Solar charger roundup

You know the feeling: You've made the final ascent of K2 only to find your camera's batteries are dead, leaving you with no way to prove to the guys back home that you were actually there. We want to make sure this doesn't happen to you, so we've detailed our favorite picks for mobile power.

Soldius has the smallest solution I've seen, which also happens to be the most powerful gram for gram. The Solidus1 is a compact cell phone charger designed to provide enough power to completely charge a phone in 2-3 hours of direct sunlight. Amazingly it weighs only 85 grams and will fit in your pocket! This is also the only model I've seen which does not require an attached battery pack. It's compatible with Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Siemens, and Sony phones. A model to charge PDAs and other accessories is in the works now. Here's more information on the Soldius1.

The Solio is another solution, it weighs quite a bit more due to its integrated 1600mAh rechargeable batteries. It uses by far the most unique looking panel setup, called Solar Blade. It has sleek lines and folds up to about a third of its size when not in use. Capable of charging PDAs, cell phones, the Gameboy SP & Gameboy Advance, and iPods--at the same power and rate as if they were using their own power blocks--this is my pick for portable power. $99.99 from Solio.

I run my equipment quite hard, and if you're like me then ICP's PowerFlex is the only solution that you should consider. It is constructed of lightweight, ultra-flexible CIGS solar cells and designed to take a beating. ICP produces 5, 10, 20 and 40 watt versions of the PowerFlex, all of which are capable of being daisy-chained together via plug & play side connectors. These would be great for draping over the rear of your backpack, providing you on-the-go charging of all your electronics or batteries. View the specifications and choose the model that's right for you.

Trekking on a budget? Check out all-battery.com. They're selling the Solar E-Power on sale for $49.99 right now. Compatible with a whole host of cell phones and smaller electronics, this panel is capable of 1.38 watts in direct sunlight and comes with a series of adapters to meet your needs. Here's more information on the Solar E-Power.