Coleman Exponent Pack-Away LED Lantern

These fixes may have been reported before, but just in case: If the lantern is stored open the electronics will slowly drain the batteries. If stored closed, seems to solve this problem. The harsh light with annoying shadows can be corrected by wrapping scotch tape around globe. Makes a nice, bright, diffuse light. Does not effect opening and closing of lantern.

the major problem is that the hollow plastic screw that holds the batteries in place snapped the second time I changed the batteries. plastic screw you say? another reviewer mentioned this so it seems to be a real design flaw. i was able to repair the broken plastic with super glue but it was a waste of time. the unit is very heavy so i would suggest it for car campers only. four AA batteries for a single led bulb make for high light output and heavy little lantern.

[...] I don't think it's too bright and the light source through the center (main) globe is very even, and will be easy to use for plotting climbs back at the camp site at night. It's bright, compact, and will work well outside or back in the tent.

I got this light a few months back and so far have been very pleased. It has a great light output...It has been nicknamed the sun. However the output is a little too much sometimes. Even on the low setting it can be a little too bright for some things inside the tent. For outside it can't be beat...But I think that the company kind of missed the boat by not frosting the globe to soften the light when you use it in an inclosed area. I have read reviews that this can be easliy solved by putting tape around the globe but I haven't tried this yet. As far as weight it is a little on the heavy side but not too bad for a lantern. It is compact and tough as nails. I can't attest as to the battery life cause I haven't used it quite enough to be a fair judge of that. I can tell it is designed well and will have its use if you are willing to carry the extra weight of a lantern.

Inserted batteries and placed the lamp in my RV. Went to use the unit 3 weeks later and the plastic screw holding the batteries in the unit snapped. Lamp is now useless. Very poor implementation. I have another lamp like this one and will return it along with the defective one. I expect a reliable product.

I picked this up as I was looking for a way to not have to carry an open flame lantern or an incandescent that ate batteries for breakfast. I knew I wanted a lantern that took AA (because I have loads of rechargeables) and LED for reliability and long lasting output.
This filled all those needs, but although it says it puts out 95 lumens, it does so in a weird pattern. You don't get a nice soft light that you would expect (and want) out of a lantern and instead get funny shadows and bright glaring light.
I recently got another LED lantern that also takes AA's and it puts out a great nice soft glow, that is much whiter and not so blue (but cost almost twice as much). I have included comparison photos of the outputs which should clearly show the weird pattern on the Coleman.
Anyway, to top things off the little guy has a suction effect while opening and closing that makes it tough, so this guy is going back to the clearance bin that I found it in...

Everything about this compact little lantern is great, including its compact size and durable design...except for 1 MAJOR flaw, the light it puts out is VERY fractured. Although the light is very bright and works better than a flashlight at lighting up a perimeter, you only get about 50%-60% of usable light. I say usable because the light you get is very bright, and causes yours eyes to adjust improperly to be able to clearly see in the dark spots. It feels more like a scattered, 360 degree, random spot light that needs to be turned in order to see in a specific direction. Definitely much better than nothing or even a powerful flashlight, but as a lantern, its not the best. Would recommend for use as an emergency light in the home or car or as a backup lantern for camping since it is very rugged and compact. Light is usable for about 8+ hours on 4 NiMH rechargeable batteries.

Considering how compact and light this lantern is, it is exceptionally bright.
Great to hang in your tent at night for ambient light, or to use on your table (or rock) to light your card-game or other activity.
It is bright enough to carry with you to light your way, however it is difficult to point the light in any particular direction (this is a lamp, not a flashlight.)
Battery life could be improved slightly, but other than that this is exceptional.

Compact, light lantern. Collapsible deisgn protects the light in transport and prevents accidental turn-ons. Hanging hook and biner is convenient.
As others have noted, the beam is very uneven with bright streaks. The solution to this is to run a couple of strips of the translucent type scotch tape around the clear globe. (Two wide strips covered all but about an eighth of an inch at the top and bottom.) This will soften the beam and drastically even out the dispersion. It also helps reduce the bright glare if you look into the light. There seems to be enough clearance between the case that the tape doesn't interfere with opening and closing, nor does it seem to scratch or drag on the tape. Even so, it would be simple, quick and cheap to replace it.
The lantern weighed in at 8.4 ounces; lithium batteries would shave about 1.2 oz off that, improve the run time and provide better cold-weather performance.
A great little backpacking lantern. Hopefully a future version will include a translucent globe and it will be about perfect.

This little lantern does a pretty good job. The light is a bright bluish-white. I got this to replace my Giga Power gas powered lantern. The Coleman actually is smaller at approx. 15 cubic inches, where as the Snow Peak is approx. 23 cu. in. It doesn't quite radiate the amount of light that the Snow Peak does, but close. No heat output or exhaust, so you can use it inside the tent. One slight drawback is the light isn't evenly dispersed in all directions due to the globes collapsible design.