I bought the Biolite Alpenglow 500 on a bit of a whim one day when I was looking for a work light. It turned out to be far more practical than I could have imagined.
BioLite AlpenGlow 500 – Tested
BioLite AlpenGlow
Specifications:
Battery 6400 mAh (23.6 Wh) Li-Ion
Inputs Micro USB
Outputs 1x USB A, 5V / 2.4A
Weight 13.4 oz (380 g)
Burn Time 5 hours HIGH
Up to 200 hours LOW
1 hour reserve power
Water Resistance IPX4
Dimensions 5.4 x 3.8 in (136 x 97mm) diameter
Lumens 500 Lm (High)
5 Lm (Low)
Charge Time 3 hrs by 5V/2A micro USB
I bought this lantern from Go Outdoors back in the Summer of 2023 while I was in the midst of working on a project boat that didn’t have any power onboard.
I wanted a bright white light that would illuminate the boat inside as a general light. I live in a head torch while working on it, but I just wanted something additional for an overall light.
But, I also didn’t want a one trick pony, I have plenty of work lamps already. Once my project work on the boat was done, I also wanted something that I could use daily or on a regular basis.
This Biolite Alpenglow 500 offers a range of light options within the same lamp, including candle light flicker and some other funky colour effects.
It also has a red light function. Another win for the night sailing option.
The price initially felt quite high, but since buying it, I can say it’s been in use almost every day and I absolutely love how versatile it has been. I can sit at night with the candle light flickering while I watch a film and then when I want to do something in the galley I can switch over to something more practical to see what I’m doing. The battery life remaining is easy to check with a row of small lights that illuminate when you change the light setting or shake it.
Once the lamp is down to one dot on the power scale it goes into reserve mode, so the bright white light is reduced to something still functional but power saving.
I use a cable tie looped to hook the lamp onto from one of the cabin hand rails. The metal hook simply folds away against the body of the lamp and whilst it is incredibly useful to hang it, I’d like to see a slightly more secure hook with a gate to avoid the lamp being knocked off or simply to make it more secure if it’s left hanging while you go sailing.
The warm light option of the Biolite AlpenGlow 500 gives a good all over light, if you shake the light on this setting, it dims to a flickering candle light effect, with about the same amount of light as a tea light.
The red light option is quite bright
The multi colour option changes when you shake the lamp from a static multi colour to a slowly morphing colour change that works through a range of combined colours.
