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See the 15 tests

1. In the box
2. Light modes
3. Run times
4. Indicator lights
5. Lumen output (flood)
6. Lumen output (spot)
7. Shine distance (flood)
8. Beam distance (spot)
9. USB charging
10. Solar charging
11. Mobile charging
12. Hooks
13. IP rating
14. Quality
15. Portability
16. Pros, cons & recommendations
17. Bonus – MUST read!

In the Box

• The Torch 500
• A user guide
• A USB-A to USB-C cable

Light Modes

• Spot button: Flashlighthigh → medium → low → off
• Flood button: Lanternthe same four-press cycle
• Both together: Yesany combination of the two

The two buttons are identical, so it’s a 50-50 chance I press the wrong one when I’m turning it on in the dark.

If you leave a mode running for more than about 6 seconds, the next press turns the light off instead of cycling it on, which is a nice touch.

Run Times

I timed all nine modes from a full charge down to a flat battery.

Mode	Brightness	My testing (hours)
Spotlight	High	3.6
Spotlight	Medium	9.9
Spotlight	Low	28
Floodlight	High	3.75
Floodlight	Medium	7.5
Floodlight	Low	19.8
Spot + flood	High	3
Spot + flood	Medium	4.5
Spot + flood	Low	12.2

Running both lights at once costs you somewhere between 20% and 60% of the run time, depending on the setting.

Indicator Lights

There are 4 lights at the top and no other battery gauge, so in theory each one is another 25%. They only stay on for about 10 seconds after you turn a light on, which made this a hard test to run, so take these as rough estimates:

Lights	Floodlight (High)	Floodlight (Low)	Charging in	Charging out
4/4	100%	100%	100%	100%
3/4	92%	87%	85%	88%
2/4	66%	72%	65%	75%
1/4	43%	49%	26%	49%
0/4	0%	0%	0%	0%

It drops from 4 lights to 3 much faster than I expected, and 2 lights still leaves you with a fair bit. The last light holds most of the charge, anywhere from 40% to 50% of it.

Lumen Output (Flood)

I pointed the floodlight straight into a lux meter on a full battery, and read all three brightness settings off it.

Brightness	My testing (lumens)
High	1,663
Medium	750
Low	291

Turning the spotlight on at the same time barely touches it. The floodlight on its own read 1,663 lumens, and with both running it read 1,630, which is a 2% drop.

Lumen Output (Spot)

To test for the spotlight lumen output, I used a ceiling bounce test.

Brightness	Bounce distance	Reading (lux)	Estimated output (lumens)
High	9.2ft	13	320
Medium	19.7in	125	98
Low	19.7in	40	31

Note: A bounce test gives only a very rough estimate, not a lab measurement.

That’s a decent spread, from 31 lumens up to 320.

Shine Distance (Flood)

With the floodlight on, I walked the lux meter away from it until the reading hit zero, then measured that distance.

• High: 13.9ft
• Medium: 9.9ft
• Low: 6.0ft

Beam Distance (Spot)

I measured the spotlight the same way, walking the meter back until it read zero.

• High: 52.1ft
• Medium: 34.4ft
• Low: 21.3ft

USB Charging

• Charging port: USB-Cunder the waterproof flap
• Charge time: 4 hrsmeasured at 5V, 1A

I charged it from a USB-C source and then from a USB-A one. Both drew 5V at 1A, and both took almost exactly 4 hours.

You can tell it’s still charging while the indicator lights are blinking. All four go solid once it’s full.

Solar Charging

• Full charge from flat: 42 hrsof full sun, which was about a week for me
• One 12-hour day: 14.8%26.5% up to 41.3%

That day’s 15% buys you 2.9 hours of floodlight on low, or 4.1 hours of spotlight on low.

Warning: It won’t solar charge at all once the battery is completely flat, so top it up before that last indicator light goes out.

Mobile Charging

• Output port: USB-A
• Output: 5V, 2.1A max

I charged my iPhone 12 from the Torch twice, then ran the light on what was left over:

Test	Start	End	Total charge	Time taken
1st charge	17%	94%	77%	1 hr 36 min
2nd charge	12%	68%	56%	1 hr 31 min
Leftover light	3%	0%	–	48 min

It stopped charging my phone when the last indicator light started blinking. That last 3% still gave me 48 minutes of spotlight on its dimmest setting.

