Why You Need a Classic Coleman Lantern at the Campground

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material, both writing and images, without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. The lightweight Coleman® Kids 44 Lumens Adventure Mini LED Lantern works well when camping with kids or as a portable bedside light. It has one of the longest runtimes you’ll find in a light of its size—up to 16 hours on 4 AA batteries (sold separately). Plus, the lifetime LEDs run cool and never need to be replaced.

Join Good Sam today and get exclusive perks including fuel discounts, access to dump stations, camping discounts, and more. The propane lantern is so hot, that all the bugs that flew into it, instantly died. I’ve had it over 40 years, and it’s still going strong.

The brackets in the middle portion of the ventilator center the mica globe (image above). The detents in the bail tabs (image below) hold the bail upright. Model 227 preceding (right image) has flat spaces in the ventilator where these brackets and bail tabs were not used.

It can get messy trying to refill it with gas, but other than that, I don’t mind using this one. It has a nostalgic feel to it, and brings me back to the days when I’d go ice fishing late at night with my Dad. Of course you still have to buy the lanterns, so coleman lantern 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.

Details of the early construction of these models is shown below. Coleman made hundreds of Arc lantern Model H 416 from 1922 – 1925 (Strong – Shipping Records). This coleman canopy lantern was restored by Steve Retherford for Mike Coon, whose collection this is in. Coleman made the “D” version of Model 228 from the mid 1940’s until 1951.

The LAMPAK Company, North Hollywood, California, made these galvanized steel cases circa the early 1950s. This case, in Bill Whitten’s collection, is 6 1/8″ square x 13 1/8″ tall without the gas can and holds a Coleman 200A. The funnel and spout fit in the upper corners of the case. This 220D (dated B 50) is mounted in a Clamp-A-Hood marketed by the Ernie Brow Sales Co., Anderson, Indiana.

The decal on this lantern (lower image) identifies it as T 53-5, which may be the date of manufacture. The lantern is in Richard & Lorna Long’s collection. We lit campfires, cooked, played board games, had parties, and even chopped wood on moonless nights coleman canopy with this lantern. During one of our parties, we put the Northstar near Grandma when she was chilly. This lantern does make a bit of a hissing sound when it is lit, and when the fuel is about to run out it makes a rather loud whistling noise.