The Accessorise Your Life (AYL) StarLight 330 LED camping lantern is one of those devices that’s good for far more than the primary purpose it’s being marketed for. It’s powerful, portable, and long lasting, which makes it useful for just about any situation where a bright light might be needed. In my case, I’m no camper, but this is perfect for our family’s outdoor gazebo. It should also further prove its value when the power goes out, particularly given the technical specifications (for the record, fortunately, we didn’t lose power before I posted this review).

According to www.thecampingfire.co.uk – LED bulbs with an output of 300 lumens (that’s bright for such a small form factor!) and a rating of over 100,000 hours of use (that’s over 4,1666 days of use if you used it 24 hours a day for each of those days) are the centerpiece of the AYL StarLight 330 LED camping lantern. It’s also shockproof and water resistant (although it has a watertight body with plastic molding and rubber, it’s not water proof; think heavy rain, not submersion). There’s a convex reflector cap that provides 360° lighting, but is removable if you want more focused lighting. Three light modes: low, high, and flashing strobe, round out its primary feature set. As a nice bonus, when the lantern is off, a small green LED occasionally flashes so you can more easily locate it in the dark.

As you might expect from a lantern, there’s a hook on the bottom for hanging, which actually works great for suspending from the top (or other areas) of our aforementioned gazebo. Again, there are many scenarios where this type of lantern might find a use.

The lantern’s one catch might be its need for relatively uncommon three D batteries (not included, you can buy them here, though). The benefit of that battery type paired with the lantern’s technical features is that you’ll get about six straight days of power, which works out to well over 140 hours of use before you’ll need to swap them out for a fresh set. That seems to me a fair trade off, particularly since that battery type helps give the lantern more heft, which translates to more stability than you’d otherwise have in such a lightweight design.

Thanks to AYL for the review unit.