... I can't help to feel that some others on here have gotten confused about this product. While it is seemingly not as rugged as Coleman gas lanterns, it just might prove to be more durable. I have personally had the glass globe on my traditional Coleman lantern broken twice by little more than bumping into it with something hard. The heat produced with the gas powered lanterns is intense and makes that glass globe very easy to break. The plastic lens/globe on this lantern seems very durable and I'm sure it will take a bit more shock than the glass one. Another point on this is the fact that it can retreat down into the case (like a turtle) and suddenly become half the size that it was in the expanded operational configuration.
This light is the small, portable, more compact version of the 8D cell unit. It is designed to be compact enough to fit into places where the bigger ones can't fit. It's designed to be lesser weight than the full sized ones. The weight thing comes with a trade-off. If you want to cut weight, you cut down on strength. I've handled this light quite a bit and even intentionally bumped it pretty hard. It doesn't seem too fragile.
Light emissions are very good. I agree that switch placement on the top seems strange but not that big of a deal. I wasn't really planning on use outside, as it will mostly be an emergency light backup for power outages. As such, it seems to be built very well.
The carry handle makes an excellent structure, when down, to build an aluminum foil reflector on, or you can easily mold one on the side of the globe.
When the top is retracted into the case, the unit is very small and compact. A nice design for storage. But extending it again requires a bit of practice to determine the exact force required to make it stay open and not so much that you'd damage it.
Overall, when considering that this has a high output cree LED that is still relatively expensive (more or less), the price seems very cheap for what you get.
...
Check Amazon Price and Read More Reviews on Coleman 4D Pack-Away LED Lantern
