HybridLight TrueTimber Pro Kit Solar/USB Lights Review

Atlas Lantern/Charger

The HybridLight Atlas Lantern is pretty nice and weighs in at a mere 12.3 ounces. The handle/hanging hook is made of sturdy steel with a plastic overmolded portion. The solar panel covers the eight-sided top, and the base has 4 small rubber feet.

My first Atlas Lantern didn’t work. It wouldn’t turn on, even though the charge light indicated a full charge. Apparently they had trouble with switches on a batch of these lanterns, and the replacement lantern they sent works fine.

When hung above eye level — the LEDs shine upward and are distractingly bright when visible — the reflector evenly distributes the light and provides a pretty good illumination in a small darkened area. It’s nothing like the illumination you’d get from a Coleman lantern, but it’s pretty good for a solar-fueled light in a small package that weighs less than a pound.

The switch is a dial, which clicks on when turned clockwise and brightens the light as you continue to turn it. To switch it off, turn the dial all the way to the left (counter-clockwise) until it clicks off. They say you can get up to 100 hours of light from the 4000 mAh rechargeable lithium-ion battery.

Just below the switch is a black rubber cover that lifts to reveal the USB ports, for charging the lantern or using its battery to charge another device.

The HybridLight Atlas Lantern is 7.5 inches tall and roughly 4 inches “diameter” at top and base. It weighs 12.3 ounces and has an MSRP of $44.95.

PUC Expandable Lantern

The HybridLight PUC Expandable Lantern is a compact light which does double duty… it can be used as a flashlight when it’s closed, or expanded to allow its frosted accordion “lens” to distribute the light in a larger area.

The top of the PUC has a lens to magnify the light when it’s closed and in flashlight mode. There’s a black rubber ring which protects the flashlight lens when the PUC is placed with the solar panel upward for charging.

On the opposite end, four rubber feet protect the solar panel, and a sturdy steel hanging hook nests to one side, ready to be unfolded if you wish to hang the PUC.

To open it, you grab the top and bottom of the PUC and rotate them slightly in opposing directions, as if unscrewing them. They can then be pulled away from one another, allowing the lantern lens to unfold in accordion fashion (like a bendy drinking straw).

A low/high/off pushbutton switch is covered by black rubber, and a flap of similar material covers the input/output USB ports.

I kept the PUC by my bedside all during the 2018 hunting season, and most of the time the solar panel was on the bottom. I never plugged it in to charge, but occasionally flipped it so it would charge using whatever light was available inside my camp trailer. It served perfectly well for more than three months, and still has plenty of charge. Neither light is incredibly bright of course, nor is that necessary of a device like this.

The PUC is rated at 150 lumens and they say its 2000 mAh lithium-ion battery will give you 8 hours of light on high or an impressive 40 hours of light on low.

The HybridLight PUC Expandable Lantern is 4-3/4″ tall (open), 2-1/8″ tall (closed), and 3-1/4″ in diameter. It weighs 7.9 ounces and has an MSRP of $34.95.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.