Best flashlights and lanterns for power outages
Which flashlights and lantern to buy for the breaker panel and power outages, and why runtime matters more than peak brightness.
For most homes, buy a few ThruNite Archer 2A V3 flashlights and one UST 30-Day Duro lantern. The Archer runs on plain AA cells, so there's no built-in battery to keep charged, and the Duro ran nine hours on its highest setting in OutdoorGearLab's test.1 2 3
If you go outside after storms or have a large yard, add the Fenix PD36R Pro, but own it alongside AA lights, not in place of them. If you already own cordless tools, a work light on those batteries may save you buying anything new.4 5
Whatever you buy, judge it by its runtime on a middle setting. The big lumen number on the box lasts minutes at most.4
Our picks
How they compare
| ThruNite Archer 2A V3 | UST 30-Day Duro | Fenix PD36R Pro | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Bedrooms and the electrical panel | Lighting a room through long outages | Outdoors after storms |
| Battery | Two AA cells | Three D cells | One 21700 lithium-ion cell |
| Measured middle runtime | 8 hours 37 minutes at 63 lumens on NiMH | Not listed | 7 hours 58 minutes at 390 lumens |
| Measured on high | About 250 lumens after 3 minutes on NiMH | 9 hours | About 830 lumens after 10 minutes |
| Measured on low | 33 hours 18 minutes at 17 lumens on NiMH | 33 days at 30 lumens | Not listed |
ThruNite Archer 2A V3
Good fit if: bedrooms and the electrical panel
Model Archer 2A V3
- Runs on plain AA cells
- No built-in battery to keep charged
- Costs less than the Archer 2A Pro
- No USB charging
- Awkward clip, thin tail threads
- Alkaline cells can leak inside it
This is a light for a drawer, and the AA cells are the reason to buy it. You can use alkaline cells or NiMH cells, which are rechargeable AAs.1 On NiMH, 1Lumen measured 63 lumens for 8 hours 37 minutes on Medium, which gets you through one night on a set of batteries, and 17 lumens for 33 hours 18 minutes on Low.2 A lumen is a measure of total light output. 1Lumen bought its own unit, which makes those numbers worth more than most.2
Don't expect the High setting to hold. It started at 446 lumens and fell to about 250 after around three minutes, and Bob Vila's reviewer got about two hours on high.2 6 1Lumen's runtimes came in about 20% short of ThruNite's claims, which the reviewer says could be down to his older, standard-capacity cells. All of 1Lumen's testing was on NiMH, so alkaline runtimes aren't known.2
The weak points are small. 1Lumen rates the build as solid overall, but it questions where the clip sits and says to be careful with the thin tail threads.2 Keep spare cells beside the light, and see the battery advice below before you load alkalines.
Verdict: Buy one for each bedroom and one for the panel. Skip it only if you want a light that recharges from USB, and if you do, look at the Acebeam TAC 2AA below.
UST 30-Day Duro 1000 LED Lantern
Good fit if: the room you sit in during an outage
Model 1156908 (silver)
- Nearly triple the Lighthouse's high-setting runtime
- Nothing to keep charged
- Runs for weeks on low
- Only three brightness levels
- Base is hard to refit
- Flimsy bottom hook
A flashlight gets you to the panel, but a lantern lights the room, so this is the one that makes a long evening bearable. OutdoorGearLab picks the Duro for power outages. It measured 9.0 hours on the highest setting and 33 days on low, against claims of 12 hours and 30 days, so the high setting fell short of what the maker says.3 The settings are 1,000 lumens on high, 400 on medium and 30 on low.7
The D cells are both the strength and the cost. You can store fresh ones beside the lantern with nothing to charge, but they're disposable, and the lantern weighs about two pounds with them inside.3 7 OutdoorGearLab's reviewer found the base hard to put back on after a battery change and the bottom hook flimsy.7 Check the color before you plan on one. CampSaver lists only the silver as orderable, and the green, orange and blue as unavailable or discontinued.8
Verdict: Buy this if you get outages of a day or longer, and store fresh D cells next to it. It's the lantern to choose when runtime matters more than phone charging.
