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See the 16 tests

1. In the box
2. Inflation and deflation
3. Power button
4. Lighting modes (including red light)
5. Lumen output
6. Run times
7. Shine area
8. Light quality
9. Charging output (phone charger)
10. USB input charging
11. Solar charging
12. Battery level lights
13. Velcro strap
14. Waterproofing
15. Drop testing
16. Portability
17. Pros, cons, recommendations
18. Bonus – MUST read!

In the Box

I bought this Titan brand new from REI, and got only the lantern plus instructions.

LuminAID forgot to include the charging cable, but it’s non-proprietary — any USB to micro-USB cable works. (I used the one from my LuminAID PackLite Max.)

Inflation and Deflation

Unplug the valve at the bottom, grab the base and the top, then pull apart while twisting about 90 degrees. It pops up in 2 seconds. Deflating is the reverse — twist and compress, and it pops back down in 2 seconds.

Note Make sure the air valve at the bottom isn’t covered up — that’s where the air gets sucked in and pushed out.

Power Button

The power button turns the light on and off and cycles the modes. It sits flush with the top, so it’s hard to find in the dark — look for the raised power port cap first, it’s right beside it.

Lighting Modes (Including Red Light)

Five modes — Turbo, High, Medium, Low, SOS — and every one is available in both white and red, with a dedicated button for each color.

There’s no memory for the brightness setting, so you cycle through them each time. It does remember white vs red though, which is useful for preserving night vision.

Lumen Output

Light mode	Official specs	White (my testing)	Red (my testing)
Turbo	300 lumens	316 lumens	21 lumens
High	150 lumens	191 lumens	17 lumens
Medium	75 lumens	99 lumens	7 lumens
Low	10 lumens	1 lumen	0 lumens
SOS	15 lumens	1 lumen	0 lumens

Run Times

Light mode	Official specs	My testing
Turbo (white)	5 hours	5 hours
Low (white)	100 hours	250 hours

Shine Area

• Shine radius 8.2 feet
• Shine area 211 square feet
• Tent size 13-person tent

Light Quality

• Color temperature 5,900 to 6,500 Kelvina cool white

The outer globe is quite frosted, so the LEDs never feel too glaring.

I use bright white for group activities and red for winding down at night — the white mode is 10x brighter than the red (yes, I tested that).

Charging Output (Phone Charger)

Inside the charging port are 2 ports — a regular USB output and a micro-USB input. Plug your phone into the USB and press the button marked “Press for Output”.

• Capacity 4,000 mAh
• Day 1 charge 17% to 97% (80%)
• Day 2 charge 37% to 39% (2%)
• Total charge 82%1 full phone charge
• Time taken ~2.5 hours
• Leftover battery 5–10%15–30 mins on turbo, 10–25 hours on low

USB Input Charging

• Full charge via USB 5 hrs

Solar Charging

The solar panel on top means you can charge it off-grid or during a power outage.

• After 1 day of sun 25% charge12 hours, 7AM to 7PM — worth 1.25 hrs on turbo or 60 hrs on low
• Full solar charge 3–5 daysdepending on cloud cover

Battery Level Lights

The “Press for Output” button doubles as the battery button, showing 1 to 4 bars. I found them relatively accurate during my low-brightness run-time test:

• 4 lights 100%
• 3 lights 79%
• 2 lights 43%
• 1 light 15%
• 0 lights 0%

They were useless during charging though — plug in a fully drained Titan and it jumps straight to 4 lights.

Velcro Strap

The orange Velcro strap is big, easy to carry and very user-friendly, with 2 carabiner loops so you can hang it in your tent.

Waterproofing

Rated IP67 — submersible to 1 meter for up to 30 minutes. I dunked it in my pool for a full 30 minutes, though it was so buoyant I couldn’t get it a meter down.

It still worked great afterward. There were water droplets around the 2 ports but nothing inside them — I still wouldn’t dunk it for too long.

Drop Testing

I’ve dropped my Titan from hand height dozens of times, and down slopes, and it’s worked fine every single time.

Portability

• Weight 11.9 oz
• Packed size, deflated 5.75 x 5.75 x 1.1 in

Pros, Cons, Recommendations

Now, what are the pros and cons, and would I recommend the LuminAID PackLite Titan?

Note If you’re wondering how this PackLite Titan compares to the lower-priced Max, I’ve put together a full comparison.

No breath needed for inflation

Twist it 90 degrees and it pops up in 2 seconds. Solar lanterns that need breath take 10–15 seconds instead.

Puncture proof

Unlike other solar lanterns that stop inflating once punctured, the twist-to-inflate design means the Titan doesn’t have that problem.

Loads of light modes

5 white and 5 red. Not many solar lanterns have red light, which is perfect for night vision without blinding yourself.

Very long run-time

Its longest run-time against my other solar lanterns:

Solar lantern	Longest run-time
PackLite Titan	250 hours
BioLite Luci 360	54 hours
BioLite Luci Original	50 hours
PackLite Max	39 hours

That’s perfect for extended camping trips.

Huge lighting area

The Titan has double the lighting area of the average solar lantern, and lights up a 13-person tent on its brightest setting:

Solar lantern	Shine radius	Lighting area
PackLite Titan	8.2 feet	211 sq. ft.
PackLite Max	6.0 feet	113 sq. ft.
BioLite Luci 360	6.0 feet	113 sq. ft.
BioLite Luci Original	2.2 feet	15 sq. ft.

Bigger than average solar panel

It also charges faster than the average solar lantern. I measured them all:

Solar lantern	Solar panel size
PackLite Titan	4.0 x 4.0 inches
BioLite Luci 360	3.5 x 3.5 inches
PackLite Max	3.1 x 3.1 inches
BioLite Luci Original	2.9 x 2.9 inches

Perfect during a power outage or off-grid, and a great addition to a storm-season emergency kit.

1-year warranty

Very short at 1 year. Somehow every solar lantern brand only gives 1 year, which I feel could be more generous.

Bonus – MUST Read!

Every figure above is from my own testing — measured by hand, bought with my own money.