Goal Zero Torch 250
It charges your electronics and keeps the campsite bright.
Brand: Goal Zero
Model: Torch 250
Illumination
The 70 lumen floodlight creates a 15-foot-wide pool across a campsite, and it ran for nearly a week of nightly use on low (a weekend on high). The 180-lumen spotlight cast a bright, 35-foot-long cone.
Power
The rechargeable 4400mAh battery can juice up any USB device (full, it gave us two complete charges on a smartphone).
Self-charging
When the battery is drained, you have two options for recharging in the field. Option 1: Crank the stowaway handle—two minutes of winding produces five minutes of light. Option 2: Charge it via the sun with the onboard 8-watt monocrystalline solar panel. Solar charging is slow, though: Our tester reports that it took two full days of bright Nevada sun to get a full charge.
Versatility
It proved useful in daily life, too. “It’s small enough [think box of mac ’n’ cheese] that I could keep it in my bag at all times to bring back a dead phone or Bluetooth device,” one tester says.
Ding
The fastest way to charge the battery pack is by plugging the onboard USB cable into an AC adapter, but even that takes seven hours.
14.4 oz.; $80; goalzero.com