I’ve mentioned before about the importance of camping lighting, and about some of the different types of camping lights that are available. This post will examine the specific types of camping lights and how they can relate to particular camping situations and activities, remembering that all camping lights offer different shapes, sizes, weight, construction, fuel, brightness levels, and so on.
Camping Lights and examples of their related uses:
Camping Lamps or camping lanterns – A larger, more substantial style of lighting, usually free-standing and offering a significant amount of light. They can be battery operated, gas or liquid fueled, or even solar powered. They can use incandescent globes, halogen or LED’s, or fluorescent. Great for lighting larger communal areas such as meals and cooking areas, inside tents (battery operated only for safety), outside preparation areas, etc. Being relatively heavy they are best suited for semi-permanent set up, rather than longer portable uses such as hiking or backpacking. Can also be relatively cheap to operate for longer periods.
Flashlights and torches – modern LED technology allows for a good and bright lighting source, which is lightweight and long-lasting. A tighter lighting beam makes it a good option when a concentrated beam is required such as night walking or for other portable night use. Being lightweight make torches and flashlights perfect for hiking and backpacking adventuring. Being smaller also makes these types of camping lights easy to pack and transport.
Headlamps – most headlamps will use LED technology making them bright and long-lasting. These lights are perfect for those campers who engage in activities where both hands free are required, or even just for those who don’t like constantly holding lights. Adventuring in low-light, difficult environment such as caving would require these types of camping lights. An LED head lamp can also be used for reading, night walking, cooking, preparing camp, working on vehicles, for emergency uses etc.
Spotlights – very powerful and bright camping lights, that produce a highly focused and concentrated beam of light. Sometimes battery powered but more often than not (because of the higher light output) require the more powerful 12 volt power source. Many spotlights can be recharged using a 12 volt system to give a limited time of high powered lighting. Camping spotlights are particularly useful for activities such as finding and viewing nocturnal animals. Many hunters will also require these types of camping lights.
Floodlights – These camping lights throw light out that covers a larger, more general area. Usually operated by a 12 volt system or a petrol driven generator, they are perfect for lighting large communal camping areas such as meals areas, or even to light up an entire campsites if required. many campers will use floodlights to set up and light larger campsite. They can burn very hot and therefore need to be properly anchored, particularly in windy conditions.
Solar Powered Lights – A great source of renewable lighting. Solar spot lights can be especially useful for emergency lighting or for a back-up lighting source. Also solar path lights can be a useful addition to a campsite by offering renewable, low-level lighting to certain areas of a camp such as the path to the toilet area. Placed strategically they can also make navigating a campsite at night easier.
These are some examples of general camping lights, but of course there are many more types and varieties within each of these lighting categories. As always the types of camping lights that you require will relate to your individual needs and uses. Most prepared campers will utilize a selection of different camping lights to allow for different camping situations.
