ust Ultimate Survival Technologies Pico Lantern

The Pico is the smallest version of UST's 30-Day, which itself is a relatively small "full size" LED Lantern, but packs a high brightness with two lower brightness settings, the lowest claiming the "30-Day continuous run time" from 3 Alkaline D-cells. The middle size unit is the 10-Day, which uses 6 AA-cells. The Pico runs from 4 AA-cells (3, actually... more on this later). The size of the Pico makes it a good choice for a medium area tent or a pop-up camper. It will do for reading at night at a picnic table while camping, too, but not for everyone around the table - that's the job for the 30-Day size and brightness, or perhaps the 10-Day, too. With the Pico stick to the camper or hang up the base with the shade removed for an area light in that medium tent - you'll get more than 15' of area light adequate to do whatever... and on low, enough to see stuff and not zonk out others in the tent during the night... but you get the lower level by multiple push switch presses, not a turn left / turn right thing. They'd been better off to start with the dimmest setting then go up for a small in-the-tent-at-night LED lantern.The Glow-In-The-Dark soft plastic body works very well. The goal for G-I-T-D performance is to provide long persistence in a glow level adequate for the item to be seen and found by someone with night vision acclimated sight after 5 or 6 hours of darkness at a distance of about 20 feet. That's GOOD G-I-T-D performance, and this material delivers just that, performing just as well as other very long persistent G-I-T-D items I've found. I have a G-I-T-D Brilla Mini, UST's smallest LED lantern (2-AA) on top of a tall wardrobe cabinet; it is only indirectly charged by daylight, and yet it delivers this performance.Anyway, adequately small for the roles mentioned, adequately bright, too. If kept in the camper or packed with the tent camping things, you might want to use the ultra long shelf life Lithium Iron Energizer Ultimate AA's - no leakage, ultra shelf life, greatest capacity of any AA (about 3,000mAH) for even longer than specified run time. And the 4th generation NiMH, e.g., Panasonic/Sanyo's Eneloop AA's, pack 2,000mAH, and have a very low self discharge - likely 60% left after several years of storage; and both these deliver a very flat discharge curve compared to Alkaline cells, which means they deliver full voltage until almost completely depleted.So 3 versus 4... For what it's worth: Some LED flashlights use 4 AAA cells, and are quite bright... maybe too bright. IKEA sells a clever 4-AAA colored plastic tube with a bright LED on the open end... looks like a candle glowing through green, blue, or white plastic body... and can be used as a flashlight. Great for a "candle light" in a young child's room, but actually too bright. Replace one of the AAA's with a metal cylinder and the brightness is just right... and the light lasts a long, long time. Tried that with the Pico - same brightness. So the Pico has an electronic regulator coping with the decline in voltage (or in this case 3 instead of 4), and since there's no free lunch, that means more current is drawn by the 3 than if there had been 4, shortening the run time they'll give - if you care. So with 4 Alkaline, each at a just under 1v cell voltage, which is pretty well drained, this lantern will produce just as much light (that's the voltage that 3 full NiMH provide, about 3.8v). Anyway, you could run with only 3 NiMH or Lithium Iron, but likely not with 3 Alkaline for anywhere near as long.Reasonable price point, quality product, shipped quickly. I have mine in my Aliner Pop-Up Camper right now.

