Item being reviewed: UCO Candle Lantern
Description of item: "Original" single candle lamp. 2" x4.5" collapsed ~7.5oz w/ Candle.
Description of review tests: Kick around camp lamp.
Pros: Stops Bears.
Cons: Does not keep beer cold.
Best Uses: Holding candles.
Duration Used: 4 nights of camping in moderate summer weather - 1.5 candles worth of use total.
Where purchased:
http://www.sawtac.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=30113Cost: $23.00
Rating: 5 - Best "UCO Original Single Candle LAMP" EVER!
[attachment=1]
I picked up this candle lamp and a pack of Citronella candles for use on my recent camping trip. The intent was to keep bugs away and provide a steady source of light, enclosed flame and perhaps heat as needed. The lamp is made of thin aluminum, has a plastic base and glass chimney. Much like a magazine, the candle sits on a spring loaded follower that keeps the candle wick (and flame) visible as the candle burns down. The entire unit collapses into the base for transport and storage. The candles are labelled for 9 hours of use and that sounds about right based on my experience.
The Candle Lantern was easy to setup and use. After an evening of use, the unit was surprising cool to the touch with the exception of the glass chimney and "boiler plate" at the top of the chimney. These elements cooled off after the candle was extinguished in a few minutes. The unit was resistant to being knocked over - liquid wax would extinguish the flame and grub the chimney up - but a there weren't any conflagrations. The flame was unaffected by rain and wind. The citronella candles helped abate the insect problem. This was noticeable enough that lamp migrated from one side of the camp to the other depending on where we were. UCO makes a slew of after market parts to enhance your candle lamp experience. The light output is deceptive, in the backyard with the ambient night time city illumination it seemed poor. In camp, where the lamp provided illumination on par with that of the camp fire. Enough to navigate or read by, once your eyes adjust.
There was some clean up required between candle changes. Excess wax had to be cleared away from the body in order to ease extending and collapsing the body and chimney. This isn't a problem - the unit is self contained and doesn't leak or drip wax outside of the body. This is just something to be aware of. There is no way to moderate the amount of light you receive, it's either full value candle or nothing. You could rig up a shroud easily enough, if this was a concern.
With the more expensive Citronella candles, you're paying $.14 per hour of use. The actual candle lamp is cave-man simple, but you could break the chimney and it is conceivable that the spring could fail (and if it did, it would be a show stopper greatly reducing the usefulness of the unit - but not an insurmountable problem.) Compared with alternative sources of light it's a mixed bag. Obviously it doesn't have the output of a quality light - but it's plenty easy to keep track of how much candle you have, whereas gauging runtime on batteries can be difficult. The Candle Lamp is resilient to wet weather and wind and will provide a source of flame, which can be of value when attempting to start a fire.
The "boiler plate", while too hot to touch, didn't do much of a job boiling a cup of water. 30 minutes in I just started to see bubbles form.
[attachment=2]
