Comparison of the Illumination of a Lantern vs. a Flashlight

Use a flashlight if you want a focused light beam versus more general illumination.

While many people do not think much about the illumination capabilities of a flashlight versus a lantern during their everyday lives, when the power goes out or while camping in the dark at night, illumination suddenly makes a difference. Comparing a lantern and a flashlight can be worthwhile when done before the lights go out.

ANSI/NEMA FL 1-2009

A written standard for flashlight performance, referred to as ANSI/NEMA FL 1-2009, ensures that all manufactured flashlights meet minimum criteria. The four categories for a flashlight are beam distance, peak beam intensity, run time (hours/minutes) and light output. Each of these categories comes with a logo and should be marked on all flashlight packaging.

Flashlight Light Output

In terms of flashlight illumination, the light output category measures how much total light the flashlight creates and is the most important consideration. This is measured in terms of lumens; the higher the lumens number, the stronger the illumination of the flashlight. While older flashlights may have a total output of around 20 lumens, newer flashlights can achieve total output of 114 or more lumens.

Lanterns

There are several different types of lanterns, including battery-powered, liquid fuel–powered and propane-powered lanterns. Liquid fuel lanterns use Coleman fuel, kerosene or unleaded gas. A propane lantern uses a disposable canister that attaches to the lantern, while a battery lantern uses disposable, rechargeable, self-charging (crank), LED or fluorescent batteries. Note that both liquid fuel and propane lanterns can be a fire hazard due to the use of fuel or gas and an open flame and should never be used inside a tent or another enclosed space.

Lantern Light Output

Propane and liquid fuel lanterns offer similar light output to a flashlight but have a less focused light beam. Battery-operated lanterns often use a light bulb that offers florescent light around 10 or 11 watts in strength. Self-charging (crank) lanterns use 10 or more LED light bulbs for a wide surface area of light. In other words, lanterns may offer similar amounts of illumination as a flashlight, but the light output will be wider and less focused than that of a flashlight beam.

References

• Maglife: Flashlight Performance
• Camping Lantern Learning Center: Types

Resources

• Camping Lanterns.net: Camping Lanterns