You’ll often hear people say “I almost died” in reference to a myriad of things. However, when I say I almost died camping in Bighorn National Forest a month ago, I really mean it. I spent a night in sub-zero degree temperature without a tent, and survived. Here’s how the MPOWERD Luci Outdoor 2.0 Pro helped me through: I was trapped in 2 and a half feet of snow, 6000 feet above sea level, in 15 degree weather that was rapidly falling to a low of -5, trying to get back up a large mountain. Exhausted and completely drained of life energy, I was forced to take shelter off the trail. In pitch black darkness, I was able to affix the solar lantern to a tree that was able to alert Search & Rescue to where I was. The first thing that comes to my mind in terms of the value of this lantern is its brightness. At 150 lumens, it’s very bright. As a matter of fact it was so bright that it honestly looked like a streetlight on the mountain trail I was camping off of. The light, being LED, is white mostly and actually here the 4th light setting (the strobe setting) was very helpful. Secondly, the capacity of the lantern is impressive. 5 days into my trip I had been using it every night for at least 2-3 hours a night. Since leaving my house, all I did was put it on the cars dashboard a few times and it was good staying on for 4 hours until I was found by Search & Rescue at 2 in the morning. This being the case, the battery capacity is pretty close to what is advertised. Lastly, I really liked how lightweight and compact this lantern is. A lot of other options out there, that aren’t even solar, are really too bulky and/or too heavy. This lantern fit perfect on the top of my hiking backpack and it was so quick to inflate that it definitely gave me a sense of ease when it got dark out and I needed light. The main thing I didn’t like about this lantern was the material. The plastic used in its construction is soft, and not meant to last. For example, the top handle on my lantern ripped off within a week even though I was pretty careful with it even in an extreme survival situation. In addition, it developed a rip a some point along my trip, which prevents it from inflating all the way now. Not only this, but after leaving it on the dashboard to charge the lanterns plastic outer coating would start to melt. The only other thing I can think of is how the charging is slower than I was hoping for. After leaving it out for hours on the car dashboard, it would gain 2 out of 4 of the cubes. The point is here, don’t expect to leave this thing all night and be able to charge it up for extended use the next day. Overall, I’d say that the MPOWERD Luci Outdoor Pro 2.0 was worth the purchase and I recommend anyone considering it to try it out. In a real emergency situation it helped the relevant authorities find me, sticking through days of use and going through the night in sub-zero degree temperatures. For the low price point, I believe it’s genuinely worth adding to your camping gear.
