There are two types of that can help you in the ways described above:

• Solar Powered
• Cranking

The solar powered camping lantern means that you have rechargeable batteries as your power storage. During the day the sun will shine (hopefully) on the solar panel/s on the top lantern. The sun’s power will convert into electricity and charge up the rechargeable batteries. No need to spend money on the electricity it takes to charge them.

Then, at night you turn on your lantern and use up the energy in the batteries, maybe until they are flat. The same process happens again the next day and the next, etc.

The great thing about rechargeables used in these lanterns is that you do not have to buy new batteries all the time. Well, I sometimes do because I seem to loose them around the house. My point is that when you spend less you worry less about your finances and this is important for these times. Also, you don’t need to try and remember all the things to take along with the different types out there like extra batteries, gas, fuel or anything else.

A cranking camping lantern is very similar to a solar one except for the way that electricity is generated. The economical reasons and worry free reasons as described above are pretty much the same.

Hand and/or arm power is required to generate the electricity. The really good thing about this is that the sun does not need to shine for the batteries to be recharged. When the output of the light is getting a bit dim then what do you do? You start cranking is all. The electronics inside will ensure that they will be charged up again.

Therefore, the solar powered and cranking ones are very economical and worry free, with the cranking being more worry free than thesolar powered. If you have tried both, you will know what I mean.  Getting a bit of exercise as well is also a plus and the sun not shining all the time also has a solution here too.

For me the traditional lantern for camping is the gas one. The reason for this is that when I used to go camping we had a three legged gas barbecue that we used for almost everything. This barbecue came with a camping lantern and a long pole to put the end of it on. After dinner, when it got dark and we were no longer using the barbecue, we would connect the gas pipe to the bottom of the gas lantern and it would really light up the place, both because of the height and the fact that it was gas.

This lantern always gave out a really bright light even when we were not camping and it was great to see all the other campers doing the same or similar things and that we were in the same boat. This meant that we did not have to go to sleep just because it was dark and we could continue to do a range of activities such as reading or playing cards. Unfortunately, the places we went camping did not mean we could have a camp fire.

For others I can understand that the battery lantern is the traditional one for camping and this is probably most true for younger people. These are the easiest to operate and the easiest to manufacture and so there are many to choose from when wanting to make a purchase. If using these around the house, the trouble of recharging the batteries is not so much of an issue. You can just plug in and recharge. That way you will have bright light all the time.

I would consider the solar powered one non-traditional. New technology means that it is not traditional. However, a new generation may think the solar camping lantern is so and this may be true in the future.

As you can see, traditional means different things for different people. It also shows that the commonly forgotten item is a big part of very fond memories. You can be sure that the simple purchase of a lantern as well as camping can make your life interesting and make many memories for you too.