Several years ago, I was constantly hauling heavy lanterns into the woods. I had to carry mantels and fuel and tried to not break the glass while traveling, that is until I saw something in the camping section of my not so favorite Superstore. Lo and behold, I looked up and saw this amazing little device. The Luci solar powered lantern. I did what any self-respecting Outdoorsman would do right there in the middle of the store… I started reading reviews! after reading several reviews and looking at all the specifications I picked up two of them for around $15 each. I went home I started using them immediately.
Now the Luci light needs to sit in the Sun for several hours in order to charge it’s batteries. Once the batteries are fully charged, they can practically give you light (at night) on low for nearly 20 hours. According to all the documentation that came with the light. This happened to be the most amazing thing that I have ever seen. I was so excited! You mean to tell me I don’t have to carry propane bottles in the woods any longer? yes! this is exactly what I have been looking for.
A short time after I purchased the Luci Lights, my brother and I geared up and hit the woods to test them out. We did a 4 day survival trip. Unlike the last trip, this time we were in better shape and had new backpacks to carry the gear. We wanted to do a trip like the TV show “Alone” where we could only bring 10 items each… but we didn’t. This time, we did reduce the amount of gear we took and you really don’t need a lot of “stuff” for a 4 day trip. One of my favorite quotes comes from Mors Kochanski, “The less you know, The more you have to bring with you”. This quote has made me think about every single thing I pack in my bag before I head out to the woods.
Once it got dark, we fired the lights up. On low they last nearly 20 hours on high they last nearly 9 hours with my experience. A couple of these lights in the camp on low combined with the camp fire is plenty bright enough to do whatever you need to do without a flashlight. We were amazed at how they worked and how lightweight and compact they were. To be honest, these lights changed our camping life forever!
I put a full video together about these lights on my YouTube channel that you can view below.
In this video, I used 4 Luci lights and a campfire to light up the camp… that is it! No additional lighting was used to film this video. Now in the video editing process, I did desaturate the video a little for effect but the lighting was rather good.
After the first day, we found a good spot that gets plenty of sunshine to lay the lanterns out to recharge. They reached full charge in 7-8 hours and we had plenty of light for the entire trip. We also loved the fact that we didn’t have to haul empty bottles of propane out of the woods with us and we were able to leave our campsite like it was before we got there. I can’t say enough about how these inflatable camp lights have made a huge impact on our camping experience.
Now, these lights are not just for camping and backpacking. To be perfectly honest with you, my wife loves them as well. Living in South Mississippi the electricity goes out every time the wind blows and we also have to deal with hurricanes and tornado bearing thunderstorms. When the power goes out I hear her yelling “where is Luci?” putting one in each room we are able to light up the entire house. So, these things are great to have in your emergency bag and storm prep bags as well as bugout bags and survival kits.
If you are ever looking for a great inexpensive gift idea… look no further than Luci. No, I am not a paid advertiser for Luci lights but these lights are the best gift idea for $15-$20 dollars they are extremely worth their weight in gold for practically any purpose you need light for. I have even seen where people have used them in their swimming pools at night and it looks pretty cool!
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