Streamlight 44941 Siege AA 200-Lumen Lantern with White & Red LEDs for Camping & Emergencies, Coyote

This will be an awfully long review for what seems to be just a lantern with 3 AA batteries and an on/off button. But some love light, some love lanterns, some love their gear and some love very well-built things. For any or all of the above, read on.Construction- There is no doubt The Siege AA is very-very well-built. For those who know the Rayovac Sportsman Extreme (the 3xD version, not the 3xAA version), it’s built like that. For those who don’t, again, it’s a very robust lantern. It feels like a one solid piece due to the extreme rubber bumpers added all over the place to it. Everything black on the Siege is basically thick rubber. Even the body is covered in rubber and it just feels like it sticks to your hand. Top reflector and battery cap lock positively into place and thick O-Rings contribute to the water sealing all around.- The handle has some kind of textured rubbery coating on it and some click stops to keep it up if you want it or docked next to the diffuser.- The hook on the bottom deserves a 5 Star award. It’s as solid as solid gets. (I hate to say this but it’s a little over-engineered.) Made from (thick) metal with a strong spring clip, easily accessible from both sides (you can dock it either way) it just feels like the light will come apart before that thing ever will.- With the diffuser off, the LED doesn’t stick too much out and it is protected by a clear dome.- The On/Off button does not glow in the dark and is recessed (a little too recessed) which will prevent accidental off/on. The way you naturally grab and hold the lantern, you will use your thumb for on/off. For those with big thumbs, I can see them needing to try just a little bit harder. And speaking of the on/off button, it’s got a light indicating the state of the battery: green, orange and red. While I can understand the red part, and even the orange, I think the green is a little…again…over-engineered? The ONLY useful feature of the green LED in the button I can think of is to find it quickly in the dark when you want to turn the lantern Off. Other than that, it looks really-really cool (for those who care). Plus, when I did the battery drain test, after it got on low-low (blinking red) it staid like that for about two hours. No big deal, really, but you’ll just have to learn its behavior if you use this extensively and depend on it. Funny thing, when the lantern is on Red mode, you almost want to turn the green away from you because it ‘fights’ with the red and spoils all the aspects of having a red light. White-Green-Orange-Steady Red-Blinking Red-Merry Christmas everyone.Battery loading- Loading the batteries is easy, just unscrew the bottom about a quarter turn, put two AAs positive down and one positive up and put the cover back by mating the two tear drop-shaped plastic parts.- Now, after the WHOLE discussion, rage and hate for the poor Rayovac design with the two little notches that had to be aligned when putting the battery cover back and probably all the love and attention this design will get, let me tell you my opinion: it (almost) doesn’t matter. Is it way easier and a better design? By all measures. Is it enough? Hardly. The part that the first hit me when I got the Rayovac was the odd battery arrangement (two down, one up). I was disappointed to see the same here. I think it’s dumb. Yes, having all three with the (+) down will complicate things a little for the design team, but it’s not impossible. When in COMPLETE, ABSOLUT darkness with a dead lantern, trust me, you’ll have hard times first finding the batteries, then inserting them properly and just then worrying about how you put the cover back. Now, if you know that the negative part of the device is always spring loaded, yes, you may somehow put the batteries right just by feel. But if you don’t, then you’ll have a very hard time completing the operation. You need a little light to fix your light. If you have Zero light…like… 0 Lux, 0 Lumen, no moon, no stars, you’re in a cave or in the woods, then you’re either a pro with backup lights, or you’re well prepared and trained how to replace your batteries in complete darkness, or have someone next to you to help you, or have a cell phone that can shed some light, or…you just have bigger issues at that point. Again, I am not saying that it doesn’t matter at all. Better is better and I am acknowledging that it’s better than the Rayovac’s but that is not enough for a full “Now anybody can replace the batteries in the dark” statement. For that to happen, I wish Streamlight will have all batteries one way (with (+) down) and do something with the cap. Either hinge it (complicated, I know), or at least put a little string or spring loaded strap (like the gas tank cap) so at least you don’t drop it and loose it (again, in complete darkness). Ok, enough with this.Operation- Press on/off to turn on. It starts on Low Mode. Perfect! Press is again quickly, goes to Mid Mode. Press is again quickly, goes to Hi Mode. Wait 2 sec, press it to turn it off. There is no memory for it, so for instance if you always want to turn it On on Hi Mode, you can’t. If you press and hold the button, it will switch from White to Red. Press it quickly and it goes from steady red to blinking red. Press it again, it’s off. Long press again, switches back to white light. What I really like about it, is that you can switch to red (or back to white) regardless the mode the lantern is (Off, On, Low, Mid, Hi). Just long press and it switches. Long press again, anytime, it switches back. Very well thought out. Nothing to remember, really, other that the long press part.- You want forward (or up, or down) flooding light, just unscrew the diffuser and voila.- After about 3hrs of continuous use on high, the body got barely warm to the touch, so no issues there.Light- This is a bright little light. It gives a nice 360deg illumination with a good amount of diffused light above and below the lantern’s level. Please check the pictures as it shows great symmetrical “light bending” tricks in the vertical plane. The light was set 16” from the ceiling and I took two pictures: one straight and one up-side-down. Great job designing that diffuser! The color temperature is fairly neutral, very-very lightly on the reddish side when on low. On max, it is a nice fairly pure white, on the 4000-4500K perceived range.