Gear Review: Snow Peak Mini Hozuki Lantern
Improve every camp night with this little big light.
“This is the Mighty Mouse of camping lanterns,” says one tester. The Mini Hozuki constantly surprised our staff with its ability to fully illuminate everything from four-person tents to backcountry kitchens, despite its diminutive size. “I strung this up from the rafters in the Stone Hut on Vermont’s Mt. Mansfield, and we had enough light to easily cover a 50-square-foot table full of fondue and fixings,” says one tester. Credit the silicone rubber shade, which disperses 60 lumens of warm light from two LED bulbs.
Thanks to a dimmer switch, you can adjust the brightness down to a pleasant romantic glow, which is great for the obvious reasons, but is also convenient when there are multiple people in a tent and some would like to sleep. The single beam also provides sufficient light for midnight trips to the loo. Three AAA batteries provide enough burn time for a week of camping—about 40 hours on high. “The lantern was impervious to rough packing and made the long nights much cozier on our three-day ski through the Three Sisters backcountry,” says one Oregon tester. Smart: The magnetic loop attachment makes it easy to hang the lantern almost anywhere. $40; 2.4 oz. (with batteries); snowpeak.com