The Northstar was the brightest of all the lanterns that we tested. It puts out 1500 lumens on the highest setting and consumes a lot coleman lantern of fuel in the process. One 16 oz canister of propane lasts about four to five hours on high and about eight hours on medium to low.
An old or dirty lantern can quickly turn into a raging inferno if you don’t know what you are doing and/or are not careful. The Coleman Collectors Forum was originally the Old Town Coleman Bulletin Board Service in the early part of this century. In December of 2008, it became the forum as you see it today. It is a forum rich in knowledge of Coleman and other Gas Pressured Appliances. This “richness of knowledge” comes from those that come here and share what they know.
The center globe cage base disk is stamped Sunshine Safety Lamp Co., Kansas City, MO. Ian Keates, who bought this lantern in Switzerland for his collection, does not believe that it had been disassembled before. Coleman models 228E (left) and 220E (right) had steel founts. The one on the left, in Dean DeGroff’s collection, is date stamped July 1951, the earliest date we have seen for this model. It lacks the Coleman decal under the filler cap which Coleman started using a couple of months later, as on the right which is date stamped October, 1951.
Other than that, I found that the LED lantern puts out enough light to accomplish most tasks. If you want to know more about the refill kit, you can see my demonstration coleman sleeping bag of it here. For this test, I used a Canon D6 DSLR camera mounted on a tripod. I used manual settings to keep the exposure the same for all three lanterns.
Model 202, the Professional (left), is dated Jan., ’55. This model was produced for 10 years beginning in 1954 For the first couple of years the burner cap was ceramic. The lantern on the left is in Jim Fulmer’s collection.
This lantern comes with a sturdy protective case with handle. Compared to these classic lanterns, your modern LED lantern is a toy–and toys are for kids. So it’s time to get a real lantern–and become the master of your campsite–and a master of the night. Note to readers with old coleman canopy lanterns hanging around in their basements—Wilmot says the glass globes alone can go for $75 on eBay, if they’re rare varieties. The correct, original globes add the special touch to old lanterns, and Wilmot has been known to buy a rummage sale lantern just to source the globe.
The propane lantern is so hot, that all the bugs that flew into it, instantly died. Of course you still have to buy the lanterns, so lets take a look at the cost of buying a new lantern. Prices will vary from store to store, but they are all going to be in the same ballpark. The specs say this LED lantern will run for 85 hours on hi. That brings the operating cost to $0.14 per hour. If you run these lanterns on low, it costs much less per hour to operate.
It is a portable propane lantern with an InstaStart that works well. Its long handle does not get too hot to the touch, even on the highest setting, and the large fuel adjuster knob enables you to control how brightly it shines. The hard plastic carrying case has two sides that fold down so that the lantern can be easily packed for travel. Coleman made the Model 200A for 32 years beginning in 1951. The lantern in the center has a replacement globe and fuel cap. The lanterns on the left and right are in Shirley Willard’s collection.
At some point after that the Civil Defense waterslide decal was added to this unfired lantern. This lantern and another one with the 1952 date and a CD decal came from a seller in Michigan. There was no other Civil Defense material with the lanterns or the mil-spec boxes they came in. One nice feature to note is that the Coleman is one of the only rechargeable lanterns that came with its own plug in block.