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Well, that was a pretty famous tagline from my youth, and perhaps yours as well. Of course, these days, when we’re talking power, it’s all about how to save it (at home) or how to provided it to your electron-hungy devices. These Solgaard devices might help with the first, but they definitely will improve things for the second.
For the provision of the juice, Solgaard actually has two devices on tap, both with a 10,000 mAh battery packed inside, which should give you somewhere around 5 charges of your phone, and a solar panel on the reverse. The solar panel is going to be the key here (and we don’t have any specs on that or hands-on experience with the device) as it’s very easy to put a bad panel into a consumer device, but trickier to get a good one into a device that’s affordable.
So, putting any qualms about the solar panel aside, you’ve got a choice to make. Do you want to jam out? If so, then the $125 Solarbank Boombox version is what you’ll want, as the solar power bank is paired to a bluetooth speaker (which should run for 90 hours on a full charge). On the other hand, if you don’t want to bring the noise, then the $75 version strips that out (as well as provides a much slimmer package).
If you’re wondering how you might want to carry one of these, Solgaard even has an option there for you in that regard. They built you a fanny pack in camo. Why this fanny pack? Well, it’s got a window in it that allows the panels to suck in those UV rays and charge up, don’t you know? You can get this guy for $55 by itself, or as part of a package with the Solarbank ($125) or the Solarbank Boombox ($145).
For me, it really boils down to how well the solar panel performs, and we’ve inquired about a review unit. While camping plans are on hold at the moment, this does seem like a great way to keep your phone powered up (need to check that weather report in the morning) or even get some quieter tunes going by the campfire. solgaard.co
Features from Solgaard
- Solarbank Boombox
- Bluetooth speakers
- x2 Standard USB ports
- x1 Micro-USB port for charging
- 10,000 mAh battery
- Auto-charges in sunlight:(4 hrs of sun = 1 phone charge), (1 hr of sun = 2 hrs of music)
- Solarbank
- Battery stores x5 full phone charges
- Automatically charges in sunlight (indoors/windowsill): (4 hrs of sun = 1 phone charge)
- x2 Standard USB ports
- x1 Micro-USB port for charging
- x1 USB-C Port
- 10,000 mAh battery
