Kelty LumaPivot
Quick Take Review
When I first saw the photos, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of Kelty’s LumaPivot. It’s one of the most unusual looking outdoor lighting products around. Turns out, it’s also one of the most practical and versatile.
This year, Kelty entered the market for outdoor lighting products with five very unique and interesting products. They include three lanterns in various sizes and two paddle lighting products, one of which is the LumaPivot. None of these products has a traditional look. They all use a white and orange color scheme. The lanterns are sleek and bullet shaped. The other two resemble nothing else on the planet. They’re innovative, they’re quirky and they work unbelievably well.
The LumaPivot claims 170 lumens of brightness. Although I have no doubt Kelty’s measurement is accurate, it’s difficult to use lumens as a way to compare similar products since it’s a measurement of total, not usable, light. The LumaPivot is a perfect example of how tough it is to compare specs from one product to another. I put the LumaPivot up against a Coleman LED lantern that claims 390 lumens of brightness. Which product won the brightness test? The LumaPivot beat Coleman hands down.
The LumaPivot boasts much more versatility than the more traditional lantern as well. The two lighting paddles can be manipulated into almost any position. Point them up and you can illuminate an entire tent. Point them down and you’ve got a reading lamp. Face them forward and you get a very powerful directional beam for walking around after the sun goes down.
The LumaPivot runs on six AA size batteries. Kelty again makes a very conservative claim, this time with their run time spec, claiming only 12 hours of use. I found the LumaPivot could run almost continuously for double that duration and still provide a useful amount of light.
Kelty has a real winner in the LumaPivot. As the outdoor lighting goes more and more to LEDs, products like this are going to take over from the traditional lantern. And for good reason. Highly recommended.