Fenix PD36R PRO Rechargeable Flashlight
Good fit if: storm checks outside and large yards
Model PD36R PRO
- Holds far more light for longer
- Charges in the light by USB-C
- IP68 rating, according to Fenix
- Never runs on AA cells
- Can't run while charging
- Won't stand on its tail
Three independent reviewers measured this light and came close to Fenix's claims on every mode except Turbo, its short burst setting.4 9 10 1Lumen recorded about 1,100 lumens on High at 30 seconds, about 830 after 10 minutes, and 390 lumens on Medium for 7 hours 58 minutes.4 That's useful outdoors after a storm, and far more light than you need indoors. On High at 10 minutes it put out more than twice the 323 lumens of the smaller Acebeam TAC 2AA.4 11
The battery is the catch. It runs only on a 21700 cell, a large lithium-ion battery, so a flat cell with no spare leaves you in the dark.4 12 The included 5,000 mAh cell charged in 2 hours 51 minutes in 1Lumen's test, but you can't use the light while it charges, so a power bank won't keep it running.4 10 12 Buy a Fenix spare. A flat-top Samsung cell was too short to make contact in 1Lumen's unit, and Fenix's manual cautions against non-Fenix cells.4 12
It won't stand on its tail, so you can't point it at the ceiling as a room light.4 9 Owner reports are few. One forum reviewer complained of a hot bezel and worn anodizing after a few weeks of daily use, and one video faults the cool white beam and the lack of a very low mode.10 13
Verdict: Buy this as your extra light if you work outside after storms. Buy your AA lights first.
How to choose
How many you need
A reasonable set for most homes is one flashlight per bedroom, one by the electrical panel and at least one lantern for the main living area. That's our suggestion, not an official rule. A flashlight is for moving around, and a lantern lights a room. Owners also suggest a headlamp for working under sinks and in tight spots, since it leaves both hands free.14
Plan for a full night
The average US customer lost about five and a half hours of power across all of 2022, and about two hours in a typical year once major events are left out.15 Those averages hide the bad events. A Nature Communications study of 2,447 US counties counted 17,484 outages of eight hours or more from 2018 to 2020, and 62.1% of them coincided with extreme weather or climate events.16 Size your lights for one full night at a usable setting, and keep spare batteries for a second night.
Compare middle settings, not peak lumens
Peak output doesn't last. 1Lumen measured the PD36R Pro's Turbo at 3,119 lumens at turn-on and 832 at 10 minutes, and one YouTube reviewer saw it drop to about 750 within a minute.4 10 Rated runtimes can mislead too. Under ANSI FL1, the standard flashlight rating, runtime counts until output falls to 10% of the 30-second reading, so a rated figure can include hours at a much lower level.17
The lowest settings don't help either. OutdoorGearLab times lanterns on their highest setting because its testers found the lowest ones sometimes close to useless.3 If a review shows a runtime graph, trust that over the box.
You need less brightness than the box suggests
For commercial buildings, the NFPA 101 fire code calls for an average of 1 foot-candle along an exit path, and a foot-candle is one lumen per square foot.18 19 By that measure, a 10 by 10 foot room needs about 100 lumens landing on the floor. OutdoorGearLab says lanterns in the 200 lumen range suit personal and small-group use.3 In our judgment, a small flashlight's middle setting is plenty for walking through a house. You only need more for the yard or for storm damage outside.
Choose the battery you'll keep ready
Each type fails in its own way. Alkaline cells are easy to find and need no charging, but they leak, and 1Lumen calls them the worst choice for an emergency bag.2 20 Consumer Reports still prefers single-use batteries for emergency supplies.21 We found no head-to-head test for home storage, so aim for what both sides want: cells that are ready after months in a drawer. Store alkalines outside the light, or unscrew the tailcap.20
Two other AA options cost more but store well, going by maker claims. Panasonic says eneloop NiMH cells keep up to 70% of their charge after 10 years, and Energizer's data sheet gives its lithium AA a 15 year shelf life.22 23 ThruNite's page lists only alkaline and NiMH cells for the Archer, so check before you load lithium AAs.1 Lights with a built-in battery need a schedule, and you can't swap in fresh cells when they run flat. Whatever else you own, keep at least one light that doesn't depend on a charge, as one homeowner advises.24
Don't use flame or fuel indoors
CDC says to use battery lights rather than candles, gas lanterns or torches, and warns never to use a lantern or camp stove inside a home.25 That rules out propane and other fuel lanterns indoors. CPSC also says to use battery lights instead of candles during an outage.26 The risk is real. One 2016 trade report estimates that 26% of fatal candle fires happen during a loss of electrical power, though it doesn't name its data year.27 Buy enough battery lights that nobody reaches for a candle.
