Frontier Camping Lantern 250

Very low stand-by current

I wrote the review entitled 'Great little lamp'. I would like to add that most lamps of this class no longer appear to have a real power switch and the Primus Frontier 250 is no exception. The power on/off is done electronically, meaning the lamp consumes a small amount of current even when turned 'off'. If intending to use the lamp as a light source in the event of a mains power outage and the plan is to keep the batteries in the lamp, it is important to choose a lamp with a low stand-by current - preferably lower than the battery's own self-discharge current. Unfortunately the stand-by current of camping lamps in the 'off' position is typically not specified. For at least one lamp I own it is quite high which makes it less suitable for the purpose mentioned above. Luckily the Primus Frontier 250 has a very low stand-by current and I can expect that with quality LSD rechargeable batteries the lamp will still be usable even after several years on non-use.

Using 4 x 1.2V Eneloop batteries I measured the stand-by current for the lamp at 4.5 uA.

Badly Designed Light Diffuser

Unless you place the bottom of the light diffuser above eye level or point the lantern away from you, so effectively you are looking at the bottom of the lantern, the LEDs inside their protective dome (situated at the bottom of the diffuser) shine, almost blindingly, directly in your eyes. You cannot look directly at this light without this extremely aggravating problem, which makes the lantern almost useless. The amount of illumination it generates is also extremely small and is only useful in tiny enclosed spaces such as the inside of a one or two person tent. Forget about trying to use it to provide adequate light for any significant unenclosed space, it just does not have that capability.

Great little lamp

Great Light!

Fantastic light A+