Saturday, July 09, 2011
Black Diamond Apollo Lantern Review
The Black Diamond Apollo is a collapsible lantern with fold away
legs and a double-hook hanging loop. It's small enough to
easily pack, rugged enough to take on any expedition and bright
enough to help you see what you need to see. You can't ask for much
more in a lantern of this size.
As soon as you hold the Apollo you know you have a high quality
product in hand. It's design is a thing of beauty, very simple and
very effective. There are few moving parts on the lantern and only
a single button for its operation. You'll find nothing on the unit
but the bare essentials needed to transport, place and operate it.
And that's a great thing.
When collapsed the Apollo's legs fold up into a protective cage
around the globe preventing it from being damaged during transport
or if dropped. The globe also drops down over the power button to
ensure the unit can't unintentionally turn on. The lantern packs
down to about the size of a pop can so it's fairly easy to find
room to stuff this in with your gear.
Extended, the legs fold down to form a tripod, bringing the
lantern up to it's maximum height. This is ideal for flat
surfaces such as picnic tables or hard cooler tops. For times
when you need to set the lantern down on a smaller surface area you
can fold the legs up and place it on it's base. Also keeping
in mind it's hanging loop, the placement options for this lantern
are plentiful.
The Apollo lantern throws off quite a bit of light for its size.
With a max light radius of 10 meters it does a fairly good
job of lighting up an area when hung from above. For closer
proximity use such as hanging in your tent while you sort through
your gear, it's perfect. The dimming feature is also great if
you're wanting the most millage from your batteries.
The Apollo is great option for individual or small group use but
not the best as a base camp lantern for larger groups. It was
designed to be as small and portable as possible and as such loses
the brightness found in larger lanterns. The dimming switch can
also be tricky to figure out. To dim the unit you need to
push the power button in and hold it, after a couple of seconds the
light will slowly dim until you let it go.
All in all this is a fantastic little lantern. I've taken
mine on portage trips into the interior of Algonquin Provincial
Park and have used it as a reading lamp at the side of my bed. I've
dropped it, crunched it, stuffed it in a pack, got it wet and it's
still working as though it just came out of the box. It's a very
versatile unit that can be relied on any time you need to light the
area you're in.
Overall Rating: 8.5 / 10
Features
- Fold-down legs increase lantern height from 12.7 cm to 24
cm.
- Fold-down double-hook hanging loop.
- Dual reflector system to maximize light output.
- Frosted globe to provide bright non-glaring light.
- Unique dimming switch to adjust brightness.
- Battery meter to indicate charging status or battery
levels.
Tech Specs
- LED Type: DoublePower (3-watt)
- Lumen: 80 (max) - 10 (low)
- Burn Time: 15 hours (max) - 60 hours (low)
- Light Radius: 10 meters (max) - 2 meters (low)
- Weight: 220g (without batteries)
- Batteries: 4 AA, NRG Compatible
- IPX Rating: 4