Energizer®’s new portable (from
left) LED Folding Lantern, 3 in 1 Light, and Pop Up Lantern are bright
enough to light up just about any space, indoors or out.
All images:
Lisa Kaplan Gordon for HouseLogic
I’m an emergency preparedness geek, and proud of it.
After the last tropical storm knocked out power, I bought a portable generator to keep my freezer running and Costco burgers from thawing. And, 13 years after the Y2K scare threatened to shut down everyone’s computer, I’m still working through boxes of canned goods I stockpiled for the end of the world.
My husband thinks I’m nuts. But you can never be too prepared.
So I was psyched when Energizer® gave me a chance to try out its new line of portable, foldable, and standable LED lanterns.
These have changed my mind about LED lights, which last forever, but usually burn a cold blue and don’t shed enough light — at least for me. Energizer®’s powerful and portable “light fusion technology” seems to have solved that problem.
These lanterns are perfect for emergencies. They last up to 100 hours on four to eight AA batteries, which I always stockpile in my emergency bag of tricks. Plus, they give off enough light to brighten a room, and they have a dimmer function to save juice and let me read in bed without waking my husband, who hits the hay before me.
So, my inner geek and I had fun seeing how many ways I could use the three lanterns in and outside my house.
A Security Light That Keeps My Precious Pups Safe
The Energizer® LED Folding Lantern with Light Fusion Technology (about $34) looks like a fashion-forward purse when it’s folded flat. But it’s got a built-in stand and opens like a clamshell so I can direct the light on my two little lap dogs – Rosie and Betty – when I let them out for their last potty break before bedtime. We’ve got fox and raccoons in the neighborhood, so I like shining a light on them to keep critters away.
It’s fun opening and closing this lantern, too — now it’s short; now it’s tall — to see which height gives the most light.
I don’t know if it’s a good thing or bad thing, but the folding lantern emboldened me to see and clean out the creepy, crawly things mucking around in the crawl space under my kitchen. It’ll also come in handy when we finally get around to adding insulation in the crawl space.
Finally, I Can See What’s in My Closets
When we built our house, we tried to save money by skipping lights in our closets. (If you had to choose between granite countertops and closet lights, which would you pick?) Turned out to be a colossal mistake. Every day I curse the darkness in my closets.
I put the Energizer® LED Pop Up Lantern with Light Fusion Technology (about $23) in the linen closet, and now I can find my hand towels:
I’m a big gardener, so this might be my favorite use for it: letting me find stuff in and tidy up my shed after working on my landscaping:
I even hang it — it’s got an orange strap — over the fence post, so I can see what I’m doing when I add scraps to my compost pile after dinner.
And it’s dimmable, so I used it in my patio as mood lighting during a barbecue. It’s certainly safer than candles when kids are running around:
The pop-up lantern is fist-sized when collapsed, so I can stow it anywhere — a drawer, the glove compartment.
A Light that Stands on Its Own Two Legs
The third light, the Energizer® LED 3 in 1 Light with Light Fusion Technology (about $28), is bright enough for the attic — another cleaning job I dread — but compact enough to use in tight spaces. Thanks to the legs and side panel light, which provides area lighting, I can investigate a drip under our sink hands-free:
With these three lanterns, I can light up my house for days for the cost of a few AAs. That’s a big relief during hurricane season. Yes, I have a portable generator, but the thing drinks gas and keeps the neighbors awake at night. I also don’t like to waste gas to light rooms. These three lanterns are great for that and aren’t as risky as candle power.
That’s why I’m adding them to my emergency kit and crossing my fingers that my teenage son doesn’t swipe them for his next campout.
www.jaredanthonycox.com
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