The Best Lights for Illuminating Your Campsite

Remember when a trusty Coleman lantern was the absolute best way to light up your campsite? Introduced in 1914, those kerosene-burning lamps were a mainstay with outdoor enthusiasts for decades. But nowadays there are tons of slick, new gadgets (for example: SUNJACK CAMPLIGHT ) for outdoor illumination.

Here are the ones you'll want for your next camping excursion.



Black Diamond Apollo
f you're looking for a bit more illumination in a still-portable package, you can step up to Black Diamond's Apollo lantern (a favorite of Outdoor Gear Lab) with a full 200 lumens of power. It has a collapsible design with fold-out legs to give it some added height for better light dispersion. However, unlike the Voyager, it doesn't double as a flashlight. You'll also take a slight hit in runtime, with a promised 90 hours of use from four AA batteries instead of 100.



Black Diamond Voyager
Black Diamond's range of camp lights are pretty well-rated across the board, but Outside especially liked the Voyager for its balance of weight and power. The latest model packs a combination of 140-lumen lantern up top and a 50-lumen flashlight in the base, with the required four AA batteries promising 100 hours of use.



Coleman North Star
As good as battery-powered LED lanterns have gotten, there's still times when nothing but an old-fashioned fuel lantern will do. If you're really looking to light up a campsite, Coleman's North Star will give you a massive 1540 lumens of brightness on the highest setting, which will last for over four hours with a single 16.4 oz. propane tank (the low setting will stretch things to over nine hours). A simple push-button ignition means you also don't have to worry about matches.



Coleman Quad LED Lantern
There's few names more associated with camping than Coleman, and it has no shortage of camp lanterns for you to consider. One of the most unique is the company's Quad LED Lantern, which consists of four flat LED panels than can be detached from the base and used on their own as needed. The individual panels have each built-in rechargeable batteries, but you'll need eight big D-cells for the base.

Trail Camera Review

This question is asked a lot during the purchase of a game camera: (for example: MOULTRIE M-40I GAME CAMERA ) as many accessories exist to make the buyers life easier. But even if you have a wireless trail camera that lets you upload the photos, the answer is yes, you do need a reader for your game camera. In a situation where the wireless in the camera drops out or isn’t efficient, having direct access to the information on your card could make the difference between a successful season and a bad one.

There is also the need to view the photos and videos on a screen larger than the standard 2-2.5 inch screen that a lot of the cameras offer. With the average size of an android phone being 4.5 inches, and the average size of a tablet being 7 inches, these are bigger and better options for getting better detail into what your camera is taking a picture of. None of these options for sale are complicated in any way, and many offer plug and play installation. The question then becomes what is the best option for you as the consumer, since there are about 2-3 different types of readers available for consumption. Here is a small sampling of the memory card readers available that may be of benefit to buy with your game camera.
BoneView Trail and Game Camera Viewer for Android Phones

From Boneview comes this fun way to view information from your game camera by using an adapter that plugs directly into an Android device. The times have changed where every other accessory on the market was for iPhone, and in this case Android users get a low priced device that is small enough to fit in your pocket. Supporting both SD cards and Micro SD cards, this little unit works by inserting the card into the card reader portion and then inserting the micro USB part into your Android phone.

Depending on what your default photo viewer or file manager is, you’ll instantly be able to pull it up and view, edit, delete and even share all of your photos. Although the free app called file manager is said to be required for advanced features, providers like Samsung and Motorola have since added stock functionality to their newer products and it isn’t required.

This is an exciting alternative to the bigger and bulkier viewers that are becoming popular in the market, as this one is a fraction of the size and doesn’t run on batteries. Compatibility issues may be a concern if you have an older Android phone, but for most new phones 2014 and later this will not be an issue. The company keeps a pretty updated list of incompatible phones, so if you see your device on that list it would be a good idea to look elsewhere on this list for an alternative. For everyone else this is a solid device that is worth a buy.
Wild Game Innovations VU50 Trail Pad Handheld Card Viewer



Second on the list is this mini 4.3 inch viewer from Wild Game Innovations that operates on only 4 AAA batteries. The design is thin enough to be able to fit in a vest pocket, but robust enough to where you can see the details of your photos. It handles regular size SD cards and also has support for viewing videos directly on the device.

At its core, it is an SD card manager with a screen, so you are stripped from any compatibility issues, firmware updates, wireless needs or any extra buttons you don’t need. It is a low priced solution that even has a mini USB socket and a headphone jack. Picture options while viewing include a simple zoomer, and the entire viewer is dressed up in Realtree Xtra Camouflage.

The difference between this product and the last is that it is meant specifically for trail camera use, meaning there really wouldn’t be a use for this outside of viewing what’s on your game camera. In comparison to the first product, you could use it for other applications as long as the end product had a mini USB port. But for viewing videos directly onsite using a roomy screen this is one of the better options, and should rank high on a couple of lists. Consumers should give this one a try and see if it fits their needs or not.
Stealth Cam SD Card Reader and Viewer

Staying in the low price category is a product similar to the last, but with a bit more care added to the overall package. It uses a similar 4.3 inch LCD screen and supports SD cards up to 16 GB. Where the two differ besides the supported capacities would be the actual materials and setups.

It uses an ABS plastic housing with rubberized grip that is both easy to hold onto, and designed well enough to be used for everyday activities other than viewing your game hunting photos. The buttons are conveniently located to the right side of the unit, and are so simple in nature that they don’t need explaining. Consumers can plug in the SD card and start using it right away without any type of manual.

Photo and video operations include scrolling, zooming, deleting and even playing MP3 audio and listening to it through the speakers or a headphone jack. Additional features are a wrist lanyard for carrying and an automatic shutoff to save the power of the four AAA batteries. Of these types of viewers, this is the best on the list if you have an SD card that is not larger than 16 GB. For buyers with 32 GB cards you may want to look elsewhere on the list.

10 businesses you can start from a dorm room

1. Information technology (IT) consulting

Information technology is one field where having years of experience can actually work against you. College students typically have the freshest skills in this area and knowledge of the newest technologies.


If you don’t feel confident promoting yourself as an IT consultant to businesses, put the word out on campus that you’re available to help the less tech-savvy majors with their computer issues, and build from there.

5 ways small business owners can close out the year strong

As we reach the final months of this year, it's hard to believe 2016 is almost over. If you're a small-business owner, you might feel as if you're up to your neck in end-of-year tasks: financial reports, payroll, and inventory.

So many things need attention that it can be easy to forget some essentials along the way. To help, here are ways small-business owners can close out the year strong:

3 ways business owners can create loyal customers

Every day, millions of Americans frequent their favorite businesses for goods and services. As customers' needs change over time, businesses must keep a close eye on trends and consumer habits to secure long-term customers. Here are a few ways businesses can grow with their customers to maintain loyalty.