I have been purchasing Peerless thorium mantles from the States, and as everyone probably knows, they are excellent (unless you worry about the radiation from them - of course!) Bright white light and much, much stronger than the dreadful offerings that Coleman sell these days. I was keen to see if they were available here in NZ and ended up importing some directly from the factory, but I couldn't get the thorium ones , only the Yttrium versions. Initially I was pretty skeptical, knowing the drawbacks with Yttrium (typically not as bright and tend to run really yellow), but I am amazed! They must have the formula exactly right, have a look at the picture below, both are massive Coleman 550CP lanterns, a Canadian 635 on the left and a Canadian 639 on the right, see if you can guess which is running the Yttrium version. First person to guess right gets a free pack of Peerless Yttrium mantles in the post! (choice of 2C-HG (same as Coleman #21), 24A (same as Coleman #99) or 111 (same as Coleman #111))
Matthew, you're the one! It is the one on the right!! It's very had to tell, isn't it??? If you look carefully you will see a slightly reddish tinge to the light, while the 635 on the left looks a bit greenish - but there certainly isn't any reduction in the quantity of light. Send me an email at sales at justmantles dot co dot nz with your address and preference and I will send a pack off. If anyone else wants any just google 'peerless mantles nz'
Strange, when I put them on any of my 237's they are immediately apparent what its running with. Next to the one that is thorium running on my petromax they sure are different. We're talking titanium white versus sun yellow.
I agree, that is typically the case, that's why I was initially so skeptical ! Just for interest, where and when did you get your Yttrium Peerless mantles from? I just wonder if they have developed the formula further? In my initial tests with these new ones straight from the factory, I really can't see any real advantage in using the thorium version. I even tried my Coleman 285 Dual fuel with one each - see below. The Yttrium 2C-HG did shrink a little more (the righthand mantle), but certainly wasn't less bright:
Interesting. Well I got mine from an ebay dealer that sells them regularly. I wish he had specified that they werent thorium but oh well. The 2C-HG ones I got from him however were thorium so perhaps he was working through his inventory. If the newer ones can burn nice and white then I would get some. If you still want that thorium goodness I found that Liberty mantles from ebay have it. Being from India they have tatty tie strings but they are very sturdy. Btw, could you PT me the address for the factory? I would like to try some
If you are in South Africa, you can get your Peerless mantles from me. Peerless has just appointed me their main distributor for South Africa. 8) (Sorry, primarily intended as informative/helpful news rather than as an advertisement)
My prize mantles arrived and Mark very generously sent me a pack of each type of peerless to try out. Here are a pair of the 2C-HG mantles running on a 295. I turned the lamp down to show how the mantles have shaped, I'll post another picture later when it's gone dark, but they're kicking some light out already. 8) Thanks Mark.
And night shots. 295 running Marks Peerless, 285 running standard Coleman. A clear difference in shape, but equally as bright. They look neater on the lamp and somehow more robust than those long Coleman ones. Both lamps are running at full tilt in the close ups of the mantles and as you can see the Coleman ones have a larger unlit area at the top.
I didn't mean this thread to be an advertisement BUT if you have been getting Peerless mantles from the States but would prefer not to have ones that are Radioactive, I do have them available from www.justmantles.co.nz . I have tried to pass on some great pricing to my fellow enthusiasts and I think we have proved here that there is really no disadvantage with the Yttrium peerless. ALSO postage on these mantles from NZ to Matthew left on a Monday and arrived on his doorstep 5 days later - on the Friday!
