I waited for years to get one of these and as soon as I did, within a couple of weeks, a better one (this one) turned up. Given my appalling record with any Swedish lantern I've ever laid my grubby mitts on, I immediately put it (and it's brother) away in my garage roofspace where they've languished ever since. For some unknown reason, they came into my head a couple of days ago so I brought them down for a bit play. This one didn't really require anything other than a quick look-over and a mantle fitting. I suspect I may have over-mantled it slightly by fitting it with an Anchor No. 4 300-400cp - at least, physically anyway, because the vapouriser is easily capable of filling such a large mantle and it chucks out a tremendous amount of light as a result. To be honest, once I'd lit it, I started timing it to see how long it lasted before the dreaded BMD (Black Mantle Disease) set in. However it ran faultlessly for around 40 minutes last night before I turned it off, and then similarly for a couple of hours tonight. So I may yet learn to love the Preston Ring...
Haha, great that you've got it going... the Optimus 930 is one of the best working lamps in my opinion. I used to get the BMD too on my lanterns but now that I've started to heat the burner tube and clean it thoroughly & free the nozzle of any dust/soot it works great!
You don't get BMD with the 930. At least I never have but every other Optimus I have played with has suffered this problem. Excellent working lamps and I just love them. ::Neil::
I agree, the 930 is the best model ever made by Optimus. It gives a great output so a 400cp mantle is no problem to use. The only negative you can say about them is that they are running extremely hot. After an hour, the entire lamp is so warm that you can hardly touch it, even the fount. This lamp was also made in a 350cp version that was lasting for just a short time. It was a slight difference in design but I can't tell why they lowered the nominal output power. I haven't test the two models at the same time so I can't tell if there is any difference.
Well, it took me two nights (as opposed to two hours, usually ) but it eventually succumbed to BMD. Somehow, I just knew it would...
Probably not worth trying. Unless you have two brand new lamps that is. Lamps that have been used almost never give the full rated power so it is not accurate to compare two old lamps. It would be 50/50 that the 300 was brighter than the 350. I have seen 500 cp Petromax types do less than the 300 or 350 equivalent. ::Neil::
Why Optimus stamped 300 or 350 on the tanks of these lamps is a mystery. The burner parts are the same dimensions as on the 200 model. These burners must have been over dimensioned to start with as the 930 does work well with a 300cp jet. My personal opinion is that a 250cp jet works best.
