Best Place To Order Chinese Lanterns?

They look like great Fun. I want to order a bunch of them to just light for the heck of it.
What is the best, reliable place to get some decent ones?

I found amazon has some good ones. what I have found is that the cheap ones are CHEAP. the more expensive they are the better they are going to be. just make sure to fully inflate them and then light the upside down and flip them over while inflating it even more and let them go. I have found that to be the best way. the directions say to light them upright but they then take forever to inflate and launch and by then half the fuel has burnt away.

We get ours when we come back from SC. Jabs Fireworks is the name of the store.

When I was in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, in 03, they gave me a Weekend off. I saw this Giant Baloon, and had to find out what was going on.
I went over to this Site that had a Trailer, 3 Personnel, and a Radar Dish looking Thingy.
I ended up getting to work with "Metro" for the Weekend, and got to launch "Radiosonds".
It's a tiny Weather Meter, with a Water Activated Battery, attached to a Balloon.
They use them to get up to date Meteorological Data, to use for making our Artillery Shots more accurate.
The SGT. in Charge of the Site, was actually a Meteorologist back in the States! I learned a lot, but mostly just thought it was cool to be launching Baloons.



Good Times with things that go up.

How do Cold Temperatures affect a Chinese Lantern by the way??

Would I be able to launch them in this crazy cold Weather?
I intend to order some in the next few Days, and it will still be rather cold here.

I ordered 2 cases from skylighter on separate occasions. First case was decent, but they flew best in the winter. Summer was a little 2 hot to get enough lift. The second case was terrible. They were half the size, rusty, and they peeled apart. The fuel was weak so they came with an extra paraffin block to attach. This was too weak to help, but burned for a long time (A.K.A. fire hazard). I put most of that case out in the trash.

Ref: Cold temperature flying.

She should be able to get airborne at a lower temperature and ascend faster as cold air is more dense.

Chilli said:

She should be able to get airborne at a lower temperature and ascend faster as cold air is more dense.

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That's what I was hoping for. Thanks.

Skylighter often has them on special.

I've bought them from this eBay seller with great results--my daughter loves to launch them.

The ebay ones look nice. Colored ones too. Mine were all white - except where the rusted wires stained them brown.

Have had real good luck with SkyLanterns.us

Lots of options on the coloring and, styles...Lanterns fly real well in cold weather. Big thing is NO wind...or just a whisper in the air.
I've found the trick (for me) is to get the wax paper *splayed out* on all four corners and, light them with just a simple lighter. Then when all the corners are burning well, flip the lantern in it's upright orientation and, then come in from below with a small Map Gas, heating torch and, PUFF...PUFF...PUFFFF! just like a hot air balloon......then let er fly!

Have used almost a full case now and, not a single bad one in the batch.....so far!

blackbrandt said:

We get ours when we come back from SC. Jabs Fireworks is the name of the store.

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Is this the place at Hwy 9 and I-95?

I buy mine through skylighter and have had very good luck with them. I only fly the lanterns in the winter and shut down flying them when fire season begins. You have to be careful with them and fly the lanterns only in light winds.

I just ordered a couple different types off of Amazon.
We have some nights here where there is zero wind whatsoever, and it is really cold. These should be a lot of fun.
Here in my Town, we have a bunch of "Country Bumpkins", who will inevitably think they saw a doggon' UFO.
I ordered a Package of Colored ones and a Package of White ones.

I would eventually like to get my Hands on some Weather Balloons like the ones I got to play with that time in the Army. They could likely lift a couple of small LED Flashlights.:wink:

Perhaps I'll connect them together with Fishing Line so that they fly within certain Proximity to one another???

TopRamen said:

I just ordered a couple different types off of Amazon.
We have some nights here where there is zero wind whatsoever, and it is really cold. These should be a lot of fun.
Here in my Town, we have a bunch of "Country Bumpkins", who will inevitably think they saw a doggon' UFO.
I ordered a Package of Colored ones and a Package of White ones.

I would eventually like to get my Hands on some Weather Balloons like the ones I got to play with that time in the Army. They could likely lift a couple of small LED Flashlights.:wink:

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I see nothing... I hear nothing... I say nothing... (Ok... Maybe I do say something... Find the hidden link)

Jim

That was fast!!! They just arrived this morning. Let the Fun begin!

These folks on Youtube build some crazy huge Chinese Lanterns.

[video=youtube;xeOq2cgo8mY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeOq2cgo8mY[/video]

The British seem to be quite fond of these. Most of the Youtube Videos I've seen are folks with a British Accent, that cus a lot.
In one, a Guy and a Girl are launching them in their Front Yard, and they keep crashing into their Neighbors "Gardens" and getting hung up in the Power Lines.

I just launched one!!! These are great fun. One of my Neighbors was driving by and stopped to ask me what it was up in the Sky. We watched it til' it dissappeared over the top of my Hill. Before it dissappeared, the Flame Resistant Paper seemed to catch Fire, and the Balloon began putting Black Smoke out of it. My crazy neighbor suggested putting a Ziplock Bag of Propane in one. I'll have to pass on that.

Launched one of the Colored ones with similar results. Think I'll wait til' Dark to launch more.

They are definitly more impressive at Night. Just launched a Yellow one, and it was awesome!

Video!!!

[video=youtube;6PTmRI0V7cs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PTmRI0V7cs&feature=youtu.be[/video]


I love these things!!!

Wow! These things can fly forever given the right Conditions.

Tonight, the Skies belong to me!

Just launched another one. Best Launch yet!!!

I only have like 6 left. They are too much fun. I'll have to order more.
They are very cheaply made, and some of them had Gaps or Rips in the Paper.
I inspected each of them thoroughly before Launch, and Taped up the ones that needed it.

Now my Neighbors are shootin' off Guns and launching Fireworks. Maybe I should go put up another Lantern?

TopRamen said:

Now my Neighbors are shootin' off Guns and launching Fireworks. Maybe I should go put up another Lantern?

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Night time skeet shooting!