It was a good weekend for new kit, I bought a 9W U-Tube Rechargeable Lantern 
with Remote Control Ref: 1024835 (RRP £29 WAS £25.00 NOW £20.00) from 
scoutshops http://www.scoutshops.com/acatalog/Lanterns.html and by heck that 
was good too!

Ok so its not waterproof, but that is more than compensated for by the fact 
you can take them in your tent!

We must have got 15 hours use out of it on one charge, more than enough for 
a weekend, and your own tent for a week.

It was much brighter that I expected and I will be using it where I would 
normally use a single mantle petrol lantern. I will still be taking petrol 
lanterns for outside use, but I will be ordering another couple for summer 
camp, especially at that price!

On the downside, they are made from plastic, probably won't last as long as 
a metal lantern and the batteries will probably pack up after a few years. 
You are recommended to completely discharge and recharge them every three 
months .

~~~~~~~~~

I thought the remote control was a gimmick, but its brilliant.

Last night they were telling ghost stories and nobody was really scared... 
you can tell where this is going can't you? :-)

I started casting scorn on their stories and saying that I didn't believe in 
ghosts, it was all rubbish and if there really were ghosts then I defy them 
to send me a sign NOW! and trod on the remote I had pushed under my foot.

They actually screamed. It was hilarious. I had to let them take the lantern 
back to their tent, and had to leave the remote with them. Try that with a 
tilley :)

-- 
Stephen Rainsbury
DESC Gillingham, Kent
www.gillinghamscouts.org.uk

"Stephen Rainsbury"  wrote in message 
news:bq2bm.61026$OO7.56533@text.news.virginmedia.com...
> It was a good weekend for new kit, I bought a 9W U-Tube Rechargeable 
> Lantern with Remote Control Ref: 1024835 (RRP £29 WAS £25.00 NOW £20.00) 
> from scoutshops http://www.scoutshops.com/acatalog/Lanterns.html and by 
> heck that was good too!
>
> Ok so its not waterproof, but that is more than compensated for by the 
> fact you can take them in your tent!
>
> We must have got 15 hours use out of it on one charge, more than enough 
> for a weekend, and your own tent for a week.
>
> It was much brighter that I expected and I will be using it where I would 
> normally use a single mantle petrol lantern. I will still be taking petrol 
> lanterns for outside use, but I will be ordering another couple for summer 
> camp, especially at that price!
>
> On the downside, they are made from plastic, probably won't last as long 
> as a metal lantern and the batteries will probably pack up after a few 
> years. You are recommended to completely discharge and recharge them every 
> three months .
>
> ~~~~~~~~~
>
> I thought the remote control was a gimmick, but its brilliant.
>
> Last night they were telling ghost stories and nobody was really scared... 
> you can tell where this is going can't you? :-)
>
> I started casting scorn on their stories and saying that I didn't believe 
> in ghosts, it was all rubbish and if there really were ghosts then I defy 
> them to send me a sign NOW! and trod on the remote I had pushed under my 
> foot.
>
> They actually screamed. It was hilarious. I had to let them take the 
> lantern back to their tent, and had to leave the remote with them. Try 
> that with a tilley :)
>
> -- 
> Stephen Rainsbury
> DESC Gillingham, Kent
> www.gillinghamscouts.org.uk
>

We have a few of these or similar. You can get new batteries from Maplin for 
a few quid and the lamps do stand up to a certain amount of abuse.

One problem we have found is finding new tubes for them when they start 
fading - so if anyone has any ideas please do share.

DaveB
West Yorks

Dave wrote:
> "Stephen Rainsbury"  wrote in 
> message
> news:bq2bm.61026$OO7.56533@text.news.virginmedia.com...
> > It was a good weekend for new kit, I bought a 9W U-Tube 
> > Rechargeable
> > Lantern with Remote Control Ref: 1024835 (RRP £29 WAS £25.00 
> > NOW
> > £20.00) from scoutshops
> > http://www.scoutshops.com/acatalog/Lanterns.html and by heck 
> > that
> > was good too! ...
> > On the downside, they are made from plastic, probably won't 
> > last as
> > long as a metal lantern and the batteries will probably pack 
> > up
> > after a few years. You are recommended to completely 
> > discharge and
> > recharge them every three months ....
>
> We have a few of these or similar. You can get new batteries 
> from
> Maplin for a few quid and the lamps do stand up to a certain 
> amount
> of abuse.
> One problem we have found is finding new tubes for them when 
> they
> start fading - so if anyone has any ideas please do share.
>

Fluorescent tubes aren't very efficient if they are run at a 
voltage below their specification. It may cause dicolouration of 
the (phosphor?) coating inside the tube - which is at odds with 
the suggestion that the rechargeable batteries are deep-cycled. 
One solution might be to provide another type of electrical load 
for the batteries to discharge them.

-- 
MatSav

"MatSav" <matthew | dot | savage | at | dsl | dot | pipex | dot | com> wrote 
in message news:TMidnQy0jcDUw_DXnZ2dnUVZ8tudnZ2d@pipex.net...

> Fluorescent tubes aren't very efficient if they are run at a voltage below 
> their specification. It may cause dicolouration of the (phosphor?) coating 
> inside the tube - which is at odds with the suggestion that the 
> rechargeable batteries are deep-cycled. One solution might be to provide 
> another type of electrical load for the batteries to discharge them.

Hmm, thats a very good point, but I am not sure that I want to stip thme 
down every three months. :-(


-- 
Stephen Rainsbury
DESC Gillingham, Kent
www.gillinghamscouts.org.uk

On 27 July, 09:40, "Stephen Rainsbury" 
wrote:
> "MatSav" <matthew | dot | savage | at | dsl | dot | pipex | dot | com> wrote
> in messagenews:TMidnQy0jcDUw_DXnZ2dnUVZ8tudnZ2d@pipex.net...
>
> > Fluorescent tubes aren't very efficient if they are run at a voltage below
> > their specification. It may cause dicolouration of the (phosphor?) coating
> > inside the tube - which is at odds with the suggestion that the
> > rechargeable batteries are deep-cycled. One solution might be to provide
> > another type of electrical load for the batteries to discharge them.
>
> Hmm, thats a very good point, but I am not sure that I want to stip thme
> down every three months. :-(
>
> --
> Stephen Rainsbury
> DESC Gillingham, Kentwww.gillinghamscouts.org.uk

What about the chargers - how do you make sure that you do not loose/
missplace them.? That has always been an issue for me. Lots of lamps -
different chargers and making sure that you actually have them...

Steve Hinchliff

"hinchliffstevenospam@nospamyahoo.co.uk"  wrote 
in message 
news:80786164-4791-4bf3-9378-d7cbd16e1cb9@u16g2000yqe.googlegroups.com...
> On 27 July, 09:40, "Stephen Rainsbury" 

> What about the chargers - how do you make sure that you do not loose/
> missplace them.? That has always been an issue for me. Lots of lamps -
> different chargers and making sure that you actually have them...

I hadn't even thought of that, now I won't be able to sleep :-)

Initially I will be keeping the lamps in the box they came in so will 
probably leave the cragers in there for now.


-- 
Stephen Rainsbury
DESC Gillingham, Kent
www.gillinghamscouts.org.uk