Outdoors

Modular bottle lantern shines light, plays music and charges gadgets

Modular bottle lantern shines light, plays music and charges gadgets
The multifunctional Playful Base blends lantern, flashlight, speaker and charger
The multifunctional Playful Base blends lantern, flashlight, speaker and charger
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The Playful Base at work as a tent lantern
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The Playful Base at work as a tent lantern
Detach the lantern globe and the Playful Base module works like a flashlight
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Detach the lantern globe and the Playful Base module works like a flashlight
The Playful Base can play music, hold water and light up the table
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The Playful Base can play music, hold water and light up the table
Add colored liquid to the Playful Base and have a more colorful camp lantern
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Add colored liquid to the Playful Base and have a more colorful camp lantern
The Playful Base is sized to slide into the water bottle pocket of a backpack, keeping it easily accessible for drinking
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The Playful Base is sized to slide into the water bottle pocket of a backpack, keeping it easily accessible for drinking
The multifunctional Playful Base blends lantern, flashlight, speaker and charger
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The multifunctional Playful Base blends lantern, flashlight, speaker and charger
The Playful Base is on Kickstarter now
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The Playful Base is on Kickstarter now
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We've seen water bottle-lanterns. We've seen lantern-flashlights. We've seen modular lanterns. The all-new Playful Base from Japan's Root Co. fits all three categories, providing multiple functions in a sleek piece of hardware. It can carry water during the day, spread light throughout your tent or campsite at night, and play music or charge gadgets whenever you need.

The Playful Base is a little different from other water bottle-lanterns we've seen in the past. Instead of a screw-on, illuminated lid atop a standard bottle, Root Co's more modular, multifunctional design integrates the light into a base that also includes a Bluetooth speaker. This base screws into a combination lantern shade/11.8-oz (350-ml) water bottle to become a bottle-lantern but can also be used on its own, both as a mini Bluetooth speaker and as a flashlight that fires light straight ahead. The base can also be used with a smaller lantern shade to create a compact, ultra-portable lantern.

Detach the lantern globe and the Playful Base module works like a flashlight
Detach the lantern globe and the Playful Base module works like a flashlight

The speaker/light base includes a built-in 2,000-mAh battery for up to 10 hours of illumination, 10 hours of music play or six hours of simultaneous illumination/music play. An available 6,000-mAh backup battery screws into the bottom of the base to multiply music play/lighting time. That battery pack also includes two USB outputs for charging external gadgets, adding one more function to the versatile gadget.

The Playful Base's slim, cylindrical design with 2.8-in (70-mm) diameter is sized to fit into a backpack's water bottle holder. It puts out up to 120 lumens and carries an IP65 water protection rating, making it splash- and dust-proof.

Root Co. is crowdfunding the Playful Base on Kickstarter now, offering the basic lantern package (speaker/light base, large lantern shade, small lantern shade, micro USB-USB charge cable) for an €88 (approx. US$95) pledge and the Playful Base plus backup battery for a €132 ($143) pledge. It estimates both prices at 20 percent off of planned retail prices, and plans to begin shipping in June, if everything moves along as it hopes. The campaign is roughly a third of the way to its goal with three days left.

Source: Kickstarter

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1 comment
1 comment
Aross
Interesting but only useful if it had solar charging capability.