around for a long time, but as diesel fuel and its characteristics vary considerably, they are "tricky" and require more "care and feeding" than stoves using more volatile fuels. They are, however, not uncommon and do get the job done. The big advantage on a boat is that they use the same fuel as the engine and diesel is a reasonably safe fuel (compared to other fuels) aboard a boat.

Here is an interesting article that discusses diesel fueled lanterns:

http://nariphaltan.virtualave.net/lantern.htm

All things considered, unless there is a good reason to "go diesel" other fuels are probably gonna be more convienient.

Cheers,

Gus

[Hillmann]

I guess the reason I was interested in them is because they have a heater attachment that by the looks of it some how reduces the light output but increases the heat output. Since probably ninety percent of the time that I use my lantern it is for heat and I don't want it to give off light I thought it would maybe be worth looking into. Although I couldn't justify buying a new one but if I ever see on second hand I figured I might be willing to pay more for one of them than for an old Coleman. When I use my lantern it is usually for heat in a dark house for ice fishing and If it gives off any light you can't see into the water so I have a box that I put it in that I sit on and it blocks almost all of the light and keeps my bottom nice and warm.

I have tried making a shroud to go around the globe out of aluminium with a small hinged door so I could still easily use it for some light but it caused to globe to crack, I think it also reflected the heat and I figure if it heats it up that much it must also heat up other parts to a much hotter temperature then they were designed to work at so took it off.

Another use I have for them is a light on a boat with a small outboard and no battery, I mount it on the bow and have a read and green piece of stained glass that hooks over and under the glass on the globe and use that as my light at night, But found that If I wanted to use it as a headlight well running I had to mount a L shaped piece of wood between the lantern and me to block the light otherwise I couldn't see out front because of the glare of the lantern I had thought of lining the inside of the L shape with aluminum to act as a reflector. And I know some of you are saying "that isn't legal, you need to have a white light visible for 360 degrees" Well you are right and having the the lantern in the L shaped enclosure doesn't allow it to be seen from behind but I usually have two lanterns when I am fishing at night. The one in the bow with the red and green and one on the right side of the transom behind me so I can see what I am doing inside the boat and is visible all around. And night time fishing is another reason I think a multifuel lantern would be nice because it can also be run on citronella oil which could help keep the bugs away.

[rainjer]

If you want a heater you may want to look for a 500A or 502 stove with a heat drum. They are about the same size as a lantern.

Jeremy

[Hillmann]

It isn't that I want a heater it is more that I want my lantern to do everything. I want it to give me no light and lots of heat some times, other times I want it to give lots of light and no heat, some times I want to use it to warm up a sandwich, sometimes I want it to give of broad light all around, other times I want it to give a focused beam of light like a flashlight, I also want it to never break a globe or mantels and to be able to be pulled out of the lake and relit without having to wait for it to dry out and I want it to furn for a hundred hours on one tank of fuel.

Although the coleman with a little care so far has met most of my needs with just a little bit of creative thinking. I just thought that the brightlyt might meet my needs just a little better than a coleman.

[High Desert]

what you need is one of these. They were designed for just what you want to do...(except that 100 hour run time lol)


(photo borrowed from Terry Marsh site)

they're old but can still be found on Ebay sometimes.

[Shadow Catcher]

It is an American company BriteLyt/Petromax and there is a phone number to call http://store.britelyt.com
We carry a small Coleman dual fuel back packers lantern and stove for emergency use (if the propane runs out)

[Hillmann]

what you need is one of these. They were designed for just what you want to do...(except that 100 hour run time lol)


(photo borrowed from Terry Marsh site)

they're old but can still be found on Ebay sometimes.

I think that is exactly what I am looking for