M**N
Excellent lantern for the price
I received the Air Pilot quickly and it was very well wrapped, and in excellent condition. I have gotten several lanterns from Lehman's recently and all of them have been carefully shipped and arrived in great shape. This one is an excellent value for the current price. It is a fairly large lantern with a wide flat base for stability, it produces a lot of light for a kerosene lantern, and holds enough fuel for a day or more without being too heavy or cumbersome to carry about. Definitely recommend for someone looking for non-electric lighting options, whether by choice or necessity. The photo is a comparison of light output with a Dietz 76 on the left, then a 2000, then a Jupiter, then an Air Pilot which was the brightest, with all lanterns turned up just short of smoking.
M**E
Dietz Air Pilot Oil Lantern Blue
UPDATE: I used this lantern maybe 5 times and the fuel started leaking out the bottom already. It didn't get 'banged around'. It sat on top of my stand next to my bed. I'd used it for its ambience once in a while. So I'm not to happy that it started leaking fuel after only a handful of uses.Prior review:Love this Lantern! Easy to fill, light and clean. I've been using this a lot the last few months and have had no issues. What a great price too. Thanks so much!
T**E
Great value. Excellent steady light
Mine shipped from Lehman’s and fast!Dietz air pilot new version but still diets! Fast shipping and burns nice and steady! No leaks. Way brighter than Most V&O lanterns. Whiter light and very stead still flame. I love it but still love my Dietz Blizzard over it. But for ease of lighting the air pilot is hard to beat.
S**Y
Love these lanterns!
Love these Dietz lanterns. They are the larger style lantern and work great for camping and power outages. They put out enough light to see and it actually makes a room feel very cozy. I love these.
D**S
The Air Pilot is my favorite lantern of any manufacturer
The Air Pilot is my favorite lantern of any manufacturer. I have seven Dietz lanterns and three of them are Air Pilots, they're the Goldilocks of the lantern world.I have a couple Little Wizards, they're small and easy to carry, and while they don't use much fuel, they also don't put out much light. My Jupiter is ginormous, great light output and burns forever on a tank of fuel, but in trade for the long burn time is the huge and heavy-when-full fuel tank. Better suited to putting in one spot and leaving there. The Air Pilot is just right. Small enough and light enough for easy carrying, brighter(subjectively) than the Jupiter due to a better burner design, and carrying enough fuel to burn plenty long enough but not so much that it's a pain to carry. By turning the flame down, you get the benefits of less fuel consumption for those times you can get by with less light, while still having the option of turning the flame back up if needed.Tips for use and a brain dump of info:1. Size. If you're used to standard big box store offerings, prepare to step into another world of quality. These are lanterns are much larger, and are solid pieces of equipment, built to be used.2. Quality. I've read reviews stating that the quality has declined, and "made in China now" being bandied about in a negative fashion. Dietz have been made in China since 1956. I have a made in New York Dietz Hy-Lo from 1934, a pre-'56 made in New York Lok Nob Little Wizard, a modern Little Wizard to compare it to, an Air Pilot made in New York between '54 and '56, and two modern Air Pilots to compare it to. The quality of both the US made and Chinese made lanterns are good and comparable, the comments about a decline in quality do not match my experience.3. Trim the wick. Advertised as ready to go, but there will be a couple loose threads or one side will be higher than the other. Remove the burner and trim level with the wick tube - it takes surprisingly little difference in height across the wick to make a large difference in the flame.4. Fill with fuel. Don't use lamp oil, these are kerosene lanterns. There are low-odor varieties of kerosene available - not going to link here, but look online for Dietz fuels suitable for indoor/outdoor use and fuels suitable for outdoor use only. Lamp oil is a different thickness than kerosene and won't travel up the wick fast enough to support the large flame this lantern is capable of. Wait 1/2 hour or so after filling to make sure fuel makes it to the top of the wick before lighting.5. Lighting is an exercise in patience. Light and turn the flame up to 1/4" or so above the burner. Let the lantern warm up for 15-20 minutes before turning up higher - you can watch the flame get larger on it's own during this time. The flame burns kerosene that's vaporized off the wick. As the lantern heats, more kerosene will vaporize and airflow through the lantern will increase, which will increase the size of the flame. This will lead to a big smokey mess if you turn it up to full brightness when cold. Once the lantern is warmed up, turn it up to full brightness, obviously backing off a bit if it starts to smoke. With a bit of experience you'll be able to set the flame at the right size when first lit so that it'll be near max brightness when the lantern heats up, although it's still a good idea to keep an eye on until thermally stable. In calm air you can turn the lantern up to max brightness and be fine, if you're in the wind or carrying the lantern and making wind or swinging it around, you'll want to turn it down a little. The wind will blow the flame around a bit and interrupt smooth controlled airflow through the lantern, reducing oxygen to the flame and creating soot, which will soot up the inside of the globe. Turning the flame down reduces air requirements and makes for less soot during less than ideal conditions.6. Extinguishing also requires patience. Turn the lantern down to a very low flame and let it cool off for a few minutes before lowering the wick further and extinguishing the flame. As stated above, the flame burns vaporized kerosene, and kerosene continues to vaporize after the flame has been extinguished. This smells bad. The cooler the lantern when the flame goes out, the less kerosene keeps vaporizing off the wick, and the less smell you have. Even when burning "odorless" fuel, those vapors are still going into the air and you're still breathing them, even if you can't smell them. Not healthy.7. Burn your new lantern outside for the first several hours, even if you're using one of the indoor fuels mentioned above. Paint will be curing and off-gassing, oils and stamping release agents will be burning off, all of which stinks and none of which you want in your house.8. Heat - around 1400 BTU's, or roughly equivalent to an electric heater on low. Worth keeping in mind as it can take the chill off a room, or could be most unwelcome during the summer.Wow that got long.
A**R
Five Stars
Love it
B**O
Looks Great
The lanterns look awesome and they were bigger than what I expected.
P**E
Must have for emergency or camping
Bought them for an emergency kit, good quality well built for the price
Trustpilot
1 month ago
3 weeks ago