UCO Micro Candle Lantern

Lets face it, with how far LED technology has come today there is less and less of a need for candle lanterns. The "flashlight" app on my cellphone that utilizes the LED flash is much brighter than this, and wont spill wax everywhere...BUTI still have a love deep down in my heart for some reason for light the "old fashioned way." I still have propane, kerosene and candle lanterns around for the home and camping. So, before I get into a rant...detailsBenefits :-Small, has the "pop-up" style that others will be familiar with.-Extra storage integrated for another tealight! I was very excited when I noticed this.-Useful light for reading, by reading I mean something you need to read during a lack of light such as power outage, or camping. Or if reading in dim lighting is your thing.-Heat, not much but anything that gives off heat is generally appreciated by a camper at one time or another.UsesI would place this items best use as a "end of the night tent light" . I would see this being good to light and hang in your tent at the end of the day so you have a little bit of light to see. It wont be lit when you wake up, with a burn time of 4-6 hours but will be good enough to see should you need to find anything while trying to fall asleep.Also, while the heat is minimal it should do a fair job in stopping condensation at the top of a small tent when hung.Drawbacks-Wax spillage, really moot point I think. Anytime there is a candle burning there is liquid wax abound, just waiting for you to tip it over and ruin the carpet, or your pants, hand or whatever else is sacred to you.

I live in New Jersey and just went through a week+ without electricity due to hurricane Sandy. Funny enough, a month or so before the hurricane, I was working on purchasing emergency supplies for the home. I had bookmarked this lantern but never pulled the trigger. After going through a bucket load of batteries and burning candles out in the open, I went ahead and bought 2 of these lanterns as soon as the electricity came back on. These will do great as an emergency light source that I feel safe leaving on when I go to bed.My main negative and the reason for 4 instead of 5 stars is that it feels like I could accidentally break the glass when opening it. In fairness, I'm kind of a muscle head and am tough on everything I own, but it does feel a little flimsy when I'm opening it. Once open though, I have no worries.PROs: Compact, safe, takes easily purchased tea light candlesCONs: Feels a little flimsy. Sticks a little when opening.Overall, it's a great product that I hope I never have to use!!! :)

While certainly not the cheapest candle lantern around this little unit is wonderful. I use the lantern both suspended from a tab in my tent and setting it on tables or floors when in huts. The light it gives off is much more "human" than an LED. This is particularly nice when weather turns foul. When you are in the middle of nowhere alone, the wind is howling mad and rain or snow is coming at you sideways it sure is nice to have reassuring, comfortable lighting. In these type of circumstances, LED's just feel "Blair Witch Project" to me. Candle light feels like a reassuring hug and does a surprising job of raising the temperature and reducing condensation in the tent (back to that reassuring hug). Oh, while not part of the review of this unit, the Richland candles available here on Amazon are fabulous. Cheap, consistent, safe and burn for about 5 hours. Gotta' have 'em.I read a number of the reviews on this product and have to say that my experience differs from a number of the negative reviews.1. The upper portion of the lantern does lock into place. Each of the 3 prongs lock firmly and noticeably into place. Once you pull up the top portion to the top just give it a little extra tug and you will both feel and hear them snap into place. Typically, I give it a little extra pull at each prong. Snap - Snap - snap. It absolutely will not somehow simply fall down if not suspended.2. Both the pull up glass portion and the inside candle holder that consists of 3 prongs are level. At least mine are. Also, my unit arrived with the glass in tact.3. The unit is clearly level both when sitting on a surface or hanging from the chain. By "clearly" I mean both visually and in practical use. No leaking/dripping candle wax due to an unlevel candle support system or unlevel lantern. I'll say this though - with the candle lit, if you stare at it you will swear sometimes the candle is off kilter. It's actually mesmerizing. You sit there and stare at it waiting for wax to drip out of the tin holder. It just doesn't happen - because it is level. But hey, cheap entertainment.

What a great design!I've used the larger candle lanterns for years. My oldest is probably close to 35 years old now. When I went looking to add more to the house so that we can spread them around in a power outage, these popped up. With 2 candles in each and the candles burning for a good 4 hours when you use beeswax candles, they provide a perfect evening of light. The second candle is stored as a spare in the base, so there is always a back-up handy. No more half used candles and no more scraping out wax from the spring loaded feeding system of the larger designs. You do have to be careful as the candle can shift if you treat the lantern roughly and the pool of liquid wax is larger, so the potential for a mess is greater. But when you just want a little lantern to sit and do its thing with a protected flame, this is perfect. And storing them away is simple in the new collapsible design.Will be buying these as gifts next Christmas.