This popped up in my newsfeed this morning.
I always dream of backpacking with 350 Watts of solar panels and a 500wh battery stuck to my back. 115v AC is the best part of camping. That battery alone looks (and most likely is close to being) heavier than my entire kit. Great for my knees.
But seriously. WTF. I could see this being marketed to someone like an extreme (think arctic or deep wilderness) outdoor photographer, drone operator, scientific researcher, maybe for land surveying equipment; something like that. But backpacking? Lol.
It also says it doesn't come with DC power out. On the rare occasions I take anything other than my cell phone battery booster with me out into the woods, I definitely don't take an AC inverter with me, everything's done off of 12v and 5v barrel jacks, mostly because inverters are neither lightweight nor portable, by backpacking and camping standards. And realistically, what type of equipment could you possibly need out in the woods that requires AC? Laptops, phones, drones, cameras, and pretty much everything with a battery takes DC. Using an inverter otherwise is just wasteful.
I think a MUCH smaller version would have been better. Maybe a 50 to 100 wh, 12v battery, with a mini foldable panel to go with it to top up cameras and phones, some tunes, a drone, maybe a laptop. Definitely with an adjustable DC out option and lots of QC USB ports to avoid conversion loss.
There comes a point when you need enough power that it's just easier to move with wheels or wings, and I think this is pushing it.
I love backpacking and camping, and I really want to like this, I just... Can't.
The photos in the advertisement don't help much either. That dude's flashlight weighs more than his blanket and is arguably overkill for anything, the oversized Bluetooth speaker could provide music for his whole campground, and I don't think he's capable of carrying that bag far enough to need a radio for anything (To be clear I'm not criticizing his weight, I'm criticizing the bags). I think the advertisement would have been much more effective with a gentleman (or lady) in an orange vest and hard hat flying a commercial drone over some power lines, or someone doing time-lapse photography out in the middle of nowhere.
Seems like an interesting product unfortunately targeted at the wrong market.
I Found the Ultimate Adventuring Backpack, With a Power Station Built-in
The slimline form factor and matching backpack make an ideal combination to power all your things out in the wilderness.
www.makeuseof.com
