Winter OR Round-Up: Snow Peak Lapel Torch Flashlight

www.snowpeak.com
This inventive flashlight from Snow Peak reminds us of a lavaliere microphone. You clip the battery pack to…wherever (belt, pack, tent pole, tree branch). Then you affix the powerful magnet on the light to another location—the brim of your baseball cap, the seam of your coat, your shoulder strap, a fold or pocket in a tent; the magnetic is strong enough to make a connection through your fingertip. It’s a fun, highly versatile way of directing up to 70 lumens of illumination where you want it. You can also nestle it on the batter pack itself to create more subdued ambient light.

It runs on three AAA batteries, runs for 140 hours on the lowest of three settings, and will hit the shelves in late March/early April.

$56

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Snow Peak Mini Hozuki Lantern

www.snowpeak.com, 2.4 ounces
We seldom like it when people take something we love and mess with it—but in this instance, we applaud the move. The Hozuki Lantern is an icon in Snow Peak’s camping boutique line, and the Mini is a smaller, perhaps wiser considering the price, alternative. Named after the sacred plant that served as the design for the ancient Chinese paper lantern, this light includes an innovative “candle mode” that lets the LED flicker in response to sound or wind—you get that candle-lit ambience in your tent without, you know…burning down your tent. The light has other settings as well, including high, low, stobe, and variable dim. Fed by 3 AA batteries, it’ll burn for 70 hours (on low). Max lumens come in at 60—sufficient for reading or doing the dishes. Oh, and its only two inches tall.
In stores October 15

$40

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Snow Peak SnowMiner Headlamp and Lantern

www.snowpeak.com, 2.3 ounces (without batteries)
Hand’s-free lighting is a no-brainer industry standard, and the headlamp tech race is mostly focused on brighter lights and intuitive innovations that adjusts a headlamp’s brightness as you look at different things. But we like how Snow Peak has taken a different approach and addressed the collective desire for some ambient light when you no longer need to light at the point at which you’re specifically look. When you’re done with your targeted lighting needs, just pop open the rubber mounting on the 2.2-inch-diameter light and you get 180-degree glow, perfect for mellow light in a tent or at base camp. Four light modes—high, low, strobe, and variable, which dims as you hold the power button—offers a variety of moods, and a hook on the back of the strap lets the lantern dangle off a tree branch or the inside of a tent. Then, when you need to shift back to headlamp mode, push in the rubber ball and you’ve got directional lighting. It runs on three AAA batteries, with 140 hours on low (eight lumens). It won’t win any svelte design awards, and when testing the head lamp, it would occasional pop into lantern mode. We could still see, of course. But those who plan on using it mostly as a headlamp would likely prefer a more fail-safe option.

$56

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Eureka! Warrior 230 IR LED Remote Control Lantern

www.eurekatent.com, one pound, 14 ounces
One if by land, two if by sea. A reliable lantern should be part of everyone’s essential gear. For modern-day emergencies that can cut your power supply off for days, the Warrior 230 provides 200 hours of light on the low setting. The high setting limits the output of the three D-size batteries to 50 hours, but our testers only used this ultra-brint light (230 lumens) while cooking gourmet dinners on a Rogue River trip. Otherwise they used the remote control dimmer function that adjusts the light output from 100 percent to 10 percent. The versatile lantern is great for river trips, car camping, and even illuminating a backyard barbeque. The water-resistant case can be carried with a collapsible handle, or hung upside down via a small, fold-away hook. For roadside or backcountry emergencies, the lantern has a flashing SOS function that’s good for 200 hours with fresh batteries. Testers loved the remote control with its 25-foot range, as it allows you to leave the lantern in its most effective position (suspended on a tree branch near the kitchen or pit toilet), with the ease of turning it on and off from your warm, cozy sleeping bag.

$65

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