This is a Mini Lantern, so don’t expect anything larger than a tall beer can. Still, I keep this little guy on my night stand in case the power goes out at night, or there is an earthquake. Living in San Francisco, I have been preparing an Earthquake kit for some time now. This is a great addition to my preparedness kit. I am going to buy more for my kit, my toiletry case, and a few for my young nephews who like to “camp” in their back yard. With just a little bit of cranking, you get light for quite a while. It’s not as bright as a larger lantern, but it puts out enough light to find your way around. I think this is a great little gem, and am happy that I bought it.
Rating: 5 / 5

Ok. It’s my fault. But these manufactures never tell you JUST how much you can safetly wind a crank device. So, I “pushed” this lantern a little too much (maybe 10-15 minutes of intermittent cranking), and I ‘blew’ the circuity.
Rating: 3 / 5

Lantern winds easily and works well. There is not much of a difference in light between the 2 and 4 LED modes. It provides just enough light to do basic tasks. While you can read by this lantern, it has to be positioned correctly to get the light to fall on the page. The only way I found to do this is by holding it in my hand.
Rating: 4 / 5

The Wind ‘N Go is an effective little lantern. It only provides the basic function of producing light (what a lantern is obviously purchased for), but does so quite admirably for such a small package (about the size of an Arizona Ice Tea can or smaller). This would be a good choice for backpacking or any application in which a small size is desired. I wound the crank for 2 minutes and got over 2 hrs of light, but the light dimmed as time passed. Nevertheless, impressive for the little amount of time winding the handle. I also purchased a similar type lantern at my local Wal-Mart in the camping section. It is called LifeLight (mega-function lantern) by Life Gear. It is about 50-100% larger, but still is a handy size. However, the Wal-Mart lantern included an AM/FM radio (analog) & MP3 player speaker, cell phone charger, compass, emergency flasher and siren. You can also purchase an optional AC/DC charger adapter. I cranked both lanterns for 2 minutes and tested them in the same, dark room. They performed equally well in terms of light output and duration of light. As a side note: since these are LED lanterns, the light output has a bluish-white cast and does not seem to cast light as well as say an incandescent/yellowish/orangish light, but the LED’s themselves are very bright. The radio on the LifeLight worked well (although nothing fancy) and so did the flasher and siren. Compass was OK, too, although was inexpensive and not real precise as would be expected at this price point. The LifeLight cost about the same as the Wind ‘N Go, so if size is not a factor, I would purchase the LifeLight. But if you specifically need a small lantern, the Wind ‘N Go is a great little basic lantern that will provide long-lasting light output for minimal effort.
Rating: 4 / 5

The wind n go lantern is not a toy, it’s a great tool. Drop dead simple to operate, built rugged, amazingly bright for its size. Everyone should have one or two for emergencies. Eat your heart out Energizer and Duracell.
Rating: 5 / 5