Several of UCO LED Lanterns
I’ve owned a UCO Clarus 150 Lumen LED Mini Lantern
UCO CLARUS – 4.3 Ounces with Batteries
My Clarus is a very compact and lightweight piece of gear that converts back and forth from a lantern to a flashlight. I have taken this on many trips because it’s so small and handy. It runs on three Triple A batteries so if my headlamp dies I can simply rob the Clarus and I’m good to go until the trip is over.
It has 3 modes – High/Low/Strobe that are accessed by the click switch at the base of the Clarus. On high it’s 150 lumens of light which is more than enough for me on nearly all backcountry camping trips. As a lantern this is good and as a flashlight this is outstanding!
The build quality of my Clarus is really top notch and it’s obvious when you pick it up. The plastic is solid and the slide mechanism is smooth and crisp without a lot of tolerance that would make it feel cheap. The plastic parts are all assembled very tightly together with little to no wobble.
I really like the integrated metal hanging hook so I fastened a mitten hook and some Z-line from ZPacks to it so I could hang it at the middle of a branch instead of just on the ends of branches.
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UCO ARKA – 8.5 Ounces
When I received the Arka I was totally impressed with the same build quality as my Clarus but about twice the size and weight, big deal considering it would recharge my USB devices. It weighs around 8.5 ounces which is a little heavy for a backpacker but not bad for say, two or 3 day trips. I could work with this weight since it would be a lantern, flashlight and charger all rolled up in one. Just like my Clarus, the slide mechanism operates very smoothly and has the feel of quality.
The light is extremely bright at 180 lumens and would totally light up any of my backcountry campsites sufficiently for me to navigate around if I needed to. Especially great for those times when it’s just too rainy or wet to get a fire going. And with its’ five lighting modes it’s versatile enough for a lot of different situations.
It has some cool features like the split hang hook that allows you more options than the standard solid hook like that on my Clarus. Due to the split hook I may not need to add additional cordage and a mitten hook to make it more versatile but I may add it anyway. It also has retractable feet that give the lantern quite a bit more surface contact and stability when they are deployed.
Well I really love the concept but as with all things, there is a possible downside. When I got the Arka I tried several times to charge Motorola Droid phone. It would start out charging after I first plugged it in for about 10 seconds but then it would just stop charging. The Arka tried but it appeared the output charge rate of the Arka didn’t meet the minimum input charge rate of my smartphone. I assumed this was just something it wouldn’t do because after the first failure I read several online reviews that stated this was the case. I tried again, however, and it worked just fine with absolutely no issues. The only difference that I noticed between the two situations was the remaining battery life in the phone when I tried to charge. It was less than 50% battery life left when it failed to charge but it was up around 90% battery life when it succeeded in charging. I’m not sure if this was a fluke but I’ll keep experimenting with it to determine if it’s going to be a reliable phone charger or not for me.
Whether it does charge my phone or doesn’t I’m still looking forward to tying out my Arka on a trip sometime in the near future. I will be sure to add pics and record my experience with it here whether good or bad.
Several of UCO LED Lanterns
Cincinnati
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