What are lumens and how many do I need to light up a portable?

[Christopher Quast]

Trying to figure out how many lumen lantern I should buy to light up my Clam Yukon.

[JeffB]

A lumen is just a unit used to measure light output. A common 75 watt light bulb puts out about 1200 lumen. Depending on how well the light is directed towards what you are looking at this amount could work.

[Christopher Quast]

Jeff the lantern I am looking at puts out 175 lumens with 24 LEDS does this seem like enough light power?

[JeffB]

That doesn't seem like very much to me I would go with at least 500 lumens. This is equiv a 40 watt incandescent bulb.

[Christopher Quast]

Thats what I thought, but I havent seen any lanterns over this yet, so one would think they would be sufficient wouldnt you?

[JeffB]

I bought a coleman retro rechargeable. This has a 11 watt fluorescent spiral tube bulb. I could be wrong but I think this puts out about 500 lumens. Anyway I like it and works good for portable and many other uses. I just bring it home and plug it in next to my vexilar when I'm done.

[SM1]

If you are not dead set on a lantern:

I used clear packing tape to put up a 4 ft 12v white LED rope light in my voyager fish trap. I figured zip ties would wear on the tarp. IMO this is the best way to go for lighting. I just use an extra vex battery.

When I take the house down it stays right in and ready for next time--so easy and convenient. I just tuck the wires in the mesh bag that’s sewn on the side of the house. No hanging a lantern to bump my head on.

I actually added a second rope light I got for xmas. I put it across the support bar over the door(the other one is on the center support bar). The one light was enough, but the second is nice for tying knots and such.

[bloc004]

I also have the LED rope and love it. Like you said it stays out of the way and is bright!

[Iceboy]

Two 48cm best king kong LED strips would be perfect for you!

[Whoaru99]

I use one of those cheap Eveready 4 D-cell flourescent lights in my Otter Lodge. It's plenty of light for me, but then again, I have the ceiling and back wall lined with Reflectix insulation.