We used the old Coleman lantern for decades. I was stubborn. As much of a pita that it was to replace the socks after each days “overland” drive, I continued to perform the ritual every evening. It dawned on me one trip that we would easily go through 6 or 7 pairs of socks a trip. I started looking around for an alternative. We already had good headlamps. Now we have two really good rechargeable lamps. One for inside the tent that gets used often, and one for the awning, which very rarely gets used. We use our headlamps for everything else, and more often than not, the red light gets turned on. We prefer a dark camp with very minimal lighting. We’ve even disabled the interior lights of the Landcruiser when opening doors and replaced the courtesy curb lights with red ones. I’ve never understood anyone’s need to light camp up like a Christmas tree. It’s amazing what you can see in the dark. When a camp is lit up, you cannot see past the light, but someone can see you for miles. We prefer to see for miles. We remote camp to be a part of, not an invader of nature. BTW, I gave the old Coleman lantern to a nice young car camping couple, I’m pretty sure they are still using it, even after 7 years. Those lanterns were very reliable.
