There are two types of outdoor people – those who enter the woods to get away from modern technology, and those who can’t live without it. For people who fall in the latter category, being without their smart phones is equivalent to missing a limb, ghost pain and all. But gadgets require power, and there certainly aren’t any power outlets in the great outdoors. The only power source on backcountry trails is the sun, and thanks to the Scosche solBAT II Solar Charger, you can bring your iPod or Droid to the campsite, and keep it charged.
The Scosche solBAT II Solar Charger is a very compact, light weight, solar charger that supposedly can provide power to any USB device. Although I tend to shun technology in the outdoors, for the purpose of testing, I brought it along with my Droid to see if it works.
The Scosche solBAT manual says to first charge the device from an outlet at home in order to prime the charger. From that initial full charge I was able to keep my Droid going for two days. The solBAT acted just like a wall outlet and charged the smartphone with no issues. But the true test remained: how would the solar charger perform in the sun?
To find out, I brought both the solBAT II and my phone on a mountain biking trip to the San Rafael Swell. From the Wedge Overlook, I could still get cell service, so I broke out the phone at camp and proceeded to break my rule of electronics around the campfire. Facebook, phone calls, You Tube videos and scrolling through Twitter feeds drained my battery enough for me to require a charge. I had left the Scosche solBAT II in the sun all day, hoping it would be enough to keep my phone going for the rest of the trip. I plugged my phone in with its own USB cable (the one that is included with the solBAT won’t work.) Presto! My phone charged to full power from about 1/4 full.
I’ll admit, I was skeptical at first, but was pretty happy with the way the solBAT charger worked, considering it’s such a small, compact thing. The solBAT is about the size of a cell phone and is thin enough to fit in your pocket. It also comes with a carabiner so you can clip it to your pack where it will soak up the sun when you’re hiking. Also included is a plastic cradle that you can suction-cup to the inside of the car’s windshield for even more sun bathing.
The solBAT II charger has a solar panel on one side, and on the other, a couple of indicator lights to let you know what the little guy is up to. There’s a charge-in light that glows red when the internal lithium ion battery is charging from the sun or an outlet, and a charge-out light which turns green when it’s giving your phone some much-needed juice. There’s also USB in and out ports to facilitate both functions.
The Scosche solBAT II is a much needed device for anyone who goes crazy if their phone battery dies. Plus, it retails for just $30, a steal compared to other solar chargers on the market. So if you know (or are yourself) a tech-fiend who insists on Facebooking while backpacking, then the Scosche solBAT II solar charger was made just for you.
For more information, visit http://www.scosche.com/
$30??? i picked mine up at walmart for $12 and being in the sun for 3 hours during a car ride didn’t charge it worth a crap, and when it said it had half life, i plugged my iphone into it and it said it was charging for 30 seconds and then it wasn’t charging and couldnt ever get it to recharge or anything and now i’m home and its plugged into a wall charger and the light is ‘in’ light is blinking really fast and not even sure how long the battery life will last with it…
I’ve had one for several months now and have used it on several outings. It works great! A full charge, which takes a good chunk of the day while hiking, will recharge my almost dead iPhone in a couple hours while I sleep. It’s perfect, small and cheep. Just hang it on the pack, facing the sun and go! I have also used my iPhone while plugged in to the charger while in the sun and it gives enough juice to run the phone without loosing battery power.
I’ve been using my Scosche SolBatII for about two weeks now as my only source to charge my phone. I have a HTC Evo which is infamous for it’s battery life, but surprisingly it works just fine. Make sure to get good sun with it though. It will also pull power from flashlights or any other light that isn’t l.e.d. for extreme emergencies. The only issue I’m having is that the green (out) light doesn’t turn off…maybe it’s letting out excess juice, I don’t know. This is well worth the $30, you’ll always have it and will find yourself amazed at it’s convenience.