Mini light, many uses – the Black Diamond Orbit

Granted, I didn’t read very carefully.

The Orbit, in yin and yang colors

I was looking for a replacement for the Coleman D-cell brick lantern, and a backup to my Coleman Powerhouse. In watching Backcountry’s review of it I  as slightly skeptical even though it got a coveted bootprint award. But I read more reviews at REI and Backcountry that were, err, glowing so in doing some shopping around I settled on the white one (for ease of finding in the dark!) via Amazon for $25.28 on May 4th.

I was happy to receive my box two days later thanks to that handy Amazon Prime membership. All the excitement took a hit when I opened the box though – I was stunned by how tiny it was. Somehow I’d missed any of the mentions on the diminutive size of this little lantern (obviously my fault) and I was honestly a little disappointed when we headed out to camp.

I was wrong and right about it. The Orbit is not going to replace any of your major lanterns (duh, check out the size, right?), but it is fantastic in convenience and usability. The metal clips on top make it easy to find a place to hang it —whether in the tent or over the stove. It’s strong enough to snatch up and use to find the trail to the bathroom, and it’s a solid little light source when you don’t want to haul around 5lbs of portable daylight. What I’m saying is now that I’ve taken it camping, I’m sold. It’s a great little light. Sarah loves it as much as I do because it’s simple to use and lightweight, easy to hang.

Pros: Bright light in a tiny size. Very easy to use and to find a place to hang it. Great for a tent reading light and would be great on the backpacking trail for reading in your lap.

Cons: Too small to replace any big lantern, and for $26 the irrational cheapskate in me whimpers a little about that. The light is indirect, so you’d want a flashlight to focus on anything sneaking up on you in the woods or for looking around in the camping box for those missing matches.

Conclusion: Everything considered, it’s a winner. Small and very useful. Tiny enough to make it a great addition to any outdoor trip for a variety of uses. A definite Campworthy mini-lantern.

Tags: camping gear, lantern, Voice: Kevin

This entry was posted on Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 9:48 pm and is filed under Gear. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.