- The Lumen output claimed is 200Lm on high, 100Lm on mid, 50Lm on low. But please understand that only knowing the Lumen rating (luminous flux) is not enough to describe a light. Just like you can’t compare cars by HP alone, speakers just by Watts, cameras just by MP and TVs just by contrast ration, same goes here. Yes, when all other things are equal, a 200Lm light is brighter than a 100Lm light. But more importantly is how the light is shaped, diffused and presented. Measuring the illuminance (the luminous flux per unit area) gives one a better idea of how much light an area is really receiving. For instance, this light on Hi (200lm) illuminates a surface with 12.7Lux measured at 3.3Ft (1m) in line with the light, but my Inova X2 AA rated at 150lm measured the same way throws 320Lux and my desk at work is bathed in 460Lux with two long fluorescents above my head. But that’s exactly why even in the store, even for flashlights, that Lumen output rating is very, very relative and by far enough to judge a light. So here are my findings measured two ways with a light meter: Setup #1 with the light sitting straight in a dark room on its base at 1m (3.3Ft) above the ground and the light meter at 3.3Ft facing the light in line, at the LED level. Setup #2 keeps the same clearances but now light is with reflector removed and pointing straight at the light meter (like a flashlight). All measurements done identical for Siege AA and for Sportsman AA.Results:Setup #1 Streamlight Hi-12.7Lx; Med-6.6Lx; Low-2.5LxSetup #1 Rayovac Hi-4.5Lx; Low-1.7LxSetup #2 Streamlight Hi-53.9Lx; Med-28.2Lx; Lo-11LxSetup #2 Rayovac: Hi-31.8; Lo-12.7LxIn the Setup #1 I moved the lights vertically about 1Ft up and 1Ft down from the inline position in respect to the meter to gauge the distribution of the light in the vertical plane. The Streamlight showed great-great evenness, with light losing only about 2Lx at the extremes. The Rayovac on the other hand, is very uneven. The light gets brighter towards the top of the lantern, right under the ‘hat’, which is really unfortunate because the very same hat projects a harsh shadow (dark spot) above the light. Please see pictures for reference.Runtime:- I didn’t test the mid, low and the red modes as they have very long run times (claimed 15hrs on mid and 37hrs on low). For now I tested the light with Eneloops. I will report back once I complete the Alkaline battery runtime. The claimed runtime on high is 7hrs (with batteries), but you have to keep in mind how that is tested. It doesn’t mean that for 7hrs the light will stay on equally bright. It just means that after 7hrs the light will still be on and it will put out ‘some’ light. If I would follow what ANSI recommends for testing the flashlights, the total runtime would be the amount of time that the light stays on until it reaches 10% of the initial output measured 30sec after turned on (or somewhere along those lines). Now, as far as I know, ANSI FL1 only pertains to flashlights, not to lanterns, so the way they (they = Streamlight) measure and quantify the runtime is up to their discretion.- With freshly charged Eneloops the light was fairly bright for about 2-2.5hrs. After 3 hours the button started to blink red and the light was fairly dim. I left it on for two more hours and it got dimmer and dimmer to the point where you could stare into the LED. I stopped it there because I didn’t want to over-discharge my eneloops. I measured them and they all had about 0.9V – 1V. Even if I turned the light off and back on, it still started, which is very good. Some lights don’t. 1 or 2Lux is waaay better than 0Lux. So you can use the last-last bit of energy in your batteries to find new batteries and replace them before the light completely dies.Comparison with Rayovac Streamlight (2013 – 65Lm version):- A straight comparison between this Siege AA and the Rayovac Sportsman AA is a little unfair in some instances. First, the Siege is a 2014 product. The Sportsman is a 2008 product (there is supposedly a 2014 – 150Lm one, but I haven’t seen it in stores or on line). Technology in general and LED power in particular is measured like dog years. You can’t and shouldn’t really compare a 2008 LED with a 2014 LED. There is no doubt about the design, construction and the heft difference between the two. The Siege is a clearly better thought out and built piece (yes, even in the battery cover’s case ). Much brighter, with more modes (not to mention the two mode red light) a hefty hook on the bottom, battery indicator and perfectly diffused, bright, white, even light. I really don’t know if the Sportsman design is patented or not, but you don’t need to look from too close to see the similarities between the two. Not to mention the bazillion clones that are now on internet. So, again, just referencing to the date, I do give credit to Rayovac (or whoever came up with this design). And I really give NO credit to the people that designed the D version Rayovac very nicely and the AA version very cheaply, looking like they come from two different companies.Sadly, even if we’re talking 6 years difference in LED, when performed the run time test, after about 3hrs on High, the Siege was really dim and after 5 it was like a candle, while the Sportsman was shining happily ahead like nothing happened. So between a bright light with short battery life and a dimmer one with longer battery life, which one would you prefer? In other words, between a dead lantern and a one that shines 7hrs later, which one do you prefer? Now, of course, use the Siege on Low mode, and there you have it…37hrs of perfectly usable light.Conclusion.Negatives first: I would knock just half a star combined for Run Time on High, not having all the batteries the same direction, not having the battery cover tethered to the body, green indicator too strong for when the light is in Red mode, On/Off button a little too recessed and not cheap (although, it screams quality all over).Positives: Great, great light; very well built; very good, diffused light; plenty modes to please everyone; intuitive user interface; easily replaceable battery cover; water proof and drop proof (and bear proof for the hook); decent run time. Looking forward to the Siege AA Mk2.

