Can anyone recommend a camping lantern?

[TaffyandTeenyTaffy]

We are off for our first camping trip next week.

Got the tent, airbed, gas cooker and stand, electric coolbox, camping chairs and off to get some snuggly sleeping bags later. All good so far - but its gonna be pretty dark at night unless I find some kind of lantern pretty quick!

We have a couple of small torches for loo trips and I think my Dad has one of those really bright 50 million candle torches he used to use - but think we need something for in the tent.... and I just don't know where to start.
Will need to be something I can pick up on the high street as I dont want to risk delivery over the BH weekend.

We've spent a blinking fortune so far on this cheap little camping holiday so what may as well go the whole hog and say "money no object" - but something cheap and cheerful would be nice!!

well my money no object option would be a silver point either this or this. We have the expedition one which runs of AA batteries, it is super bright for a small size and uber reliable (it went through the washing machine by accident once and came out working perfectly )
but .....kathmandu have a similar one for less (if you join their summit club...) here
I have to say having tried several lights out (and wasted money) it is kind of one of those you get what you pay for type item....

oooh forgot to say costswold outdoor sell sliverpoint on the high street

Thank you so much Hettie -
I thought expensive would probably be the way to go (sob!)
Its only a little bit annoying that I work literally just down the road from a Kathmandu store and hadn't even thought to look in there!
As its about an hours drive from home I will pop to Cotswold Outdoors and have a look at those.....unless anyone has any other suggestions?!

We have got a rechargable lantern from Tesco - bought it about 3 years ago and it is fab. Charge it up in the house before you go and it will last for well over a weekend. It also has a car charger if you need a top up while you are away. I think it cost about £20.

Oh forgot to say those LED stick on lights that take a couple of aa batteries are good for inside the tent too.

Hettie, those lights that you recommended, are they bright enough that if you put them on the table, people can read their books by them, please?

If you say "yes", that might just save DH's sanity on our next holiday as he was always fiddling about with different lights that we have that are OK if you're the one right next to them, but they only seem to light up one person's book at a time.

I have taken to using a Tiny Light for reading: very bright, far cheaper on batteries etc than lanterns. I use it as a little torch for loo visits too as it's so easy to slip in my poscket. Send for a strip of the little batteries for it, too.
DS, 10, also has one for using in his tent / pod, depending on where he chooses to sleep.

JudgeJudy, I have the first of hettie's two lights, and I'd say that it's bright enough for one person reasonably close to the light to read by. We hang ours from the middle of the tent, and I would be able to read by it if I were sitting right underneath it, but DH can't/won't (my eyes are better than his). I think it's pretty good though. A search on Amazon on 300 lumen lantern used to bring up three, identical but different brands, but currently just brings up Silverlight and Varta (ours is Cyba-lite, which was the cheapest option at the time). We also had a Vango LED UFO light which when it worked properly was brilliant, but is really badly made. Next up is this one - not entirely sure why I've bought it now, as we're not camping until next year.

I think headtorches may be the way to go, however stupid you look in them ...

Thanks for that DontCall. I kind of thought that's how it would be. DH and I are in agreement about the headlights, but I think we're just about to bite the bullet on them!

Although, my friend has a big CampingGaz light and that really is bright. Perhaps we'll buy one next year. I was hoping not to go the gas route, but I do keep looking at them, too.

I'd be very cautious of using a gas lantern in a tent - especially if you have a SIG. There's a CO risk as well as the more obvious fire risk.

We had this rechargeable lantern last year and took it back - by the end of the 2 week trip we'd have it on charge in the tent all day and we'd be lucky if it managed to light both tubes when we tried to turn it on in the evening.

This year we've got a LED lantern - which isn't rechargeable, but we were much happier when we tried it out over 3 a day trip earlier in the year. Will see how it gets on properly in a couple of weeks. Although we have also just got an awning light for more general illumination (I thought we'd be fine, but it makes DH happy and we'll have power...)

Hi, Tangle, we don't camp in a tent, but a folding camper, and the light is for outside on our main holiday in France. When we're inside, it's fine, we've got all manner of electric/12v lights, it's when we're sitting outside on those balmy evenings that you get when you're abroad.