Sollight LightCap
By now you may have seen the caps that fit on your water bottle (Nalgene style) that have LED lights inside to turn the bottle into a lantern at night. If not, let me introduce you.
These “light caps” have only been on the market the last year or two. They are a great way to make your water bottle pull double-duty. I have tested one of these before that used batteries to power it. Although it added some weight to your bottle that was unacceptable for some ultralighters.
Meet the Sollight. It fills a new niche for those of us who like this concept, but may have wanted a lighter lid, or didn’t like replacing the batteries. This lid operates on 100% solar power. It emits up to 8 hours of light when fully charged. It can be used with any wide-mouth bottle such as Nalgene and Camelback brands, and boasts 4 LED lights beaming light out. I used this on my recent AT section hike, and it was a nice novelty. I had several people ask me about it and they all thought it was cool.
There are an estimated 146,000 tons of disposable batteries thrown into US landfilles annually. If you hate batteries, like me, consider this little fella. There is no need to replace batteries every few months. Also consider the environmental advantage to using solar power. No batteries to discard, and the energy is completely renewable. This light is brighter than ones I’ve tested in the past, and lighter as well.
The only real drawback to this lid is that it doesn’t come with a leash to attach to your bottle. I made one out of some accesory cord, so no big whoop. If you decide to buy one make sure and use a clear bottle. If you use a bottle with color it will diminish the amount of light you have. Also, if you use a sipper lid you will need to remove that to get the best bang for your LED. Don’t worry about losing your charge in the daytime accidentally, it turns itself off with a daylight detecting feature.
Good product that you can purchase at your favorite outdoor retailer, or buy online here.
1 comment June 4th, 2008
