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.

princetontec.com, 2.75 ounces
These economical little lights come in as many color combos as you can imagine. Each one can be individually customized with ten choices of colors for the body, end caps ,and brackets. Go with a conservative blue or green, or add some pink, orange, or yellow to make sure your hiking partner doesn’t accidently grab the wrong light. The headlamps are made in Trenton, New Jersey—turn-around time is about three weeks. The lightweight headlamps run on three AAA batteries and have a burn time of 146 hours. Dive in with your kids and get them excited for the trail before you even head out. Coordinate colors to match your favorite jacket, the color of your eyes, or to match the family vehicle, and cast new light on the outdoor world.

www.ledlenser.com, 6.77 ounces
For car camping, when what you pack is limited only by the size of your trunk, the concept of roughing it can seem more quaint than hardcore. But even if your version of the great outdoors involves down pillows, couch cushions, and a ten-person tent, we love that you’re getting out there. To help illuminate your outdoor estate, we suggest you turn to the new P7, a high-powered LED flashlight from LED Lenser. This sleek products boasts three potent light modes, from a high of 175 lumens that illuminates distances up to 630 feet (!!) to the low setting of 27 lumens, which casts light to just under 300 feet. In other words, if you can’t see something with this flashlight, it ain’t there. A textured button at the back turns the light on and off, and toggles between settings, while the front of the flashlight sports a one-handed rapid-focus system; glide the front of the flashlight forward for a more focused beam, back out to cast wider illumination. The durable housing is also water-resistant. The 5.24-inch P7 runs on four AA batteries and burns for up to 13 hours at the low setting (the high setting burns for only one hour—but how long do you really need to see 630 feet ahead of you?). Ultralight fanatics will scoff at the hefty 6.77-ounce weight, but when weight isn’t a concern, this flashlight will see you through the wilderness (or a power outage) with the assured confidence you want in the dark.

princetontec.com, 2.25 ounces
Sending my two kiddie campers out into the dark with their very own headlamps was a big moment, albeit one tinged with a degree of sadness. Gone were the days of haggling over my pair grownup headlamps, which never quite fit properly and were always too clunky for little heads, but also the sense that I was responsible for doing everything around camp—including getting them to the washhouse when nature called. The Princeton Tec Bot Headlamp buys as well as bestows outdoor independence in a package that’s versatile, durable, and fun. They come in bright, vivid colors, and the head strap is both comfortable and designed for younger noggins, with a light unit that’s easy for small hands to operate and manipulate. Two AAA batteries power three LED beam settings (high, low,  and strobe), topping out at 15 lumens—which is more than enough light to assure no imaginary hobgoblins or ogres pay your campground an unwanted visit.
-Alistair Wearmouth

www.mammut.ch, 2.6 ounces
How do you make a headlamp even more useful? Make it more than just a headlamp, as Mammut has done by pairing their already powerful Lucido TR1 four-LED device with an ambient light attachment. Just remove said lamp off head, click on the plastic housing, and you’ve got a halo of gentle light that’s perfect for low-key camp-side and tent activities like cooking, reading, or other…more amorous activities.  The headlamp itself runs on two AAA batteries, casting light up to 20 meters for up to 60 hours, with two brightness settings—perfect for nighttime hiking, biking, climbing, and running and other hands-free needs, while the attachment packs easily and weighs a few measly grams. It saved two testers sanity one particularly buggy night after a 14-mile slog left them cooking after dark–the bugs swarmed to the lantern…not their heads, and they were able to dine in peace.  Never as such a little thing made such a big difference.
The Ambient Light ($11) is also sold separately, and attaches to Mamut’s T1 and TXlite headlamps.