Reviews > Lighting > Lanterns > Brunton Liberty Mantleless Lantern > Cora Shea > Field Report

Field Conditions Trip One: (4 days) Skiing in the Sierras, California Weather: Cool (10 F to 60 F / -12 to 16 C) and Clear Elevation: About 8000 ft (2500 m) Use: I used the Liberty one night while on this trip. I used MSR brand isobutane/propane as the fuel, and set it up at camp on the snow. It burned for about an hour total, at night in the moderate cold. I packed the lantern in my pulk in its case, and so the lantern had a relatively gentle pack life. Brief Comments: On one hand, I was very (very) glad not to have to deal with mantles. On the other hand, although the light was very bright, it was also very orange. Very orange. Also, I did not use it every night because I could not find a way to keep it set up on snow well. The heat from the lantern would slowly melt the snow unevenly below the base, and eventually the lantern looked about to tip over and would need to be rescued and re-stabilized. Trip Two: (3 days) More Skiing in the Sierras, California Weather: Cold (-5 to 25 F / -20 to -4 C) and Snowy (precipitating) Elevation: About 10,000 ft (3000 m) Use: I used the Liberty the one main night I was out on this trip (the second night was an unplanned one). Again, the Liberty got packed in my pulk and I used MSR fuel. This time, it burned for about three hours. The light was fairly dim (due to the cold, probably) so I attempted to assist the fuel canister by putting a handwarmer pack under it. We cooked on top of a table, so stability was not an issue. Brief Comments: Here, I began to realize why the orange light bothered me so much. In a similar fashion to a candle lantern (though more so with the Liberty), everything looks nearly black and white. It does not impede my night vision very much (in a similar way as a red flashlight) but I found myself longing for the whiter, clearer light that a mantle-based lantern puts out. However, the Liberty still has its advantages: screw on, turn on, push the piezo, and voila! Light. Trip Three: (2 days) Even More skiing in the Sierras, California Weather: Moderate (-5 to 25 F / -20 to -4 C) and Clear Elevation: About 8000 ft (2500 m) Use: This time, I used the lantern only briefly as we cooked quickly for the one night we were out. I used Primus four-season mix, and only for about 30 minutes. Again, the lantern went in my pulk and case, and also spent some time in my pack as well. Every time I used the lantern, I let it cool down and dry out before putting it in the case. Brief Comments: This was the trip where I took a close look at the lantern when I came home. Unfortunately, I had just assumed that the lantern would be fine in-between trips, especially since it functioned well each time. However, this turned out not to be the case. The metal all around the lantern turned out to be (in the best terms I can think of) corroding. The metal didn't appear rusty or stained, rather, the side wings corroded a line of the heat sink away, the ring around the base corroded in little flakes, and the entire metal of the lantern seems rather unhappy with life in general.