Great features, excellent design and quality. Small package ideal for backpacking. Puts out plenty of light.

Love this lantern for work and home use

As a gear nut, I own a lot of outdoor gear. Hunting, camping, survival, over landing gear is my thing and I spend way too much money on it all. I am telling you, these are the best lanterns on the market. Hard stop. I like the 18650 version best but the AA is great too!

This is highly preliminary, as I just received it. But as my British friends would put it, this is a very neat bit of kit!It's compact, being smaller than a 12 oz. beer can. But it's light output that matters, and it's plenty bright for anything I'm about to use it for. There are three white light output modes with excellent runtime duration (see specs) considering its three AA cell power source.The build quality is impressive--especially at this price. No money is wasted on fancy gift boxes or expensive graphics packaging. It comes in a plastic bag with the globe wrapped, and a retail pegboard hanger in place. You're paying for product. Note: The instructions (which are lucid) are folded up inside the battery compartment. Both the battery compartment and frosted globe assembly twist-off. A solid "click" lets you know when they're properly closed.Streamlight is well known for their robust weapon lights and tactical flashlights, and while this isn't built to those specs, so far I'd say you'd have to try to break this thing under any reasonable use.I like the red light feature, as I do astronomy from time to time. The red light mode offers a flashing universal SOS (i.e., 3 dots, 3 dashes, 3 dots) signal. Pretty slick!Internally, the light is evenly redistributed via an inverted conical reflector/fresnel lens assembly. The glow through the frosted shade is even, with no real hot spots. The light is fine, though I'd prefer a warmer white, but that's me.The light control button has an LED battery status indicator that operates when the lantern's on. Green = All Good, Yellow = Think About Battery Replacement, Red = Batteries Nearly Gone, Flashing Red = Change Batteries! Again, pretty slick! Note: This model doesn't have the "Here I Am!" flashing locator light when the lantern's off.All lamps are LED's (Light Emitting Diodes), so barring any defects, they should outlast the owner. And of course, power efficiency is maximized. FYI for preppers: This lamp would NOT be EMP-proof!There are two hangers: 1) The fold-down carrying handle, which will also hook onto a line or a smaller tree branch. And 2) A folding hanger in the bottom battery cover, with a built-in carabiner for secure attachment.The lantern can be used without the frosted globe. This might be desirable when hanging the light inverted, as inside a tent, say The lantern is said to "float" with the globe in place; so serious water/weather resistance is implied.Battery Installation. Not exactly slick. But certainly workable, and a vast improvement over the atrocious Rayovac design other reviewers have mentioned (I threw both of mine away). Two of the AA cells face downwards into the cavity and one faces up. The problem is is that all three holes are identical-looking without careful inspection. And careful inspection in the dark requires shining a light down inside the three holes. See where I'm going here? Also, the "graphic" inside the holes showing battery orientation is tiny, requiring a flashlight to see it. This could be improved with two very noticeable " - " and one " + " indicator molded into the plastic where the batteries go, or even better, a "triangular opening" just at the top of the one " + " battery opening (Do I have to design everything?). I may decide to take a small triangular file and "mark" the one " + " opening.It pains me, but the battery thingy costs this product a star. A pity since they pretty much nailed everything else. Still, I nonetheless like this little lantern, and barring any product failures, I may buy another for downstairs. Equipped with Lithium Batteries, this would be a decent choice for an auto emergency kit.RB

When a storm knocks out power for weeks (it happens a lot on the Gulf Coast) you need, at the very least, a decent lantern. This is certainly that. I buy multiples and give them to family members. Just stock up on batteries. The red light mode last a long time, so you can just leave it on all night when the power is out. Makes the kids feel safe.Also hangs really nicely in a tent.