Streamlight Siege vs Super Siege

For a power cut, buy the plain Streamlight Siege. For camping or a vehicle, buy the Super Siege. They weigh the same within 11 grams, they carry the same IPX7 rating, and they both float. The difference is what is inside: three D cells against a sealed rechargeable pack - and on Streamlight's own published figures the D cells deliver roughly two and a half times the total light per fill. What the Super Siege buys with that trade is twice the peak output and a USB power bank.

We have not handled either lantern. We own none of the products on this site and have no laboratory. Every figure below is Streamlight's own, read from its own product pages on October 17, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively - see our methodology.

Both sheets, side by side

Streamlight publishes five output-and-runtime pairs for the Siege and six for the Super Siege. That is more disclosure than any other lantern maker we have been able to reach, and it is what makes the arithmetic below possible.

The arithmetic that settles it

Multiply each published output by its published runtime and you get the total light each lantern commits to delivering from one fill. Do it on both sheets and the cheaper lantern wins by a margin no amount of peak output closes.

Note what that does not say. It does not say the Super Siege is a worse lantern; it says the Super Siege spends its energy faster and more brightly, which is exactly what you want when you can recharge it the next morning. It also does not say anything about brightness over time - both figures are ANSI FL 1 runtimes, measured until output falls to 10 percent of its starting value, so both include a dimming tail. How runtime is defined sets out the standard.

Why the power source decides the use case

An outage light is judged on whether it works after two years in a cupboard, which is the argument that runs through all of our outage coverage. A sealed lithium-ion pack self-discharges while it waits, so the Super Siege wants a top-up every few months to be trustworthy. Three D cells do not: you can put a fresh set in during the outage itself, in the dark, through a keyed door Streamlight designed for exactly that.

The one caveat on the Siege is the other side of the same coin. Alkaline cells left inside a light for years frequently leak, and the potassium hydroxide that comes out destroys the contacts and usually the lantern. Our standing advice applies: store the cells beside it rather than in it, or keep lithium primaries for the lights that wait. Cell formats explained covers the chemistry.

How many lanterns, which is the question underneath this one

Before choosing between them it is worth noticing that these two lanterns cost very different amounts, and that the argument on our home flashlight page is that coverage beats performance in an outage. A house with one 1,100-lumen lantern in the kitchen still has dark bedrooms.

On live pricing the plain Siege is usually a fraction of the Super Siege, and two Sieges in two rooms is a better-lit house than one Super Siege in one room - with twice the total light again by the arithmetic above. We would rather own two of the cheaper lantern and a headlamp per adult than one of anything, and the outage lighting kit page sets that arrangement out in full.

The case for a single Super Siege is different and real: it is one object that lights a campsite, charges a phone and takes a knock, which suits a vehicle or a trip rather than a cupboard. Buying two of those would be buying the power bank twice.

Red modes, and the one that is actually useful

Both lanterns have a red mode and they are not comparable. The Siege publishes 10 lumens for 235 hours, which is enough red light to move around a room by. The Super Siege publishes 2.7 lumens for 140 hours and 1 lumen for 348 hours, which is a marker rather than a working light.

For a house in an outage, the Siege's red mode is the one we would actually use - it preserves dark adaptation and still lets you find a drawer. The Super Siege's 348-hour setting is better understood as a be-seen beacon. What a red mode is for covers the physiology; the same reasoning applies to a lantern on a kitchen table.

What they share, which is more than you would expect

• IPX7 on both, stated as waterproof to 1 m submersion. Under IEC 60529 the X means no dust rating was declared.
• A 2 m impact rating on both, tested rather than asserted.
• Both float. Streamlight states it explicitly for each, which is a useful property in a flooded basement and a camp near water.
• Both give 360-degree light with a removable glare cover, which is the right beam shape indoors and the reason a lantern beats a flashlight in a room at all.
• Neither publishes a cell capacity, which is the one conspicuous gap on two otherwise exemplary sheets.
• Effectively the same weight and height. 878.83 g and 18.42 cm against 868 g and 19.05 cm - these are the same object in your hand.

Which to buy

Buy the Siege for a house, a cupboard or a go-bag. Best for anyone whose lantern will sit unused for months: 540 lumens for 30 published hours, 55 lumens for 295, a 10-lumen red mode for 235, three D cells you can replace in the dark, 878.83 g, IPX7, a 2 m impact rating and it floats. Its honest downsides are that D cells are not included, alkalines leak if left in for years, and 540 lumens will not light a whole floor. The full review goes through the sheet.

Buy the Super Siege for camping, a van, or anywhere you charge things daily. Best for anyone who wants maximum light now and will plug it in later: 1,100 lumens for 5 h 45 min, 550 for 11 h 30 min, 125 for 36 h 15 min, a USB power bank rated at four-plus phone charges, 868 g, IPX7, 2 m impact, and it floats too. Its honest downsides are a sealed pack that self-discharges in storage, a quarter of the Siege's total light per fill, a red mode too dim to work by, and no published cell capacity to check the power-bank claim against. The full review covers it.

If you want neither: a Maglite ML300L 3-Cell D is the other way to answer the same question. It is a flashlight rather than a lantern, so the beam is wrong for a room - but Maglite publishes 298 hours at 23 lumens, it runs on the same D cells, and it is the only directional light we cover with a comparable endurance figure. Flashlight versus lantern sets out which shape you actually want, and the home flashlight page argues for owning several cheap lights instead of one good one.