Field Opinions Overall, my opinion of the lantern is rather mixed. On one hand, I really like the mantless design. Mantles were the single most annoying gear-type item I had to deal with in the winter backcountry, and I often do not bring a lantern just to avoid dealing with them. The Liberty solves that. However, I have the following issues I discuss above: The light is decidedly more orange than white, and although bright orange, it still strains my eyes while cooking or working or reading with the light since it doesn't cover many colors. The lantern can't hang. This means I have to expend a lot of effort to set it up higher than what I will be looking at in camp, and also that it melts the snow around it and becomes unstable. The metal on the lantern quickly corrodes in a snow environment. Hopefully these issues will improve in the summer. Less snow will hopefully mean less corrosion, warmer temperatures will hopefully mean brighter and less orange light, and more stable and non-meltable ground will give the lantern more opportunities to be set up. But I am not trying to predict anything, I am just trying to say that winter can perhaps give a rather biased view of how this lantern works so far, and summer will tell more. Ease of Use The lantern itself is very easy to use. The piezo is quite dependable - lighting on the first time every time after that very initial use. The lantern is very easy to set up and take down. The knob for adjusting the fuel is somewhat wobbly and difficult to grip and control with thick gloves on, but eventually I get it to where I want. Positioning within the campsite once lit is somewhat more complicated. I found myself stacking up snow or even unused pots to put the Liberty high enough so its light would actually illuminate dinner. This takes a lot of time to do properly. Additionally, the wings make the light very directed so it was hard for me to illuminate both a cooking area and an eating area, for example. I could really have only one area of light at a time. Finally, the lantern would get so hot that it would often melt the snow around it and become unstable. All in all, I am still getting used to the lantern in a winter campsite and have no good solutions to these issues yet. Durability To all functional purposes, the Liberty has been very durable. I've thrown it in my pack and pulk, I've wrenched it around in all sorts of temperatures and weather. The piezo got handled with gloves, the valve got screwed and unscrewed with unfeeling mittens, and it got crammed in its case many times in haste to get into a warm sleeping bag. The platinum element has stood up to this abuse, and the entire lantern still works as the day it came out of the box. The cosmetic durability of the lantern, however, is an entirely different issue. I'm not sure exactly what metal the lantern is made out of, but despite my efforts to keep the lantern dry the metal has appeared to begin corroding. As far as I know, the water simply came from standard winter use. I've not dropped it in the snow, nor has it rained, or anything similar. And after each use, I've touched it to make sure the lantern was dry and snow-free before placing in its case. As to the 'corroding', it is not rusting, rather it looks salty and appears in various colors from grey to green, and I am assuming it is some type of corrosion. Some pictures here illustrate the extent. On the first picture, you can see where one of the wings corroded such that it stuck to the side heat sink ridges, stuck to the ridges, and corroded the ridges as well: Additionally, the top has formed a rather rough and odd-colored coating on it. I assume that it comes from the extreme heat, similar to the way metal changes on a stove. Here is a picture of the rough coloring from the top flap: Light The light provided by the Liberty seems bright, but does not seem to function the same as a white-light lantern of the same brightness. The element hurts my eyes to look directly at it, implying that the brightness is at least somewhat similar to my other lanterns, but the light falls off quickly from the Liberty at more than a 10 ft (3 m) radius. Because of the orange quality of the light, it is difficult to see clearly enough to read or cook even within 3 ft (1 m) of the Liberty. However, keep in mind that this lantern has not yet been used in above-freezing temperatures really at all. I am optimistic about its output for the warmer summer months since I often have trouble with isobutane/propane fuel with stoves in the colder months. Packability This is perhaps my favorite part about the lantern. It packs small and protects itself well, so it is always ready to light without fuss on the next use. The wings and top do a spectacular job of protecting the platinum element, and the case keeps the wings in their positions of good protection. I've only used a low fuel canister once on the Liberty (the first time I used it) and it lit well so I'm not too worried about packing adequate fuel. The Liberty has worked well with both Primus and MSR so far, although I will continue trying other fuels in the hopes of getting better light output. Other Observations My main additional observation is that the Liberty runs quite hot. It is like having a lit stove in the campsite, including the noise, the unstable condition on snow due to melting any snow platform, and (most of all) the heat. The Liberty takes nearly a full twenty minutes to cool down completely in well-below-freezing weather. Even my stoves don't take half that long. Because of this, I also wonder if the 'corrosion' mentioned above is due to dirt and impurities in any snow that got on the lantern melting and fusing with the lantern while being lit. But, whatever the reason, my main point is that the Liberty gets very hot when lit.

Summary The Liberty lantern so far has been a durable and dependable lantern. In my opinion, it gives the convenience of not having to deal with mantles and trades off the bright, white light I am accustomed to with mantle lanterns. Additionally, its body heats up more when lit than my stoves do and thus cannot be hung off of the ground (which makes it difficult to position well to see during cooking tasks). But overall, the dependability so far has won my confidence and I look forward to testing in warmer months. Likes Dislikes Easy to use The metal corroded despite drying efforts No mantle Very orange light, not white light Compact No way to hang it off the ground

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Reviews > Lighting > Lanterns > Brunton Liberty Mantleless Lantern > Cora Shea > Field Report