Rayovac SE3DLN Sportsman Xtreme 300-Lumen LED Lantern
by Rayovac
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List Price: Our Price: $22.66 You Save: $11.34 (33%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $20.00 (click here) Category: Tools See more product details |
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Rayovac SE3DLN Sportsman Xtreme 300-Lumen LED Lantern
Customer Review: Terrific little lantern
Summary: 5 Stars
My old battery-powered lantern had just died when this unit showed up in the Gold Box special of the day, so I grabbed it. What a terrific little unit! It is lightweight, but seems to be very sturdy. It is smaller than I was expecting it to be, but the light output is fabulous - much better than my old flashlight/lantern.
The product description states that this lantern has three modes - High, Low and Strobe. At first I thought that the unit that I received only had one mode - On. A helpful fellow Amazonian pointed out to me that the on switch needs to be depressed for several (not just one or two) seconds in order for the unit to change modes. I applied a bit more patience to my approach, and that did the trick.
I read the reviews, and saw the remarks regarding how hard it is to get the unit back together after inserting the batteries. Therefore, prior to opening it up, I lined up two pieces of masking tape on the outside so I could align the bottom cap properly with the body of the unit. That worked great, so I put some dots of white paint on the unit as permanent reference points. If you don't like the idea of marking up your lantern, there are little red arrows inside the unit for alignment purposes also - see product images.
The little flashing green indicator light, as others have stated, is quite useless for anything other than letting you know that your batteries are still good, and that could be found out rather quickly by just turning the unit on. Seems like a useless "feature," but not enough to make me downgrade the rating.
I've only had this unit a couple of weeks, but have used it quite a bit, and am very happy with it. It is much better than either the fluorescent or "big battery" lanterns that I have previously owned.
Customer Review: Better than a flashlight for power outages.
Summary: 5 Stars
I live where the power lines are above ground so there are always some times in the winter when we lose electricity. Prior to this generation of LED lanterns, I couldn't find anything that promised real light for more than a couple of hours without being recharged. I considered solar and hand-cranked rechargeable lanterns. Solar obviously wouldn't work at night when I'd need it, and good quality hand cranked models were just too expensive, so I ended up sticking w/ dim flashlights. At least I could afford keeping some extra batteries around to extend the time, but I couldn't really do much by the light they gave.
This LED lantern is a wonderful new solution. It really is bright enough to read by, and the price is a third what something giving this much light for as long as this does would have cost in the past. I've decided to keep fully charged rechargeable batteries for it in the fridge--rather than have them drain to keep the blinking indicator light going--and keep an LED flashlight w/ batteries in a nightstand drawer so that I will be able to set up the lantern when needed. I'm thinking about putting a hook high on a wall to hang it so the light can illuminate a wider area; it's that bright. The only quibble I have with it is that you don't want to look at it directly when it's on b/c even w/ the diffuser, the LEDs are painfully bright when looked at straight on. For that reason, it's better to position it to shine over your shoulder while reading. Also the high power/low power/off button is a little hard to control--sometimes when you press it hard enough to turn on the lantern, it jumps right past high power to low power. But these are really minor problems for something this reasonably priced that is bright enough to read or cook by during a long power outage.
Customer Review: Good lantern, but a little too intense
Summary: 4 Stars
So, we bought this based on all the other reviews and I have to say it wasn't quite what I'd hoped for. Maybe it's been too long since I've camped with a bright lantern, but this light was just too intense. There are different times when you use a lantern and this one was great in some but unusable in others. The light emitted from this lantern is very high in the light spectrum and therefore not good for night vision at all. The light is very bright white, almost blue. This works great when you're setting up the tent or even inside the tent with the bulb exposed. But, then, once you're camping, it is not so useful. I found that we kept avoiding using this light because of how offensive the output was when in low light conditions. When you're sitting around a campfire, you need a softer lower frequency light. This is where gas lanterns excel as their output frequencies drift towards the red spectrum as you lower their intensity. We ended up using candles and flashlights instead. This light, even in low mode, was just too "bright". In the end, we liked the light for setting up and for walking around with other bright lights, but just not for situations where low light eyesight is preferred. I don't regret buying this lantern at all. I just wish it had a lower frequency/or intensity option as well. The funny thing was, we had led flashlights with white and red leds and I always wondered why one earth you'd want those red ones. Now we know. They were perfect when around the campfire and you just needed a little more light to see what you were doing, but didn't want something super bright... time to find another lantern with more range.Customer Review: Great Compact Camping or Emergency Lantern
Summary: 5 Stars
Just received this product so I will defer commenting on battery life until later. Overall I have been very pleased and surprised with this product. First off, this lantern is fairly compact...I was under the impression that this would be larger from the pictures but once I opened it up, I was pleasingly surprised. The unit is very compact and feels very sturdy. There is rubber on the base and around the lower portion of the lantern, the switch is very easy to operate and has 3-modes (High, Low, and Strobe). The entire top/globe can be unscrewed and hung upside down (clip in the base) to use as a room or tent light in "bare bulb" mode. Overall I have been very impressed with the output of this lantern as well. This is a very bright lantern for it's compact size; outshining normal 4D fluorescent U-tubed lanterns and a coleman pack-away LED lantern. The diffuser is also very pleasing with no rings, lines, or shadows to speak of. In bare bulb mode, the light is almost too bright for your eyes but works well if it's hung high overhead (so you're not looking directly at the unit). Low mode is also very useful and brighter than your typical "nightlight" levels in other LED lanterns "low" modes. Overall I am very impressed with this product and plan to purchase more of these units for use while night fishing, camping, and to use during power failures.
Update (10/31/09): Just an update, I recently used this light in a power outage and it performed great. Bright and the batteries are still going strong. I also purchased 2 additional units and with just 3-D batteries each, who can complain! This is a great compact lantern.
Customer Review: LED camp lantern
Summary: 5 Stars
Searching for an alternative to the inconvenience of gas fill-ups and difficulty with mantle breakage at campouts, I ventured into battery-powered LED illumination. I have used a very low wattage Coleman model 5310 lantern that uses 4 D cell batteries for several years as a tent and reading light, but it had nowhere near the brightness needed for the larger camp area. After considering other reviews of various Coleman LED models, and trying an inexpensive off-brand that provided nowhere near enough light, I came across the Rayovac SE3DLN Sportsman Extreme. The combination of 300 lumens brightness and only 3 D cells to power it far surpassed the Coleman options available which included higher price for less light and more batteries required. As other reviews had indicated, it is extremely bright to look at directly but is a quick adjustment once realized. I spent 6 nights (and early mornings) in camp and, using rechargeable NiMH batteries did not approach the rated 72-hour battery life using high power. It is quite compact (only 7" tall) and can stand alone or be hung from top or bottom. The convenience of instant on and off, a reduced power option of lower light that extends battery rating to 150 hours, and no mantles to worry about are a huge plus. When considering light and the area illuminated, this LED lantern does not reach out as far or as bright as my Coleman dual fuel gas lantern or the propane lanterns used in camp, nor does it produce the heat generated by those same gas lanterns for warming a tent, but it also does not melt nearby objects as the gas lanterns will.