Brunton's Portable Solar Panel

How many times did you run out of power when you needed it the most? For example, somewhere up in the mountains on a sunny day (not so great for taking photographs, but I need the example to make a point), the camera which you relied on to capture a breathtaking landscape 'faints' suddenly and dies on you. After a close inspection, you realize that your batteries are dead and you don't have spares.

If you are not into gadgets, you might have to settle with the admitting, but if you never miss a device from the Gadget of the Day section, you might be able to do something about it.

The solution comes from Brunton, producer of camping equipment and much more, and it consists of a flexible solar panel which can be rolled similar to a sleeping bag.

With the help of these SolarRolls, you can recharge almost any portable device, from cell phones to laptops, the only prerequisite being the presence of the solar rays.

Moreover, if you have several panels, you can connect them and obtain even more power.

Brunton offers three models, each of them being suitable for a certain category of devices. SolarRoll 14 measures approximately 30 centimeters in width and almost 1 meter in length, it has an output of 14 Watts (15.4 Volts / 900 mA) and can be used to recharge laptop and satellite phone batteries. SolarRoll 9 is the 9 Watt model, 30 x 100 cm, (15.4 Volts / 600 mA), suitable for cell phones and photo and video cameras, and SolarRoll 4.5 has the lowest output, 4.5 Watts, (15.4 Volti / 300 mA), 30 x 45 cm and it can be used for cell phones and PDAs.

Although at first sight, the prices might seem a little bit steep, on the long run, you will cushion your investment. SolarRoll 14 costs $399, SolarRoll 9 has a price tag of $279, and the SolarRoll 4.5 costs $169.

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