BougeRV Outdoor Portable Camping Lantern Review: Incredibly Bright and Versatile
Camping lanterns have come a long way since the trusty gas-powered Coleman models of yesteryear. Today’s outdoor light sources are brighter, safer, and more versatile than ever. Take, for example, the new Outdoor Portable Camping Lantern from BougeRV. This unit looks a little odd at first, but once you’ve used it a time or two, you’ll wonder how you ever got along without it.
Photo Credit: Kraig Becker
Powerful and Bright with Long Battery Life
Out of the box, the Camping Lantern doesn’t look much like any other outdoor lamp we’ve ever seen. The rectangularly shaped device measures roughly 3” on a side and is 11.2” in length. This allows it to fit nicely in your hand without feeling overly heavy or bulky. It doesn’t hurt that it is made from rugged materials that feel nice to the touch but are durable enough to withstand a busy outdoor lifestyle. The unit even has an IPX5 water resistance rating, which essentially means it’s well-protected from rain and accidental splashing.
When turned on, the lantern offers nine distinct brightness settings, with the highest producing as much as 6,000 lumens of light. As a frame of reference, most other camping lanterns only average around 300 lumens, so this one is especially bright. It also offers three different illumination modes with different colors and warmth of lights, giving users plenty of options for dialing the exact hue and brightness they need.
The Camp Lantern features four individual LED light panels, each of which can be activated independently. Each panel offers up to 1,500 lumens of output, so achieving the highest brightness level requires turning all of them on. Those panels can also be flipped out from the main body and rotated in a variety of directions, allowing users to direct the light where it is most needed or use it to set the perfect mood at the campsite, in a tent, or in an RV.
A 13,400mAh rechargeable battery provides the juice to keep the lantern running. On its lowest setting, that power cell offers enough electricity to light up the lamp for 75+ hours. At its highest brightness level, it can even run for as much as three hours, which is very impressive considering the amount of light it cranks out. During our testing, we found that we rarely needed more than one or two panels lit up at the same time, which got us close to 70 hours of consistent use. Considering you only need to use it for a few hours each night, a single charge will likely get you through several outings.
Photo Credit: BougeRV
Incredibly Versatile
If you were only to read the above few paragraphs, you’d probably think the BougeRV Camp Lantern sounds like a pretty great device to have on your next camping trip. You’d be right in that assessment, but we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of everything this device has to offer. At its core, it is a durable light source for use in the outdoors, but as you dig a little deeper, you begin to see how it can be used in a variety of ways.
Remember when we said the Camp Lantern was roughly 3” on a side and a little over 11” in length? Well, that only describes it in its collapsed form. The device is designed to transform in multiple ways to make it more useful when you need it. For instance, it has four sturdy legs that expand from the base, giving it more stability on a variety of surfaces. When in this form factor, the lamp actually sits up a little higher, shining its light across a broader area.
Need to illuminate an even larger space? A built-in telescoping arm raises the lantern even higher, transforming it into a powerful area light. Combine this ability with the option to rotate the lamp’s panels and adjust brightness settings as needed, and you begin to see just how versatile and useful this product actually is. BougeRV even included four tent-like stakes to affix the lantern to the ground, keeping it more stable when it is fully extended.
All of these capabilities make the Camp Lantern useful in a variety of situations. In addition to using it around the campsite, it can also come in handy at home during an unexpected power outage. In the garage, it makes a great spotlight for working under the hood of a vehicle, where getting the right lighting can often be tricky. It’s also useful in the backyard when you want to extend your outdoor activities for a while longer, even when the sun is making a beeline for the horizion.
Photo Credit: Kraig Becker
A Flashlight, Portable Charger, and More
The Camp Lantern’s twisting LED light panels and extendable arm and legs make it a unique tool to have at your disposal. But, the lamp has a few more tricks up its sleeve that owners are sure to appreciate. For instance, the device has a light bulb embedded in the top that, when activated, turns it into a powerful flashlight, albeit a somewhat large and bulky one. Still, if you need a spot beam for seeing further into the distance, this device has you covered there, too.
The lantern’s battery recharges relatively quickly using its onboard USB-C port. That same port is bidirectional, meaning it can be used to charge small electronic gadgets like a smartphone, a watch, or Bluetooth earbuds. The lamp also has a standard USB-A port that gives it broader compatibility with older electronics and allows users to recharge two devices at once.
The other feature of note is the Camp Lantern’s price. BougeRV sells the device for just $129.99—although it is on sale for just $99.99 at press time—which is definitely a bargain when you consider all of its functionality. We’ve seen similar devices that cost more and do less, which makes it very easy to recommend adding this lamp to your camping gear. It is bright, versatile, easy to use, and built to take on the outdoors. The fact that it is affordable, too, is just an added benefit.
To find out more about the BougeRV Outdoor Portable Camping Lantern, visit the company’s website. And for a limited time, you can take an additional 18% off site wide by using the discount code AFF18 at checkout.
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