Coleman Rechargeable Lantern Review

When you think of Coleman, many people think of entry level camping gear. And honestly, that is exactly what the Coleman Rechargeable Lantern is, an entry level rechargeable lantern with a mid level price point.

I really wanted to give this Coleman lantern a positive review, but compared to all of the other rechargeable lanterns I’ve reviewed here on Beyond The Tent, I couldn’t find any reason to recommend this lantern over a single one of the other great rechargeable lanterns that you can find in my rechargeable lanterns post.

Read on to see why I think you should pass on the Coleman rechargeable lantern, but if you do want to purchase it, you can buy the Coleman rechargeable lantern at Amazon.

Overview of The Coleman Rechargeable Lantern

Pros

• Bright 400 lumens
• Charges devices
• Compartment to hold charging cable and power block

Cons

• Poor build quality
• Short battery life
• Large size
• Heavy weight
• High price tag

Editor’s Opinion

As much as I hate ripping on any piece of gear, I really fell like Coleman mailed it in on their Rugged Rechargeable Lantern. Ozark Trail (Walmart) makes a better and cheaper lantern or Goal Zero’s Lighthouse 400 is our Editor’s Choice for just a bit more money.

Purchase

You can purchase the Coleman Rechargeable Rugged Lantern at Walmart.

About The Coleman Rechargeable Rugged Lantern

The Coleman Rechargeable Lantern is a lantern that you’ve probably seen around a bit. It is sold at Target, Walmart, and on Amazon. Coleman definitely has a lot of power with it’s retail partnerships.

In my opinion, this has made Coleman lazy. When Target and Walmart feature your product prominently, you’ll get sales no matter if your product is good or bad.

The lantern offers the ability to recharge at any outlet as well as charge your devices which is great.

Brightness

With a bright 400 lumens, the Coleman Rechargeable Lantern doesn’t lack brightness. This is actually a good lantern to set on a picnic table at a state park or national park and illuminate your campsite.

One other setting, low, provides a lower lumen output, but not drastically lower.

Battery / Charging

One nice feature to note is that the Coleman is one of the only rechargeable lanterns that came with its own plug in block. The block and cable fit nicely in a screw on compartment on the bottom of the lantern.

Battery Life

The 5 hour battery life on high setting (400 lumens) is probably one of the best features of the Coleman rechargeable lantern. This is really good battery life on high. My biggest issue is that after the sun goes down, campers often will turn their lanterns on lower settings as not much light is needed. So a low setting with long battery life is great. This allows you to bring many lanterns on a week long trip and not worry about charging all week. The Coleman will not make it through a week long camping trip unless you use it sparingly.

Weight / Size

The Coleman rechargeable lantern is the biggest and heaviest of the rechargeable lanterns that I reviewed for this project. Coming in at 1.8 lbs and 5.75 x 5.19 x 10.63″. It’s a big lantern. It is a fine lantern for car camping where space and weight are not a concern, but definitely not for any lightweight camping adventures.

Durability

This is where I really turned on the Coleman lantern. Once open, the lantern feels cheap and poorly built compared to almost every other lantern that I reviewed. Yet it is still heavy and big. It hasn’t broke on me or anything, this is purely the “feel” test on my part.

Features

Two main features of the Coleman rechargeable lantern stand out. First, it can charge your devices such as your phone. Second, the bottom of the lantern unscrews to reveal a small compartment that can hold your charging cable and plug in.

Ease of Use

Use couldn’t be easier. Simply turn the knob to high for a bright 400 lumens or low to conserve battery life.

Overall Value

I think I would have a much different opinion of the Coleman Rugged Lantern if the price point wasn’t quite as high as it is. Because I am linking out to Amazon, I cannot share the price with you, but of the 11 rechargeable lanterns I reviewed, only 3 were more expensive and all three of those are significantly better lanterns.

Final Opinion

For your money, I don’t think that the Coleman Rechargeable Lantern is the best value. It comes across cheaply made, has poor battery life and doesn’t offer many of the features that other lanterns do.

Check out my Rechargeable Camping Lanterns post to see the other lanterns I reviewed.

Purchase

You can purchase the Coleman Rechargeable Rugged Lantern at Amazon.