UCO Micro Candle Lantern

My sample would not stay open as received. I had to disassemble my lantern by removing the heat shield that retains the globe then add my own dimples to the three aluminum legs that surround the globe. After that I've had no problems with it. I immediately added a longer chain to my lantern given other reviewer's problems with the short chain. I also added a binder clip for more mounting flexibility. There's no need to disassemble the lantern to light it. It's easy to light sideways in the closed position with a Bic lighter then quickly turn upright while raising the globe.

What a great design!I've used the larger candle lanterns for years. My oldest is probably close to 35 years old now. When I went looking to add more to the house so that we can spread them around in a power outage, these popped up. With 2 candles in each and the candles burning for a good 4 hours when you use beeswax candles, they provide a perfect evening of light. The second candle is stored as a spare in the base, so there is always a back-up handy. No more half used candles and no more scraping out wax from the spring loaded feeding system of the larger designs. You do have to be careful as the candle can shift if you treat the lantern roughly and the pool of liquid wax is larger, so the potential for a mess is greater. But when you just want a little lantern to sit and do its thing with a protected flame, this is perfect. And storing them away is simple in the new collapsible design.Will be buying these as gifts next Christmas.

I really did. UCO's other lamps require full candles, and I didn't want to deal with drippage. Tea light candles are self contained, small and portable. So a little lamp like this one seemed just the thing.Pros -1) Small, compact.2) Holds an extra tea light candle in the base.3) You can hang it from stuffCons -1) Glass sleeve is fragile - the first one I ordered arrived broken. Cheapest glass they could find.2) Must buy a separate padded case if you want to protect it from banging around in your BOB (or whatever)3) When metal top is pulled up (for use) it doesn't lock - if something hits it, it be going down, like it or not (unless it's hanging)4) Small pain in the butt to swap out depleted tea light with a new oneSummary:Item has a lot of potential if the cons above were addressed by the manufacturer. I'd love to see:1) Either a much better grade of glass sleeve (pyrex, or something hard to break) or a stainless steel mesh that allows light and heat to pass through.2) A simple twist locking mechanism for the pull up top - pull it up, twist it left or right to lock in (rather like the lips on plastic DVD holders when you buy a bunch of blanks at the store)3) If it needs a case to survive rough use, include it with the product. Sure, charge a couple bucks more, but stop the accessory upsell crap.So, there ya go.Your mileage may vary.

This Micro Lantern arrived very quickly, and in perfect condition. I own several of the regular size UCO candle lanterns, and one Mini Lantern. This Micro Lantern will supplement the other lanterns when small size is more important that light output. The important thing to remember with this candle lantern, is that no matter what, it is only going to be ONE candle power, so don't expect miracles as far as light output. It serves well for getting around a dark campground, or a dark house during a power failure. It also works well to keep dampness and condensation under control in a tent, or small camping trailer. It is very small, and lightweight, so it should be convenient to carry in a back pack, or a bug out bag. So far, it has been useful for supplying a dim light for sitting out on our patio at night, and puts out just enough light to find your drink, without knocking it over in the dark. I am very happy with this candle lantern, and will probably buy more to put in several emergency kits, and bug out bags. It will surely be useful in my camping gear, no matter where I'm camping.

I like this mini lantern a lot, except for two things.1) After burning through one tealight the lower part of the base no longer fits the candle holder part properly. Every time I load up a candle on top (with or without a spare on the bottom) the candle is tilted enough that hot wax will spill out until it burns down a bit.I've looked for loose wax, even took out my carving knives to see if there was anything I needed to trim, it just looks like either the holder portion has warped slightly and is no longer a perfect match to the bottom's circular base, or the bottom has warped. Either way it's really no big deal.2) The base is a simple screw on and off plastic affair, the second time I tried to screw it back on I got the distinct impression that I tightened it too much and it came loose and fell apart. After that I have been very careful about how tight I close it. But, on the trail I can easily see this as being a bit of a fire hazard as I can easily see after an 6-8 hour hike I may be a bit tired and not pay that much attention to this and find if I hang it that the bottom may fall out while the candle is lit and start an unexpected fire on the ground.Simple solution - not taking it on a hiking trip - keeping it for around the home and have removed the hanger assembly to save me from myself.

I own the original UCO candle lantern and also the 3 candle Candlelier- both of which I love - but I was disappointed with this version.I like the idea - smaller UCO lantern using tea lights - but I don't think its well executed.Problem is:1) The tea light is not securely held. It can slip slightly out of place, causing a tilt, which results in wax pouring out and making it hard to unscrew it to change the tea light.2) It has to hang really - it's not so good as a free standing lantern - the top can slip down and telescope back into itself - I see nothing to reliably keep it extended, apart from hanging.3) The three tea light holding arms can cause small nicks in the aluminium tea light holding cup - which once the candle is molten, will let it leak out.4) You cannot quite use any tea light - its unforgiving - too deep a tea light is too precarious in the three holding feet and will go askew sooner or later. Don't use beeswax tea lights - they will get too hot and one way or another will end up leaking, or flaming up and half cooking the lantern. Soft aluminium cup might tear or nick and allow a leak.Compared to the original lantern, this one is frequently requiring tweaking, fiddling, cleaning, checking correcting etc.Tea lights don't quite put out enough light anyway, IMHO - compared to a UCO 9 hour candle. Just get the original one. Miles better.

Great lantern for camping, it packs down very small, holds two tea light candles, which should give you about 8 hours use, as the tea light candles them selves are very small and light you save on space and weight taking extras with you rather than bulkier heavy batteries, it also gives off heat that will help keep down condensation in the tent and you don't get that with battery operated lights.It's well made and should last years and you can get spare parts should you break it from the UCO web site.

this is a lovely little lantern, with the tea light high up in the lantern, the flame is very steady and does not flicker at all, it also gives out lots of light for its size, it appears to give a lot more light than my other tea light holders. I know it is safe in here, from wind, getting knocked over, there is no heat going downwards, due to the another tea light storage area, the only part thats hot is the top. Lovely little lantern.

Provided a gentle light when I was camping. Ultimately, it's powered by a single tea light candle, so I didn't expect it to be bright, but it was sufficient to read by and also gave off some heat which I warmed my hand over. A nice design, it packs back into itself for travel.

Perfect little lantern. May possibly be the best of all the UCO candle lanterns. Cost wise and the fact that it takes any tea light candle means you can buy cheap ones that last just as long as the uco ones and you can store 3 tea light candles inside it so long as you protect it. you get 4 hour candles thats 12 hours of light for next to no cost. I will personally buy more of these to use when the power goes out.