I spent twenty years in HVAC, so I have a healthy respect for anything that burns fuel in a small space. That instinct is the main reason the propane lantern stayed home on our last few trips, and the Energizer LED Camping Lantern X1000 took its place in the bed of the truck.
We camp out of a 2014 Tacoma with a bed cap, Marla and me. Most months from April through October we are at Clinton Lake or Perry Lake, down at the Lake of the Ozarks, or up in Mark Twain National Forest. The propane lantern came along for years because that is what camping meant when I was a kid. Over the last season, I kept finding reasons to leave it behind. Here are the ten that convinced me.
Leave the propane tank at home this season.
The Energizer LED Camping Lantern X1000 runs on batteries, hangs from a tent loop, and shrugs off rain. See today's price on Amazon and decide for yourself.
Amazon Check Today's Price on Amazon →The ten reasons we left the propane lantern at home
No propane tanks to pack, check, or leak
Propane means a cylinder, a regulator, a hose, and a mantel that turns to ash if you bump it. In the bed of the Tacoma, all of that rides around knocking against the cooler. The Energizer X1000 is just the lantern. It runs on batteries, so there is no fitting to connect, no valve to test, and no canister that turns out to be empty at 9:30 on a Friday night at Perry Lake. I have made that walk to the camp store for a tank before. I do not miss it. The walk back is longer when the sun is down.
No open flame where you sleep
A propane lantern throws real heat, which is fine on a picnic table and not fine in a nylon tent. Marla sleeps cold, so she zips the tent up tight, and that is exactly the wrong setup for burning fuel. The Energizer runs cool. I have hung it from the tent loop and brushed against it reaching for a sweatshirt, and I never once worried about a melted panel or something worse. I check things twice because that is what twenty years of service calls teach you. That peace of mind is worth the switch by itself.
It does not hiss all night
Every propane lantern I have owned talks to you. There is the hiss of the mantel, the pop when you light it, and the way the flame roars when you turn it up. On a windy night at the Lake of the Ozarks, that noise gets old around hour three. The Energizer is silent. When we are sitting up reading in the tent, the only sound is the wind in the trees outside. We read longer on trips now, and I think that is part of it. A small thing until you have lived without it.
Light the second you want it
Propane takes a ritual. You crack the valve, hold a lighter to the mantel, wait for it to glow, then adjust the flame. Do that in the dark with cold hands at Clinton Lake and you will appreciate a switch. One click and the whole tent is lit. The X1000 is on when I want it and off when I do not. If Marla wakes up at 2 AM and needs the tent lit for a minute, she can do it without fumbling for a striker. That matters more at 59 than it did at 25.
One set of batteries covers a long weekend
We took the X1000 to Mark Twain National Forest for four days and never changed the batteries. The propane lantern, by comparison, would have gone through part of a tank, and then I am hauling a half-empty cylinder home. Runtime is the spec I care about most, and it has never let us down. I keep a spare set of batteries in the glove box of the Tacoma, and I have not needed them yet. I still check them before we leave, because that is who I am.
You cannot burn a finger on it
The shade of an old propane lantern gets hot enough to leave a mark. I know because I have done it, reaching past the lantern to grab a plate off the camp table. The Energizer stays cool no matter how long it has been on. Heat is fine on a stove, not on something you hang at head height. That matters in a small tent where you are moving around in the dark, and it matters at a crowded campground where somebody else's kid is always wandering over to see the light.
Rain does not kill it
We got caught in a steady rain at Perry Lake last spring. Everything on the picnic table got damp, and the lantern took a few sprinkles when I carried it into the tent. A propane lantern in the rain is a problem you have to manage. The X1000 is water resistant, so a wet hand or a light shower does not end the evening. Water resistant is not waterproof, and I respect the difference. I still would not leave it sitting in a puddle, but I do not treat it like something fragile either.
It earns its spot in the bed cap
Space in the Tacoma is a constant negotiation. Between the cooler, the camp chairs, the tent, and Marla's bag that is somehow always the biggest one, every item has to justify itself. Every inch of that bed cap is spoken for by now. The Energizer slides into a side pocket of the gear tote. The propane lantern and its cylinder took up a corner of the bed and rolled around on every dirt road. On the Colorado trip last summer, I noticed the freed-up space more than I noticed the lantern was missing.
No carbon monoxide worry when the tent is zipped shut
Twenty years in HVAC taught me exactly how fast a fuel-burning appliance can go wrong in an enclosed space. That knowledge does not turn off when I am camping. With propane, there is always a voice in the back of my head checking the ventilation. With the Energizer, there is nothing burning. I have seen what a bad vent does to a furnace room. I do not want that repeated in a tent. Marla sleeps cold and zips that tent like she is sealing a cooler, and I sleep fine because the lantern is not asking anything of the air in there.
The only consumable is a battery
Propane is a subscription. Every trip, you are either hauling a tank or buying one at the store near the park entrance. The X1000 runs on batteries you already keep around the house, and a set lasts us multiple trips. A lantern should not ask for a monthly trip to the store. Add up the tanks over a season and the lantern looks better every month. It is not why we switched, but it is the reason we have never switched back.
What I'd Skip
Every LED lantern I have tried has limits, and it is fair to know them before you buy. The X1000 is not a heater and it is not a stove. If you camp in weather cold enough that the tent needs warming before you climb in, a propane lantern still has a job and I would keep one for that. I would also skip the no-name lanterns that go through batteries in one evening and put out half the light. The Energizer holds up because the company has been making batteries for a long time, and it shows in how the light actually lasts. Know what a lantern is for and you will be happy with it.
One set of batteries got us through four days at Mark Twain National Forest. The lantern was still going when we packed up.
Ten reasons, one lantern.
If you are still hauling propane to the tent, the Energizer X1000 is the easy switch. Check today's price on Amazon and see if it earns a spot in your bed cap.
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