Lamps, Lanterns, and all that stuff...
I am also looking at the Dietz brand kerosene lanterns, ya cant have enough light.
First... Don't use gasoline or pain thinner in this type lantern. There is a name for a kerosene lantern filled with gasoline, its a molotov cocktail, ha. Kids don't try this at home. As a kid I did try this because walking a few miles to the service station to get a soda pop bottle of kerosene was more than I was prepared to do. It was a bit exciting.
I keep kerosene for my back up wick type space heaters, so having a few lanterns seems to be a natural choice. I have heard the arguments on both sides of the red dye, story. For readers that don't know what this is about, the Fed's require the dye in kerosene to identify fuel that has not been "road taxed". I use the cheaper kerosene with red dye, no problems so far and have been using it for years in the heaters. My personal opinion about the dye is there is no difference. If there was a serious side effect they would select a different dye, everyone that uses "off road" fuel, farmers, would be lining up to get the feds to pay for their repairs. Anyway, its a personal choice what we all use, and just my opinion, your opinion is just as good. Before I leave the basic fuel topic, I have used the re-refined kerosene, distributed by Exxon, sold as "clear lite", there is absolutely no smell, pretty amazing stuff. The cost of clear lite is twice that of regular kerosene, but might be worth considering if you or your wife cant stand kerosene smell. Lastly, if you want to reduce or eliminate most of the odor, light the lantern outdoors and take it out to extinguish. Lighting the lantern and extinguishing are the two periods that produce most of the fumes.
The Dietz brand claims their lantern will go out if knocked over while burning, a very important feature. I have not tested a Dietz to verify it, maybe one of us should. I have a Wal-Mart kerosene lantern, and I tipped it over on purpose, not lit. Kerosene went everywhere, not a good thing. That particular lantern may have been defective I don't know. From my survey of the various Dietz (cold draft) type lanterns the light output is low, from a low of maybe 4 candle power up to a maximum of 12-15 candle power, this is in the range of a car tail light bulb. Sometimes you don't need or want a lot of light, just don't expect Coleman type performance. The other options available in the Dietz lineup are very small lanterns, and lanterns with a huge fuel tank, 72 hours run time between fillings. Dietz lanterns are now made in China, like everything else, there are not any other US sources except eBay for an old lantern. Spare parts are widely available on the internet, buy some spare wick, trim it occasionally and you are good to go.
I am glad one of the other post above said something about this. My neighbor invited me over for a demonstration of his Aladdin lamps the other day, these are non-pressurized lamps, that have a mantel as opposed to a simple wick. I was amazed at the light output. The quality of the light is very good, a nice warm even light source, easily as bright as a 60 watt bulb. I was very impressed with the Aladdin lamps, they are attractive, and your neighbor wont think you are a cave man if they see one on your mantel. Aladdin lamps are pretty darned expensive, get ready for sticker shock.
Last, while we are on kerosene fueled light sources, you might also consider the pressurized kerosene lanterns. You said you were not interested in the Coleman variety. Again, for those that are following this thread, Coleman makes two kerosene pressurized lanterns. These lanterns require some pre heating to operate correctly. Typically you will be burning a small amount of alcohol and allow it to burn to pre-heat the lantern, then they burn about like the regular Coleman fuel type lanterns we have all seen and used. Last year I bought a Britelyt lantern, these are made/assembled in the USA, in Florida. Note, some components are made elsewhere, more about that later. "Britelyt is Petromax" if you recognize that name, they bought out all the other partners and former owners. I still call them Petromax named after the inventor, but they are much improved since those days. These lanterns will burn anything, gasoline, yes gasoline, kerosene, diesel, old motor oil, you name it. They have even been run on bio-diesel. These lanterns are not exactly cheap, a little more than the mass produced Coleman lanterns, but high quality gear, nickel plated brass, as shiny as an old Buick's bumper, ha. Beware the cheap Chinese knock offs, sold as butterfly and others, they are not nickel plated brass, more likely thin chrome plating over sheet metal, those should not burn gasoline. That is about all I want to say about these, except, Eddie and the folks there have my endorsement, if you are thinking of a burn all fuels lantern check these people out, give them a call or watch their demonstration videos on line.
That's all I know, keep the post coming I want to hear others experiences, and recommendations.