How Will You Prevail In An Emergency?

Rule: Your ability to prevail in an emergency is greatly influenced by the preparation you make prior to that emergency. I tested the Streamlight Super Siege Lantern — a rechargeable 1,100-lumen utility lantern that also provides USB power for your mobile devices.

Ordinarily, I test equipment under controlled conditions with preplanned tests and experiments tailored for the piece of equipment. For this test, I really needed the Super Siege Lantern, and it came in handy.

I’m not much of a handyman. My wife and I went to the local hardware store and picked out a ceiling fan for our bedroom. Thinking I could install it in a couple of hours, I waited until late afternoon to begin. I turned off the electricity and went to work.

You can already guess what happened. My short installation turned into an 8-hour process, complete with the electricity shut off.

Super Siege To The DIY Rescue

The Super Siege did a great job lighting up the workspace, including the entire room where I had my tools spread out. I turned it up to its brightest setting, which is accessed by pressing the button a couple more times. It doesn’t throw a harsh light with abrupt shadows while the Glare Guard is mounted. My efforts proved the Super Siege is a great, rugged work light — and I should hire an electrician the next time I try something like this.

The Glare Guard is removable and the LEDs are protected by a simple globe.

The Super Siege uses one white LED and four red LEDs. At the brightest white setting, the Super Siege throws 1,100 lumens of area light which, when using the polycarbonate cover, is pretty glare free. Many work lights have similar light output, but that output isn’t as usable as the Super Siege. Runtime at max power is about 5 3/4 hours. Over the course of six months, I generally got that amount of light. The lowest white light setting, 125 lumens, runs a little over 36 hours. When it is set for the low 1-lumen red LED output, it will run 348 hours.

The switch button is recessed, and it also serves as a charge indicator. That is, it glows green when fully charged.

In my six-person tent, several people could comfortably read at the lowest white LED setting. Now you all know what I like to do while camping.

Besides using the Super Siege Lantern as effective emergency lighting, it is perfect for first responder scene illumination.

The translucent cover has an internal 360-degree reflector with the removable Glare Guard that clips around the cover. The Glare Guard is necessary for task lighting, like walking along a trail or changing a tire. Without it, the light is in the user’s face, making trail navigation challenging. The red LED is also bright enough for trail lighting without affecting night vision. There is a signal option where the red LED puts out an SOS pattern.

Camping Work Horse

During my extended testing period, I took the Super Siege camping a few times and used it for many tasks. It even served as an emergency lighting tool when the lights in the neighborhood went out, not just the lights at my house.

We cooked and set up camp under the light of the Siege. Over the few months I tested the product, the weather cooperated nicely, alternatively dousing the lantern with a downpour and baking it in the midday sun. It was in the Sierras I discovered the lantern floats — well enough I had to chase it downstream. The rubber base prevents it from slipping off the hood of my truck in a downpour. I found the Super Siege to be sturdy enough to bang around with the rest of my equipment.

The Super Siege specs at IPX7 waterproof to 1-meter submersion and 2-meter impact resistance tested. In fact, the superior impact resistance and polymer construction with molded rubber bumpers also worked in my favor. I hung mine on a walkway and then proceeded to attempt to crack my skull on it. Streamlight was benevolent enough to equip it generously with soft rubber, which was fortunate. My forehead sent it swinging, and physics allowed it to contact the back of my head as well. If Streamlight had not designed the Super Siege’s handle so well, it would have fallen off the loop of rope on which it was hooked, preserving my head from a vicious backswing. The handle is not a traditional lantern loop but a rigid hook that clamps out of the way when not in use, and is capable of hooking over objects like branches. It also has D rings on the top and bottom of the body.

The Super Siege has a USB power port designed for charging a phone or similar device. I found it could charge my iPhone 13 three times without even breathing hard. It’s a pretty handy power bank for out in the field. The total capacity of the lithium-ion battery is 10,400 mAH.

Underneath the base, the Super Siege has a watertight storage compartment. It’s large enough for a key or two. For me, it is a great way to store wooden matches.

The Super Siege charges from a separate A/C cord using what looks like a 2mm or so plug. If I could change anything on this product, I would make it so it could be charged from a USB-C input.

As a scene lantern, this is an outstanding product. It is definitely a “must-have” for a search and rescue team. As an outdoor tool, it is definitely the way to go for a hunting camp, and something that needs to be in the travel kit for every off road group. As an emergency lighting tool, it could keep a family alive when resources fail.

The Super Siege is only 7.5″ tall and weighs 1 lb., 14 oz. MSRP is around $222.60. It comes in yellow or Coyote.

For more information visit Streamlight.

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