Too Loud!
I bought the torches to use in a play. They look really neat and would be great if they were not so LOUD! The fan makes so much noise that I am not sure we will be able to use them. I am going to try b/c the effect would be awesome.

Great as a theater effect more than a toy
We purchased four of these torchs as a theatre effect. The look pretty good and a very good value for what we are using it for. As for the toy itself, it is so-so. The power switch only turns off the light and not the fan. To turn off the fan, you need to unscrew the unit so the battery does not make contact. Again, thats OK for theatre but not as a toy.

GREAT!!!
This is the second lantern we have purchased, this one was a gift. Great for when the power goes out, even has a night light No one realizes how DARK it can get until a power loss, and this is like having an oasis of light. No worries about having a tons of batteries on hand, you just plug it in to recharge for the next time.

Don't Buy!
This is the second lantern that has failed. The first would not hold a charge. The second one died after 20 minutes. If you are thinking about buying this one, do a search on Amazon and see the other "Retro" listing (same product) with negative reviews. Very very disappointed.

Coleman rechargeable family size lantern
Bought this lantern for power failures. Have only had it a month but very satisfied with it. Gives out a good amount of light even to read a newspaper. It's a heavy lantern but that's not a problem. Think it's perfect for what I bought it for.

THE COLMAN LANTERN
THE COLEMAN LANTERN IS AWESOME,IT Coleman Retro Rechargeable Battery Powered Lantern (Family Size)LASTED ALL NIGHT CAT FISHING AND PUTS OUT AS MUCH LIGHT AS A GAS FUELED LANTERN. IT ALSO CHARGES UP FAST.(2-3 HOURS)THE PRODUCT WAS ALSO DELIVERED IN RECORD TIME! I ORDERED IT,AND IT SEEMED LIKE A DAY LATER,DING DONG, THE DOOR BELL RANG,AND IT WAS HERE! VERY SATISFIED! THX AMAZON.COM ROB

Excellent Function and Form
I was really going for a no thrills lantern to take me through the power outage after Hurricane Ike hit Houston and I completely lost faith in getting my power back. All I could do was read... candles are awful for the eyes; reading lights can get cumbersome as you constantly have to adjust their aim. So I figured it's time to get a lantern.

It didn't take too long to get hooked on the "retro" appeal of this lantern. The light emitted is bright enough for anyone in the room to enjoy reading in the darkness of a power outage - or in a tent for that matter. Although there are two output settings, Hi and Low, they are close enough to the point that you won't really need to set it on Hi. It lasts for hours as advertised and the night light is a neat little feature.

My only issue with this model is that the charging takes several hours and there is no "battery meter" to know how much you have left. I would basically use it at home for a couple of nights in a row, then charge it in the office on the third day - so I know an 8 hour charge will definitely last at least 8 hours.

Now that the power is back, I kept the lantern on display in my living room as it certainly looks appealing.

By the way, if you do buy it, and I recommend you do, the 12volt charger is tucked in the battery compartment (from the bottom). So don't freak out when you open the box and can't find it.

Not as bright as I had hoped
Lantern is light and compact, the bulb is not as bright as I would have hoped. Only illuminates a small area.

Good Emergency Light
Recently we had a power cut that lasted over 24 hours. We used an oil lamp and candles.Using battery lamps seemed like a better idea. These lamps fold down for storage into its own neat package.Just a pull up snaps them into position ready to switch on.The light is not as bright as I had hoped but I bought 2 of them and they seem to give enough light for a 18ft x18ft room in an emergency. Great price too

OK, but . . .
The lamp function works fine. The "pack-away" part, however, is a problem. You can pull it up, but there is no good way to make it stay there. It seems to be held my friction only, so the upper portion wants to start sliding down, but not all the way down. To make it go all the way down you have to push really hard and worry that you're doing damage to the bulbs. Wouldn't buy it again. Bought it for emergency back up light. I think I can prop it up and make it useable.

Good lantern
There are obviously many choices of product in this category.

I choose this one as it's smaller in size and in using it, it does produce a good amount of light given it's size. Nothing fancy with this model, no extra features like night light, etc - but I don't need that fancy stuff, I just want it to light up my night. It does what it is supposed to do and battery life is just fine.

Solidly built and can take a decent amount of abuse.

It is designed where the top of the unit will slide down into the bottom half of the unit, thus covering the light. Nice feature as when you "close" it, it compacts down to a nice small size for traveling, etc.