Looking for a good lantern

[Charlie_K]

Some months ago I bought one of those cheap chinese-made hurricane lanterns from Wal-Mart. My intention was to modify it so it was a battery operated LED lantern with a classic look. However I decided to try it out as it came. The base holds kerosene just fine and is tight as a drum. However it soots up something fierce, and I've read that higher quality lanterns don't do such.

Now I can either invest some time and effort into it, and look around for advice on how to modify the base design so it doesn't soot up as much, provided some modifications exist. Or I can do the simple thing and invest in a higher quality lantern.

Unfortunately I don't know which Dietz-style lanterns currently on the market are good quality and what aren't. Can anybody recommend some of the available options that they've had good luck with?

 

[Les Snyder]

Charlie.... I have two large fount Dietz lanterns in my hurricane supplies, an older American made Little Wizard with 5/8" wick, and a Chinese made Air Pilot with a 7/8" wick....both gave excellent service during the long power outage during the 04/05 hurricane season.... check out the W T Kirkman web site on the Dietz options... I recently purchased a much smaller and 2x expensive German Feuerhand with a 1/2" wick... I'm impressed with the light quality, primarily due to a very thin pyrex like globe, similar to the Coleman mantle gas lanterns...the light of the Dietz lanterns has a much yellower tint... pic of the Little Wizard and Feuerhand with similar height to the flames... the Feuerhand is tin plated, and some of the light gets reflected from the lantern itself....my much older KMart hurricane lantern is relegated to citronella torch fuel for outside early evening use to get relief from the heat

 

[Charlie_K]

Snyder-

Yours put out some pretty impressive levels of light. No way to deny that.

This is what mine started putting out when I switched to lamp oil.