If you are buying this, you are likely looking for a camping/backpacking light. I would think this fits that basic need very well. Is this going to make base camp like daytime? No. It's less than 130 lumens, so it isn't going to make daylight for an entire camp. But is is very bright for its small package. I don't know how it does with battery discharge over a long term, so can't comment on this as an emergency lamp, but assuming the batteries won't be drained by the unit, this would make a great emergency lamp too.If you are out backpacking solo, this and a headlight would be enough to setup camp, cook, read, do journal entries, etc. Basically everything. If you are in a group, you could each have one and have a very good setup, but maybe a bigger main lamp is also needed for family camping situations, or when weight isn't a factor. I'm talking to you car camper.This is a fantastic tent light. It has 3 settings. The first is full power. The second is about 50% and the third is flashing. The highest setting might be too bright in your tent, it's pretty bright. The 1/2 power is perfect for winding down activities and getting into your sleeping bag. More than enough light to see, but not so bright that you will be blinded and ruin your night eyesight.There are o-rings/gaskets around the battery cover and the globe/diffuser, so it would appear to be water resistant at least. They appear to be in good locations and will likely help keep the electrics dry in the rain. I don't see this doing well if it was fully submerged for any length of time - maybe a drop into water and a quick recovery wouldn't harm, but anything more....Efficiency appears good. I loaded ours with 3 charged Eneloop NiMh batteries. It was very bright. I used it for 2 days around the house, supplementing lighting in the garage, lighting up dinner on the patio, and we also let the kids use it too. I see no obvious drop in output in the 2 days we have been using this. It has been on for at least 5 hours, likely much more. No change that I can tell. So I am under the impression that it will get you the promised 22 hours on high... maybe not at the blinding levels when the batteries are new, but pretty close.The only real con I have is the light quality is very white. It's not blue, so these are not cheap LEDs. However, a warmer color would be nice, but at this price point, I really can't complain. It's more of a personal issue and some people hate that LED super white color tone. For under twenty bucks, this is a bargain lantern that will likely serve our family for years and years to come. Might need to get a 2nd.

These are excellent lanterns for Amazon Prime's price of <$14. And I highly recommend them. Very bright light. Excellent build quality. I like the different light settings. Hooks are nicely implemented (seem sturdy). Impressive for the size and price.However, I ordered three of the green (two are to be presents) and one sliver, and there is an important difference in the diffusers. The silver came with much more frosting. This has the benefit of a softer light. The green came with a diffuser with almost no frosting. It's a bit brighter, but also harsher. I'm not sure which I like better, and I wonder if these are a difference in production runs or one is a newer model design? Both are equally good. But if you have a Pico Lantern already, realize that in ordering another, you might end up with a slightly different model.Also, while the pictures on Amazon depict the green and sliver models as having the logo symbol under the power button, the two colors I ordered came with the word "pico" instead. Not important to me since this doesn't affect functionality.I loaded a customer image if anyone would like to see the differences I noted. (although it only seems to be showing for the buy from Amazon Prime, not Fufilled by Amazon vendor versions).

I bought this lantern so I could have something available in case of a power failure. Well, I haven't had a power failure (a very good thing!), but this lantern is amazing! It's tiny but it packs a powerful punch---sort of like a flashlight on steroids! And it uses AA batteries, which I always have in the house. I'm very happy with this purchase and would highly recommend this product to anyone!

Ottima lanterna potente e portatile. Di ottima qualità costruttiva e anche con batterie ricaricabili ovviamente Amazon, ha una autonomia come da dichiarato. La consiglio per tutto quelli che hanno bisogno di una lanterna portatile ed efficiente..edit: dopo più di un anno accesa 8 ore al giorno posso solo confermare l'ottima fatture della lampada. sempre perfettamente funzionale e parca nei consumi.

I bought this lantern because i don't have electricity in my garage. Suprisingly, such a small light can illuminate the whole space that i need it to. The design is simple, lightweight, and small enough, that you could take it camping. For the price point, you really can't go wrong with these, and on the low setting, the batteries last an unbelievable long time

We have just purchased three more of these small lanterns as they give off a great light, and are small enough and durable enough to withstand our kids +camping. I love that you can take the outer piece off if you wanted to just have the bulb showing. Great little lantern that lasts a long time with AA batteries.

This one was for my done as I had used one to go on a week long deep bush hunting trip. I never had to change to the spare set of batteries I Haden's it was my main camp light. Very high quality and built tough. So when it came time to get my boy a light, I just bought another.