Black Diamond Moji Review

Performance Comparison

The Black Diamond Moji outshines some of its compact competitors like the Suaoki LED. It's bright for its small size and very easy to use. It's not going to knock your socks off if you're trying to light a large space, but it's a nice choice for tent time reading or cards.

Brightness

The Moji is not nearly as bright as some other lanterns that we tested, but we were still able to do most everything we needed to. Its lowest setting has a shine radius of about 6 feet, while its brightest setting illuminated the corners of 15' x 25' room. We preferred to use it in our tent at night to play cards and read.

We liked the light quality of the Moji more than the MPOWERD Luci Outdoor 2.0. It's a little warmer, and the opaque plastic cover diffuses it a little better.

At top, the Moji lights up a 2-person tent and a wide area around it. On bottom, the Luci Outdoor 2.0 lights up the same tent, but with a much smaller additional radius.

Ease of Use

This lantern is very easy to use.

Unscrew the rubberized top, insert the required three AAA batteries and you're good to go. Its single power button is textured, so it's easy to locate on the lantern in the dark.

This compact lantern has easily accessible batteries, while remaining highly water resistant. A standard headlamp for scale.

Durability

The Moji is durable, primarily because there really just aren't very many parts to break. The plastic light cover could certainly get a little dinged up, but it wouldn't impact the overall performance of the product.

It has an advertised IPX (Ingress Protection) rating of 4, which means it should stand up to splashing water coming at it from any direction. We left ours out in the rain for several hours just to make sure — still worked great; it turned on, with no obvious water seepage.

Features

The Moji is almost as basic as a lantern can get. Press the power button once to turn it on, again to turn it off, and hold it down in between to either dim or brighten it. It comes with Black Diamond's standard opposed metal hooks on top so it can easily be attached to a carabiner, or hung from a clothesline.

Because of how compact it is, if you don't have anywhere to hang the Moji, you are out of luck. It has no stand or legs, so resting it light side down on the ground or a table means that almost none of the light shines where you need it. Flipping it over so that the light is shining straight up means it's uncomfortable to look at and casts heavy 'telling a ghost story' shadows on people and objects around it.

The Moji lit up in the foreground with its larger sibling, the Apollo, behind it. Both come with opposing metal hooks for easy hanging.

The rubber cap does come in five colors (vibrant orange, process blue, graphite, dark berry, and fern) if that's your thing.

Weight/Size

At 4.3 ounces (with batteries!), it just edges out the MPOWERD Luci Outdoor 2.0 as the lightest lantern in our review. It's 2 ¼" inches in height, with a diameter of 2 ¾" inches, also making it the most compact lantern we tested. We love that it fits in the palm of a hand, so it can easily stand in for a flashlight in a pinch.

Best Applications

The Moji is great for individual use or intimate spaces. We would recommend it for those looking to limit weight and carry just a single light source on an overnight or weekend excursion. It can light up a tent or a modestly sized room, and we love that it fits comfortably in the palm of a hand, making it great for a walk around the campsite in the evening.

Value

At right around $20, we think the Moji is a solid value. It's durable and should last for many, many years of good use.

Conclusion

The Moji continues what we have come to expect from the Black Diamond line. Though we would definitely opt for something like the Coleman Northstar if you are looking for a single campsite lantern, we really have no major complaints. In the Moji, you get a compact, lightweight, bright-enough lantern.