River Rock 3AA LED Lantern

Stormdrane

Stormdrane

Joined
Feb 14, 2005
Messages
1,059
I recently bought a River Rock 3AA LED Lantern on clearance at Target. They put out a lot of light for their size.

CIMG7919Small.jpg


Aluminum body with rubberized top and bottom caps. The packaging says there is a K2 Luxeon LED, but closer inspection of the LED shows it as a CREE LED, though I don't know how that affects the output/runtimes as listed on the package, which list: 3 modes: High(16hrs), Low(35hrs), & Flash(35hrs), 85 lumens(3W) brightness on high. Included clip and carabiner can be attached to top or bottom of light for hanging, and top part with reflector can be removed to use lantern as a flashlight.

I made the paracord pouch , done with 'cow hitching'.
 
I like the idea of having a lantern that doesn't require 5 bucks worth of batteries. Especially if it puts out decent light..
Nice job on the pouch :thumbup:
 
I just got that one also,I got it on clearance .Pretty bright and seems to be made well also.
 
I have a couple of those. Great little light with an amazing output. Good battery life too.
 
It's a fun little lantern...till the plastic thread breaks on the bottom. Now I have to tape the sucker down in order to get the connections to work. On the bright side, it's actually quite helpful to light up around barbecues at night.
 
Give it a try with NiMH rechargeable batteries from Walmart or Target for "free" light. The Eneloop rechargeable AA batteries (made by Sanyo) also have a very low self-discharge rate, so they will stay charged for months. Maybe you know about this stuff. But I use Eneloops in everthing from my EDC flashlight to Wii remotes to anything else I can think of.

cheers
 
I got one of those last week for $10. Very compact and throws an evenly-distributed amount of bright light. Probably 50-60 lumens on high.

Went back today to pick up another. All gone! :(

I had one of the very early River Rock lanterns that used 4 AA's.... ended up selling it for quick cash, but I like this one a lot better. It really lights a room up, even on "low."
 
And mine says CREE too... I read from several threads on CPF that the manufacturer had to switch to CREE (probably a P4 bin) because of a shortage of Philips Lumileds K2's.
 
I have the early version that takes 4 batteries. It was actually a pretty decent lantern for the money. I like the improvements that they made with this model.

I've since switched to using a diffuser on a flashlight instead of a lantern. I don't like all the artifacts in the light with a lantern. Is the new River Rock any better about having a cleaner light?
 
I got the Night Fire version on clearance, 135 Lumens, cree X-RE with three level modes and blinking green light to find it in the dark. 7 hours on maximum high, 25hrs in high and 50 hrs on low mode. Sweet lantern, it was among the K2 versions, but they only had the one. Think I'll go and grab the last of the K2's now.

Matador-
 
storl said:
I've since switched to using a diffuser on a flashlight instead of a lantern. I don't like all the artifacts in the light with a lantern. Is the new River Rock any better about having a cleaner light?
Click to expand...

It has a step shaped reflector in the top cap and the LED is covered by a dome shaped cover with 'etching' around the sides and a clear top, which do a good job of eliminating artifacts. It actually seems pretty bright as is and someone on CandlePowerForums mentioned covering the LED dome with a 35mm film canister(opaque) to further diffuse the light. :)
 
I've got the older four battery version as well. For a $10 close-out light I can't complain. Oh by the way... that is one fine pouch you made. :thumbup:

Jeff
 
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