Check rechargeable lights for recalls, and lock them out
If you own an Energizer Large Power Indicator Lantern, model BGAAL9, with a date code of June 2024, stop using it and contact Energizer for a refund. Don't put it in the trash or a battery recycling box, because CPSC says recalled lithium-ion batteries need special disposal. CPSC announced a recall of about 4,100 of them in January 2026 after an overheating report.28
Other rechargeable lights have been recalled too. Olight recalled about 215,100 M2R Pro and Warrior Mini lights in 2022 after 127 reports of lights turning on by accident and overheating, with 22 burn reports, and BioLite recalled about 5,900 BaseLanterns in 2016 over overheating during charging.29 30 Store any rechargeable light locked out, as Fenix's manual also advises, so that it can't switch on in a bag or pocket.12
Others we looked at
- Goal Zero Lighthouse 600It's OutdoorGearLab's Best Overall lantern, with a score of 81 among 18, and it can top up a phone.3 31 For outages it's weaker. It ran 3.2 hours at full output, its cover is brittle, and its built-in battery should be charged every 3 to 6 months.3 31 The hand crank is a last resort: a minute gives about 10 minutes of light, and a full refill would take roughly 19 hours of cranking.31 OpticsPlanet also says Goal Zero has discontinued it, so you may not find one new.32 Consider it only if you want a USB lantern and will keep it charged.
- ThruNite Archer 2A ProIt takes a rechargeable cell or two AA cells, which is a good idea, but we found no independent measurements of it. ThruNite's page gives two different maximum outputs, and it lists no output or runtime on AA cells. It costs about a third more than the V3.1 33 Turning it off with the side switch leaves it in standby, so click the tail switch before you store one.33
- Acebeam TAC 2AAThe one to buy if you want rechargeable and AA in one light, though it costs more than the V3.1 34 On its included pack, 1Lumen measured 83 lumens on Medium for nearly 12 hours. Its Turbo reading at 30 seconds fell from 1,241 lumens on the pack to 567 on NiMH AA cells, so expect much less from AAs.11 GearJunkie's unit survived an hour underwater and a six-foot drop onto concrete, and Bob Vila found the head gets hot on high.35 36
- Fenix PD36R V2.0Bob Vila's best overall flashlight out of 17 models, listed at up to 1,700 lumens. The article gives ratings more than measured results, so there's less to go on than for the Pro.36
- Coleman Rugged Rechargeable and BioLite AlpenGlow 500Rechargeable lanterns that outlast the Lighthouse 600 at full output. OutdoorGearLab measured 6.4 hours at 400 lumens for the Coleman and 5.1 hours at 500 lumens for the BioLite. Both have built-in batteries, so they need regular charging too.3
- DeWalt DCL040 work lightBob Vila's top outage pick, listed at 110 lumens for up to 25 hours on a 20V or 60V tool battery. It makes sense only if you already own those batteries, because the battery and charger are sold separately.5
How we picked
We haven't tested these lights ourselves. We found no controlled study comparing home flashlights or lanterns, or battery types for emergency storage. The picks rest on outage data, fire safety guidance and bench measurements by reviewers. Those reviewers use homemade measuring tubes on single samples, and some of their units were free, so their numbers are consistent but aren't accredited lab results. Lantern figures come from OutdoorGearLab alone. We don't have long-term reliability data or many owner reports for any pick. CPSC records checked on November 5, 2026 showed no recall of Fenix, ThruNite or UST lights.
Sources
- ThruNite Archer 2A V3 ThruNite, 2026
- ThruNite Archer 2A V3 review 1Lumen, 2021
- The Best Lanterns OutdoorGearLab, 2026
- Fenix PD36R Pro review 1Lumen, 2022
- Best flashlights for power outages Bob Vila, 2024
- ThruNite Archer 2A V3 review Bob Vila, 2025
- Ultimate Survival Technologies 30-Day Duro review OutdoorGearLab, 2022
- UST 30-Day Duro 1000 LED Lantern CampSaver, 2026
- Fenix PD36R Pro Flashlight Review ZeroAir, 2022
- Fenix PD36R Pro Review (2800 Lumens, 21700, USB-C) LiquidRetro (YouTube), 2022
- Acebeam TAC 2AA review 1Lumen, 2024
- Fenix PD36R Pro reference manual and specifications Fenix, 2024
- [Review] Fenix PD36R Pro BudgetLightForum, 2022