Two years ago, I was
on a camping trip with some friends and it was dark and late. The fire had burned itself out and everyone slipped away
into their tents to sleep. I decided to stay up just a wee bit later and get some reading done around the smoldering
fire. I was very excited about doing this, because there’s nothing quite as pleasurable as being in the wilderness,
beneath a canopy of stars, and enjoying a good book. But to do this, of course, I needed a headlamp. And fortunately I
had one. So I put it on, sat down, readied myself for a solid hour or two of bliss. Then the batteries went out.
I was furious. Yes, I could have hauled in a bunch of fresh batteries, but then again, what if there was such a
thing as a solar-powere4 charger? Wouldn’t that be a great, and more environmentally-safe way of keeping my batteries
working? Of course.
Well, a solution soon on the market is the Ridata SP 1300 charger, a $40 solar charger that the
company says can fully charge two AAA cells in five hours and two AA’s in 10 hours, even on cloudy days. It will be
available shortly through online retailers and at some retail stores. The SP 1300 it relatively light, about 23
ounces, which means you probably won’t notice it too much if you put it in a pack. But it’s a no brainer for car
camping.