sofirnLT1S LED Camping Lantern, Rechargeable Lantern with Dimmable 2700K - 6500K Light, red Light, 500 Hours Battery Life for Power Outages, Hiking, Camping, Emergency

Pictures don’t do this little light justice. As soon as I opened the box, I thought, wow this is small! It fits in the palm of my hand and is very comfortable to carry. The solid aluminum construction and weight (336 grams with the rechargeable and removable ‘21700’ 5000 mAh battery installed) just feels sturdy. I also feel like it won’t immediately break if our toddlers drop it. They’ve been stealing this lantern and using it in their room at night :-)I have another cheap AA battery camping lantern that I’ve been using and it doesn’t even come close to the quality and feel of this LT1S lantern. The LT1S just blows it out of the water, (see my posted photos of the two side by side). Not to mention, this Sofirn lantern is IPX-8 waterproof (can be submerged in 2 meters of water for 30 minutes). It also comes with an extra set of o-rings if or when the originals need replacing. Sofirn also makes a larger, flashlight looking lantern (LT1), but this smaller version is perfect for hanging inside your tent with the removable metal hook or setting next to your mat. It’s not top heavy to fall over easy either.The user interface on this light is also really easy to learn and remember. Or at least easy enough to fumble around, if you forget the manual, until you get to the setting you were looking for. Some interfaces can be too cumbersome and get you lost and frustrated but this one won’t. Quick and dirty, from the ‘OFF’ state, press and hold the power button and “moon light” mode turns on. Press and hold again and the lantern steps through each brightness level, low-medium-high, all the way to its “turbo” mode at 500 lumens. And I tested it to actually be over 500 lumens! You can keep it on turbo for over two hours, too. But for just about anything you would need to do, I think “high” setting would be more than enough light running for about 6 hours between charges. You can charge the lantern via the USB-C cable it comes with and using the built in port on the lantern.Some cool features of this lantern are that it can switch from a normal lantern style light output (360° light) to a directional light output. You can turn off either side to help from blinding you, which I love. I usually don’t like lanterns unless I can block one of the sides so it’s not shining right into my eyes. This one can turn off one whole side. The lantern can also change its light color temperature, or Kelvin, from a very warm white light 2700K to a cool white light 6000K, switch to only red light, a beacon (just a steady blinking), and finally has an SOS setting.When testing the stated lumen output of the LT1S, I used an Extech LT40 LED light meter. I kept the lantern a distance of about 11 inches from the meter. At every brightness setting I got slightly more lumens than what the light was rated at, which is great. And for “Turbo” the light was coming in at about 550 lumens for the warm white and 670 lumens for the cool white. Although my eyes prefer the warmer tone over the harsher cool tone.As great as this lantern is, there are a few minor things Sofirn can improve or add for the next version. I think they missed an opportunity in not making the tail cap magnetic. This lantern is designed for flooding or throwing light everywhere and sometimes there isn’t a place to hang anything. So, being able to stick this to the side of a fridge, HVAC, or panel of a car in an emergency, to keep your hands free and get the light where it needs to go would be ideal. Another thing I would change, would be making the “moon light” setting just a bit dimmer. It was stated as 1 lumen, but it was still coming in at about 4 lumens on the meter. That difference doesn’t sound like much but being in a tent right next to someone else, I think that little bit could make a big difference. And lastly, it would be nice to have the power button show the green/red indicator colors as with their other models.All in all, the LT1S outperforms any expectations I had for this tiny lantern. 500 lumens is more than enough for a tent and casually walking around the campsite. And the moon light setting is just about perfect for quickly checking a map or finding a tent zipper without disturbing anyone else. I’m excited to be adding this to our flashlight and emergency kit. And don’t let it’s size fool you, this lantern is by no means a toy. But if our kids keep snagging this thing for their room, I’ll be buying one or two more of these lanterns very shortly. This thing is awesome!

I was so pleased by this lantern that I decided to take the time to review it. I'm not going to go over the specs in detail but I want to go over the user experience and my impressions.The Sofirn LT1S is nearly perfect. I actually own the BLF LT1 lantern that came out before this and features a more advanced user interface (Anduril 2) and, surprisingly, I like this one better. Not only that, it's less expensive too!I like that it takes a single 21700 battery (internally rechargeable) which can be immediately replaced with a charged 21700 once the first battery is depleted. I like that it has internal charging. It is very small and light compared to lanterns of similar brightness, and it is plenty bright for anything I would use a lantern for.I bought it specifically because it has adjustable color temp. As someone who strongly dislikes "cool white" color temps around 6000k plus, this is a great option. Cool white is a no-go for me. Such lights create a hideous light indoor or outdoors which makes it harder to sleep when you use them near bedtime, and which just makes everything ugly. This lantern goes down to 2700 (where I keep it) which is a very nice, warm yellowish light, and up to 6000k which is cooler white. You can set it anywhere in the middle that you please.The user interface is easy to use in terms of going from dim to bright. Press and hold from off position for moonlight (super low). Once on, press and hold for increasing or decreasing intensity. From on position, double-click to alternate between 180 degrees of LED's on the front, 180 degrees of LED's on the back, or 360 degree coverage.Click and then click/hold to adjust color temperature. Three clicks to go to red LED's, a feature I will not be using at all and which I could do without, but no harm done.The battery indicators on the top of the light are useful. The fact that it is USB-C is extremely handy. Note that it will also act as a power bank which is great if you find yourself in your tent with your phone battery running low.The green aluminum body is a really nice shade of green, another thing that makes it hard to believe how low the cost of this light is relative to the quality. The hanger / clip on top is actually useful and well designed. It comes with a good quality 21700 battery (Sofirn brand, I assume private label).As a camper (and backpacker years ago) who has owned probably 10 or more lanterns, this beats every lantern you will get at one of the big camping / backpacking stores in terms of quality, battery life, features, etc. It beats some of the fancy small camp lanterns at the camp stores that cost around $100 or more. This is truly a no-brainer.There is a version that features Anduril 2, the LT1S Pro. Only buy that one if you A) don't mind spending more B) want a more advanced user interface which beginners will probably hate and C) only want it in black. Otherwise, buy this one.I also suggest this over the Sofirn BLF LT1. The BLF LT1 is taller, comparatively "top heavy" and tends to fall over if not on a perfectly flat firm surface (rare when camping or outdoors). It does hold more battery life but honestly, the 5000 mah or so may offered by a 21700 is plenty, especially since it has internal charging. If you are concerned that 5000 mah battery life is not enough, get a spare 21700 for $8-15. The overall package will still be much lighter and smaller than a BLF LT1. The BLF LT1 comes with (4) 18650 batteries at 3000 mah each, for a total of 12,000 mah. Two 21700 (5000 mah) batteries for the LT1S would be 10,000 mah...pretty darn close and just a more compact, portable package in my opinion. Still not enough? Buy another 21700 battery. Enough said.Quality wise, I've owned 2 Sofirn lanterns including this one, as well 3 Sofirn flashlights and have literally never had a problem or failure of any kind so I have nothing negative to say. I would take a Sofirn over any light I've seen in a big box store.It sits on my nightstand every night, my kids borrow it to take to their room to stay up and read, and I take it with my camping. Just get it, best lantern I've ever used and it is beautifully compact.