On Fri, 19 Oct 2012 10:18:51 +0100, Michael Kilpatrick wrote:

It's more a question of whether the households with said board games,
books, etc have also got some candles to see them by!

Nasty dangerous things candles unless you are talking tea lights and even
then you need to be careful.

As for anything battery forget it if you want it to actually work when
needed or provide a decent amount of light for more than a few minutes.
We do have a small lantern with two 6" or so flourescent tubes that isn't
bad as far as light level and runtime is concerned, not sure it's still
on the market though.

Best is a gas lantern, they will run for many hours chucking out as much
light as a 80W tungsten bulb. Lasts even longer if you turn it down. Gas
cannisters don't go flat in storeage. Some lanterns come with piezo
ignition so you don't even need matches.

--
Cheers
Dave.