Thanksgiving Lighting: Lanterns and Headlamps for a Full House
Key takeaways
- Thanksgiving weekend packs a full house into four short days: a dinner that runs past sunset, a grill or smoker after dark, guests in the hallway at night and a driveway to load in the cold.
- Rechargeable lanterns light rooms and tables with no flame. Headlamps light whatever you're looking at and leave both hands free.
- Our holiday lineup: the CL22R for the table, the CL26R Pro for everywhere else, the CL27R and HM53R for the kitchen and grill, the CL20R Pro for a guest hallway, and the HM65R V2 for the driveway and dog walk.
- Charge everything before Thursday. If the power goes out, one lantern in the main room and a headlamp for each person moving around covers the night.
Thanksgiving is a lighting problem more than people expect. It gets dark before dinner is over, the turkey may be on a smoker outside, a houseful of guests needs to find the bathroom at 2 a.m., and somebody always has to load the car or walk the dog on an unlit road. Here's how we'd light a Thanksgiving weekend with Fenix lanterns and headlamps, room by room and job by job.
The Dinner Table: A Lantern Instead of Candles
Candles look nice until a sleeve, a napkin or a small child gets too close. A rechargeable lantern gives the table soft light with no flame, nothing to blow out and nothing to tip over.
The trick is direction: a bright globe in the middle of the table shines in faces, not on plates. The Fenix CL22R splits its light into a 360° ring for the room and a separate down light for the table surface. The ring gives 200 lumens for 10 hours 12 minutes, the down light 150 lumens for 11 hours 10 minutes, and colored lights in the base add a little fun at the kids' table. A simple rotary dial sets the brightness, so any guest can adjust it.
Everywhere Else: One Lantern That Moves With You
If you only add one lantern for the weekend, make it the Fenix CL26R Pro, our best-selling lantern. Its magnetic top sticks under a range hood or to a steel shelf, and its retractable hook hangs it from a patio beam or a cabinet handle. The 360° light gives 500 lumens for 10 hours on High or 200 lumens for 13 hours on Med, and a separate down light lights the counter below it.
It also works as a power bank through its USB-A port, which helps when every guest needs a phone top-up at once. At the end of the night, its 3-lumen red light runs 125 hours as a hallway or bathroom marker.
The Kitchen, Grill and Smoker
Cooking light has to be aimed, and your hands are usually full. Two lights cover it.
The Fenix CL27R lantern has a magnetic, 360° rotating handle and a tripod socket, so you can stick it to a range hood, refrigerator or a cool steel shelf next to the grill and point it at the work. Its floodlight adjusts from a warm 2700K to a cool 6500K and gives 600 lumens for 5 hours 30 minutes; its spotlight gives 800 lumens for 8 hours for checking the smoker from across the yard.
For checks at the grill itself, a headlamp is often the better tool: the light goes wherever you look, and it never ends up behind the lid. The Fenix HM53R has one large side switch you can work with gloves or oven mitts, and its magnetic tail cap lets you take it off the headband and stick it to a cool steel surface nearby, like a side shelf or cart frame (never the hot lid or firebox). Its 130-lumen Med setting runs 11 hours 51 minutes, enough for a whole weekend of turkey checks. Red light can't show whether meat is done, so use white light for that.
The Guest Hallway at 2 a.m.
Overnight guests don't know where your light switches are. The Fenix CL20R Pro turns itself on: its radar sensor switches the lantern on when someone moves within about 1.5 meters and off again 60 seconds after they leave. The sensor is off out of the box, so hold the switch for 3 seconds to turn it on, and keep the lantern charged, since the sensor uses battery while it watches. For a guest room where you just want a night light, the CL20R V2 has a 20-minute delay-off timer and a 1-lumen Moonlight setting that runs 320 hours.
The Driveway, the Car and the Dog Walk
Loading the car in a dark driveway or walking the dog on an unlit road needs reach and a free pair of hands. The Fenix HM65R V2, our best-selling headlamp, has a separate spotlight and floodlight, each with its own switch. Spot High gives 600 lumens for 8 hours 50 minutes to light the end of the driveway, and the floodlight covers the ground at your feet. Its red light, up to 140 lumens, makes you easier for drivers to spot on the road.
If the Power Goes Out
A storm on a holiday weekend means a full house in the dark. Put one main lantern in the room where everyone gathers. The Fenix CL28R lights a whole room from one spot, up to 2,000 lumens, with 10 hours at 1,000 lumens and 360 hours on Low. Give everyone who's moving around a headlamp, and keep a red light in the hallway. For a full plan, see our guide to the best lights for a power outage.
Before Thursday: A Quick Checklist
- Charge everything early in the week. Lanterns take 2.5 to 4 hours to charge, and some only run their lower settings while plugged in.
- Know your spares. The CL26R Pro and CL27R share the same ARB-L21-5000 V2 battery, so one charged spare covers both. Keep it somewhere you can find in the dark.
- Lock headlamps before they go in a bag. The HM53R locks with a 3-second hold; the HM65R V2 locks by holding both switches. A lockout keeps them from switching on and draining in a suitcase.
- Close the anti-dust covers after charging. They keep the charging ports sealed against rain on the porch or patio.
Our Thanksgiving Lighting Lineup
All figures come from Fenix's official reference manuals.
| Light | Thanksgiving job | Max output | Working setting | Battery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL22R lantern | Dinner table | 500 lumens (combined) | 150 lm down light for 11 h 10 min | Built-in 2600mAh |
| CL26R Pro lantern | Kitchen, patio, anywhere | 650 lumens (combined) | 200 lm for 13 h | Removable ARB-L21-5000 V2.0 |
| CL27R lantern | Kitchen and smoker | 1,600 lumens (combined) | 600 lm flood for 5 h 30 min | Removable ARB-L21-5000 |
| CL20R Pro lantern | Guest hallway | 400 lumens | 130 lm for 15 h | ARB-LP1900 pack or 3 × AAA |
| CL28R lantern | Main room in an outage | 2,000 lumens | 1,000 lm for 10 h | Built-in 2 × 5000mAh |
| HM53R headlamp | Grill and smoker checks | 1,200 lumens | 130 lm for 11 h 51 min | 18350 (included) |
| HM65R V2 headlamp | Driveway and dog walk | 2,200 lumens (combined) | 600 lm spot for 8 h 50 min | 18650 (included) |
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use a lantern instead of candles on the Thanksgiving table?
Yes. A rechargeable lantern gives the table soft light with no flame near tablecloths, centerpieces, sleeves or kids. One with a separate down light, like the CL22R, lights the plates without shining in anyone's eyes.
How do I see the grill or smoker after dark on Thanksgiving?
Use a headlamp, so the light follows your eyes and your hands stay free, or a magnetic lantern stuck to a cool steel surface nearby, never the lid or firebox. The HM53R headlamp does both: wear it, or take it off the band and stick its magnetic tail to a side shelf or cart frame.
What lights should I have ready for overnight guests?
A motion-sensing lantern like the CL20R Pro in the hallway, and a small lantern with a low or red setting in the guest room and bathroom. That way nobody has to hunt for switches in an unfamiliar house.
What should I charge if a storm is forecast for Thanksgiving?
Your main room lantern, a headlamp for each adult and your phones, in that order. Then drop the lanterns to their lowest settings overnight; the CL28R runs 360 hours on Low and the CL26R Pro 408 hours on its lowest down-light setting.
See all Fenix lanterns and Fenix headlamps, or compare the full lineups in our camping lantern buying guide and headlamp guide.
