Reviews > Lighting > Lanterns > Brunton Liberty Mantleless Lantern > Cora Shea > Long Term Report

Long Term Use After my field report, I was fairly frustrated with the Liberty. It served as a lantern, sure, and a very convenient mantleless one at that, but it just didn't fit my needs in winter and early spring. The snow provided only a mediocre platform for the isobutane canisters (and melted out with the heat from the lantern, causing the lantern to tip over) and the lantern couldn't hang. Additionally, the light was surprisingly dim, orange, and difficult to direct downward for things like cooking just below it. And here, at the end of the test, my opinions are equally mixed. I found myself bringing the lantern out only for testing, and not particularly because I wanted to use it. I think the main reason was that it took a long time for me to learn how to pick a good resting spot for the lantern to sit on. After years of experience, I'm fairly adept at picking out a spot for my stove to rest, and even at picking out a spot for my other lantern to hang (such as a ski pole, or in a tent) but situating the (very light-directed) Liberty so I could use its orange light simply baffled me. I used it on a total of four non-snow trips which gave me a different perspective on the trips discussed in my Field Report and similar snow trips afterwards. In some ways, the trips were much better. The isobutane, as I predicted, probably suffered from some degradation in performance due to the cold. As a result, the Liberty was noticeably brighter in the summer, though no less orange. Also in the summer, the lantern did not have a tendency to tip over as the heat melted through any snow platform. However, I found myself spending even more time looking for a suitable spot - in the summer I could not pile up snow to make a stand and had to find adequately sized and level rocks for the purpose. Additionally, I did not even try to take the Liberty into any tent shelter because of the heat. What a hot lantern! Thus, my use for the Liberty was limited to cooking dinner and socializing, which is (all things considered) a good and rewarding use. And most summer trips - once the Liberty was all set up properly and commenced throwing a nice orange glow over the camp, I almost forgot about the spot-finding time and my inability to read well or pick dirt out of dinner in the orange light. Almost. One thing that can very much be said in the Liberty's defense is its durability and thus its ease of use. I have always treated my lanterns as the most fragile items in my pack, and for good reason - the mantles don't work upon arrival otherwise. Over the course of testing the Liberty, however, I moved from carefully situating it inside its case in my pack, to simply wrapping it in a sock (sans case) and chucking it wherever it fit. Then, the ability to simply remove the Liberty from my pack, screw it on to a spare fuel bottle, light it, and enjoy it was certainly a treat throughout the test. In short, herein lies the question - does the ease of use in packing and mantle handling outweigh the difficulty of situating the lantern and its mediocre glow? For me, I think the answer is no. If I am going to lug a lantern, I would rather whip it out at camp, hang it wherever, and have the camp flooded with light (and then pay the price of careful handling and packing). However, one should keep in mind that this is sheer personal preference. I dislike sounding frustrated with the Liberty simply because of my personal expectations of a lantern, especially since it is such a cool technological creation.

Long Term Opinions Long Term Care and Maintenance: Over the long run, the lantern continues to function well. It (as I stated in my Field Report) developed rust and corrosion very early on in the test. However, as the dry summer enveloped the Sierra (and also perhaps as I started carrying it outside of its rather water-trapping case) it suffered no further degradation. Also, the corrosion never affected it functionally - only aesthetically. Other than trying to remove the corrosion (a rather futile endeavor, other than straight filing which I found also removed some of the metal and thus I ceased) I felt no need to perform any sort of care or maintenance at all. After the corrosion, I was much more careful about not getting the lantern wet for extended periods of time. This is what eventually led me to carrying the Liberty outside of its case - I came home after one trip, opened the case, and found that little rivulets of water had hitchhiked their way home in the waterproof case. So in a way, I felt I was caring for the Liberty by carrying it in a sock rather than the included case, and as the corrosion ceased building perhaps it was a good idea. Long Term Durability: The lantern proved to be quite durable. As mentioned above, I forewent the case and nothing resulted but my losing the weight of the case from my pack. The largest problem I had with the durability is that my finger would sometimes slip when prying the wings apart or unhinging the gas adjustment, and would bump the platinum element. The element is (only slightly) less then hemispherical in places now, but continues to function fine. Also, the piezo igniter tended to shift more quickly when I did not hike with the Liberty in its case. This was no problem - twenty seconds of adjustment of my thumb was always enough to re-find the correct spacing for the piezo extension - but hopefully it is a rather durable extended wire and will put up with my thumb adjustments for many years to come. Overall, the durability of the Liberty was my most favorite point. The sheer ability to pack up the lantern, throw it in a sock, throw the sock in my pack wherever it fits, and take it out and light it up was amazingly nice.

Summary Overall, the Brunton Liberty has a lot of tradeoffs for its advantage of being a mantleless lantern. Its light is very orange (and thus difficult to do eye-straining tasks such as reading) and its heat output is very high. However, it is quite small and easy to use, and I've found I can just throw it in my pack without its case and it takes up almost no room and does fine. Likes Dislikes Small and compact Gets hot! Durable enough to throw in my pack w/o case Rust and corrosion formed early on Easy to use and light Light is very orange and hard to see by

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Reviews > Lighting > Lanterns > Brunton Liberty Mantleless Lantern > Cora Shea > Long Term Report