Has anyone tried one of these? They are pricey, about 125.00 with a reflector. They have 400 watts of light output but (they say) are hard to light. The Amish in my area use a Coleman kerosene lantern that puts out 300 watts - put the petromax looks like it is better built and only slightly more.

-- Mark (toymeister@hotmail.com), November 04, 2001

Answers

We use the Coleman dual fuel lanterns here on the farm and find them very satasfactory. They don't cost near that much about half as much and run on regular unleaded gas or coleman fuel. We keep two and a full set of spare parts for both. Have had them for two years and have not replaced anything yet and use them several times a week.

-- David (bluewaterfarm@mindspring.com), November 04, 2001.

Finally, someone else that uses regular unleaded fuel in their lantern and stoves without any problem. I have been doing this for years and other than an occasional through cleaning, had no problems.

-- Joe (CactusJoe001@AOL.com), November 04, 2001.

Hi Mark,

I grew up using a petromax lantern but the ones we used had no reflector. That was 30 some years ago and in a third world country. We used kerosene in it and due to the poor quality of the kerosene available, we had to clean the generator about once a week. Considering we used it every night for 3-6 hours and used it for a good 12 years while I lived there, it was reliable and lasted a long time. I remember giving a speech on how to clean the generator for my speech class in bording school! If you have any more questions, I can ask my dad if he remembers any particulars that I don't remember. Good luck! Darlene

-- Darlene (tomdarsavy@cs.com), November 04, 2001.

I bought a petromax and I've never used it. The instructions are very difficult to follow.

People I've talked to say the petromax is too bright and too noisy. It's difficult to light without a pump. It puts out an enormous amount of heat. It's built for outdoor use.

It can burn just about any type of fuel. But you would want to use dirty fuels if you're using it indoors.

-- walt (longyear@shentel.net), November 05, 2001.

Just an observation: What we called "white gas" in the 50's is now just plain and simple unleaded gas. Will look for a petromax now. Wayne

-- Wayne & (LYN) Roach (R-Way@msn.com), November 06, 2001.