Lepro Camping Lantern 280 lm

The Lepro camping lantern belongs to that category of simple objects you underestimate until you need one. Unlike a torch or a head lamp that throws a beam in a single direction, it spreads its 280 lumens over 360 degrees. The result is even, ambient light with no harsh cast shadows, well suited to the inside of a tent, a camping table or a hallway during a power cut.

Its distinctive feature, and the reason it sits in this category, is the 3000 mAh battery: it does not just feed the LED, it also behaves like a small power bank. A USB port lets you plug in a phone and give it roughly half a charge. Output is capped at 5 W, so charging is slow, but on a campsite or during an outage, waking a smartphone up to make a call makes a real difference.

The three lighting modes are clearly separated and translate into very different runtimes: 280 lumens for around 5 hours at full power, 140 lumens for around 11 hours on the medium setting, and a flashing signal mode that lasts about ten hours. The medium mode does most of the work, and it comfortably covers two or three evenings without a recharge.

The mounting system deserves a closer look. Two magnets sit in the base: they let you clamp the lantern onto any metal surface, a car bonnet, a door, a shed frame or a steel table leg, and free up both hands. Two folding metal loops complete the setup so you can hang it, notably upside down from the highest point of a tent, the most effective position since the light falls from the ceiling. The IPX4 rating protects it from splashing water, so it copes with a shower under an awning or a damp night in the mountains, though it is not designed to be submerged.

At 7 centimetres across and 176 grams, it slips into a side pocket of a rucksack. It is a piece of camping, family holiday and household emergency kit, provided you accept its limits: for extended reading or precise task lighting a head lamp remains complementary, and to seriously recharge several devices you need a proper power bank.