When you do a lot of camping and outdoor activities like we do, you understand the importance of having good outdoor equipment. One very important piece of camping equipment is going to be your lighting sources – either flashlights or lanterns or both.
We always recommend having a good solar lantern around to ensure you have a reliable light source no matter what situation you find yourself in, and that is why we spent so much time reviewing the AGPTEK Solar Lantern.
This AGPTEK Solar Lantern Review is going to give you the complete run down of all the features and product specs. It is also going to outline the reasons why you should buy or shouldn’t buy this camping lantern. And I’ll be honest with you – this is one of the best solar camping lanterns on the market today!
Hopefully with all that useful information, it will be really easy for you to decide if this is the best solar camping lantern for your situation!
Table of Contents
AGPTEK Solar Lantern Features and Product Specs
Here is all the information you will want (and probably more than you want) about the AGPTEK Solar Lantern! We’ve tested this model out multiple times and there’s a reason it’s a favorite. Many outdoor solar gear experts agree that it’s one of the best options available out there.
Ways to Charge the AGPTEK Solar Lantern
One of the biggest reasons we love this solar lantern is because you have five methods to charge it.
- Option 1: Solar. This is pretty straight forward. There is a solar panel on the top that you leave in the sun to charge. In about 6 – 7 hours of charging time in good sunlight you will have a fully charged solar lantern.
- Option 2: Hand Crank Mode. One of the biggest complaints about solar lanterns is when there isn’t any sunlight or if the backup batteries are dead – what do you do? Well, with a backup hand crank mode, you never have to worry about running out of juice. About 1-minute of cranking time should give you about 20 minutes of lighting time. Don’t ever worry about not having light with this lantern!
- Option 3: Three AA Batteries. This is probably the simplest way to charge the lantern. Have 3-AA batteries ready to go and you will have light. Of course, the reasoning behind having a solar lantern is to reduce the need for batteries – but they are always a nice backup to have. Batteries are not included when you purchase this lantern.
- Option 4: USB Charging. You can charge this lantern thru a USB cord. This is the quickest way to get your lantern charged.
- Option 5: Car Charger Adapter. This is really a nice option for people that are out and about camping. The Car Charger Adapter is included, and you simply need to plug it in to the lantern to get it charging. In case you were wondering, new cars do not come with built-in cigarette lighters like they use to. Cars have a 12VDC outlet that is in the same spot, and you plug things into them just like you use to in the cigarette lighter spot. You can purchase an actual cigarette lighter to go into that spot from places like Amazon, but they aren’t included anymore. Do young people even know there use to be cigarette lighters in cars?
Brightness Level
You have two very simple lighting/brightness modes: bright mode & super bright mode. Personally, I like these brightness mode names – lets you know what you are getting up front. Bright mode is going to run right around 120 lumens in brightness. Super bright mode is going to be around 240 lumens. These brightness levels are going to depend on how charged the lantern is. Bright mode should be good for reading and normal nighttime camping activities. Super bright mode is better for multiple people trying to read, or you trying to really light up a tent.
Run Time
When you fully charge this lantern, it should run for about 12 hours on super bright mode. It will run for about 20 hours on bright mode. Remember, the lantern is going to get a little less bright the less charge you have.
USB Output
It does have a USB output or charging port built in to it. That means you can charge your mobile phones and other devices thru it. It has an output of DC 5V/1A.
Solar Panel Details
It is built with what are called Polysilicon solar panels. Basically, they do a nice job of charging but also lower energy consumption giving you a brighter lantern that stays charged longer.
Size
This lantern is about 25.5 cm tall and 12 cm wide. If you are like me and don’t have any idea how to use the metric system (I’m joking…maybe) that would be about 10-inches tall and almost 5-inches wide.
Materials
This lantern is made from a Black ABS plastic with a matte texture fishing. It has a chrome plastic light housing material and a clear plastic globe. It also has a chrome wire “globe guard.” These are pretty durable lanterns. In fact, AGPTEK says this lantern can run for 100,000 hours. Not that we would need that much light, but that is pretty darn cool and a big reason why we also recommend this as the best solar camping lantern!
Other Features
- This lantern has a red light that indicates a low charge, brighter red lights to indicate that it is being charged, and a green light to indicate when it is fully charged.
- The light color is white.
- The hook height on top is 2.5 inches, and it can be used to hang the lantern.
Quick Review of Reasons to Buy the AGPTEK Solar Lantern
After seeing all the specs and features these solar lanterns have, there are a lot of reasons why you should buy them. Here is a quick review of those reasons.
- Brightness – Very bright for the type of lantern it is.
- Size – This is a great, traditionally sized camping lantern.
- Ways to charge – With five different charging methods you never have to worry about not having light.
- Saves on Batteries – Solar lanterns help save you money by reducing the amount of batteries you buy, but also help the environment buy reducing the batteries you toss into the garbage.
- Durability – The materials and build of these lanterns are very good.
- USB Output – You can charge your devices with this lantern!
- Price – We are talking about a lantern that is normally around $25 to $30 – you can’t beat that price for what you are getting!
Reasons not to buy the AGPTEK Solar Lantern
This is going to be a really small section, but there really isn’t very many reasons why you wouldn’t want to buy this lantern. The biggest reason to pick a different solar lantern would be for transportability and storage reasons. There are some really cool solar lanterns that will collapse down to about the size of a hockey puck (Check out these Kizen Solar Lanterns for Example).
These collapsible solar lanterns are very popular with hikers, backpackers, and basically any one that wants to really save space. They don’t have all the bells & whistles that the AGPTEK Solar Lanterns have, but they are very functional.
That is really the biggest reason why you would select something besides this lantern – you don’t want a traditional style camping lantern – you want something more collapsible.
Final Notes
In case you had never seen it, there is a reason why we listed this lantern as our #1 Recommendation in our list of the Best Solar Camping Lanterns. It provides you with just about all the bells and whistles you could want in a camping lantern at a great price.
If you decide to purchase this option, we predict that you are going to be very happy with your decision!