91SkmQ+946L._SL1500_It was the year of propane accessories. This one was the Coleman 30-inch Propane Distribution Tree. If only we were in Texas, we would have bought from Hank Hill. But instead, we bought from Pittsburgh’s very own Dick’s Sporting Goods, since they are only up the street.

When we first connected the pole to the propane tank, both my husband and I thought it would be taller. Remember, 30-inches is under 3 feet. With the height of the tank added, most people are still looking a bit down at the lantern on top. However, the Coleman gas lanterns (which we’ve used for many years with the small propane tanks) give off nice light, so we thought it would work fine. Also, on first connection, the gas takes a bit to push out the air in the post. It will sound like it is flowing, but wait for the smell. Turn it off for a few minutes for safety and then light. Don’t risk an explosion if too much gas has built up in the lantern before you smelled it and turned it off.

The post has a distribution system so you can use other propane devices such as the cook stove at the same time. The hose to connect these is not included! You will need to buy that separately.

Thanks to Amazon reviewer Jester64 for recommending that the valves be dried after each use. It makes perfect sense that rust could be a problem, as the condensation can really build up.

You can also find the Coleman 30-Inch Propane Distribution Tree on Amazon. This may be a good item to add to your camping kit if you already have large propane tanks available and need a source of light.

Our take:

Since we bought this in 2016, we have since stopped using it, as the plethora of LED lanterns out now are easier, safer and no longer eat batteries the way old ones did. It just didn’t makes sense to continue to drag this along on our trips. Now we keep our propane attached to CampChef tucked under its cover and don’t need to move it to add the light. We’ll look at a few of our favorite lanterns in an upcoming post.

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