Solar Battery Chargers

What You Need To Know

We're having a hard time remembering our last great family vacation! With gas prices the way they are, it's hard to find the perfect destination for a family of four that's close to home, loads of fun, and doesn't cost a fortune. After thinking about where we wanted to go, and getting all everyone's opinions, we decided to dust off the old tent and have a go at a real-live, weeklong camping fest! The only problem is that I'm self-employed and can't afford to stop working even during vacations, so like it or not, I've got to drag some technology along on the trip. But how do I stay plugged-in when I'm outdoors?

The first challenge is finding a spot at or near the campground with wi-fi capabilities. That's actually not too difficult these days, when every place from the public library to the local Panera Bread is wired. A bigger problem, however, was keeping all of my gadgets charged throughout the week without being able to plug them into the car-charger. So I did a little homework and discovered that there are solar battery chargers out there for all kinds of gadgets and devices, some of which I didn't even know existed!

For my purposes, I was excited to find a nifty little product on the Internet called the Solio. For hand-held electronics, it's the mother of all solar battery chargers. It can provide a charge for everything in my briefcase: my cell phone, iPod, PDA –- even the GPS unit that's going to keep us from getting lost as we explore the coast of Maine on our camping trip. And this particular solar battery charger fits right in my pocket, which makes it a must-have for all the tech-happy wanderers out there.

Solar battery chargers aren't just limited to small electronics either. I can of course recharge batteries of all shapes and sizes, like AA, AAA, C, D, 9V, and even the tiny ones for hearing aids! Plus, I can also buy a charger for the lithium-ion batteries that are widely used in digital cameras. This is an absolute must, because we always end up taking about a million pictures while we're on vacation. There are also solar battery chargers for cars and RVs, as well as weatherproof, collapsible marine panels for boats, which I'm sure will come in handy for lots of folks out there.

In the end, I invested in solar battery chargers for all of my hand-helds and for the car as well. Doing so truly helped make my vacation worry-free, since I knew I'd be able to stay connected and keep pace with the demands of my business no matter how far off the beaten path we traveled!