Hooks

• Hooks: 2 at each endtop and bottom

Use both hooks together and they form a closed loop. Because there’s a pair at each end, I can hang it either way up, which I thought was well designed.

IP Rating

• Official rating: IP67heavy rain, water jets, and submersion to 1 meter for 30 minutes
• My tested rating: IP67it passed all three

First it took 30 minutes of heavy rain, then 10 minutes of high-pressure water jets.

Then I put it under water for 30 minutes.

Of the 7 lantern flashlights I tested, this is the only one that came through a full submersion.

Quality

• Materials: High-grade plastic, aluminum and rubber
• Color temperature: 3,000K spot, 3,500K floodboth warm
• Made: Designed in the USA, made in China
• Warranty: 2 years

I’ve dropped it a few times now and every mode still works fine, so durability is good overall even though it’s heavy.

You can also charge it and use it at the same time.

Portability

• Weight: 13.1oz
• Packed size: 8.8 x 2.2 x 1.4in

That makes it the heaviest and the bulkiest of the 7 lantern flashlights I tested.

Pros, Cons & Recommendations

Now, what are the pros and cons, and would I recommend the Goal Zero Torch 500?

Pro #1 – Feature-rich

This is a very feature-rich camping light. You get:

• A lantern and a flashlight in one
• Battery indicator lights
• USB charging
• Solar charging
• Mobile charging
• Hooks at the top and the bottom

Pro #2 – Built-in solar panel

If you want a lantern flashlight that runs off the sun, this is the only one I’ve got. Just bear in mind that a full charge from flat takes 42 hours of sun, which worked out to about a week for me.

Pro #3 – Good battery capacity

At 5,200 mAh it holds double what the other Goal Zero lantern flashlights do, and I got a little more than double the phone charging out of it:

Goal Zero	Capacity (mAh)	iPhone 12 (20-95%)	Max current
Torch 500	5,200	133%	2.1A
Micro Charge	2,600	65%	1.0A
Micro Flash	2,600	–	1.0A

That 133% would be higher still if I’d charged from 20% to 80% rather than running my phone all the way up to 95%. The 2.1A max current also charged my devices about 20% faster.

Pro #4 – Great shine and beam distance

The lantern’s shine distance and the flashlight’s beam distance are both impressive:

Goal Zero	Brightness	Shine distance (flood)	Beam distance (spot)
Torch 500	High	13.9ft	52.1ft
Torch 500	Low	6.0ft	21.3ft
Micro Charge	High	4.31ft	25.4ft
Micro Charge	Low	0.86ft	3.0ft
Micro Flash	High	4.09ft	24.5ft
Micro Flash	Low	0.86ft	3.6ft

On High the Torch’s lantern throws light more than twice as far as the other two, and its flashlight beam is double theirs. Even the Low settings hold up well.

Pro #5 – Can take quite a beating

The IP67 rating is real. It took heavy rain, water jets and a full 30-minute submersion, and held up every single time:

Goal Zero	Official rating	My tested rating
Torch 500	IP67	IP67
Micro Charge	IPX6	IPX5
Micro Flash	IPX6	IPX5

Only the Torch can go fully underwater and still work. The other two came out of the water-jet test with their indicator lights permanently left on.

Con #1 – Heavy and bulky

The built-in solar panel makes this a big, heavy flashlight, and that shows when you put all three Goal Zeros side by side:

Goal Zero	Weight (oz)	Packed size (in)
Torch 500	13.1	8.8 x 2.2
Micro Charge	3.03	4.4 x 1.5
Micro Flash	2.75	3.7 x 1.5

It’s more than four times the weight of the other two, and double the length.

Con #2 – Not dim enough

The dimmest lantern setting is 291 lumens, which is far too bright to use as a night light.

The Micro Charge and Micro Flash both go down to zero lumens, which is what I want when I’m reading in the dark.

Con #3 – Short run times

Because the Torch is so bright at the bottom of its range, the run times don’t go far:

Goal Zero	Mode	Dimmest lumens	Max run-time (hours)
Torch 500	Lantern	291	19.8
Torch 500	Flashlight	31	28
Micro Charge	Lantern	0	274
Micro Charge	Flashlight	0	239
Micro Flash	Lantern	0	353
Micro Flash	Flashlight	0	308

Goal Zero quotes 50 hours on both of the dimmest settings. I got 19.8 and 28.

Bonus – MUST Read!

I measured every number on this page myself.