Going camping doesn’t mean that you have to leave certain amenities behind. Electronic devices, for example, can be great additions to your camping trip. Checking out local attractions, looking up trail maps, keeping tabs on the weather, and taking pictures/video can really add a lot to a weekend spent camping. Keeping those favorite devices charged when you are outdoors can be a pain. You either have to bring spare batteries for everything, tons of cables and adapters, or barely use your devices so they last the weekend. The Aspect Solar EnergyBar 100 was designed just for these reasons. We took it out for a weekend, armed with a host of electronics that needed to be charged, here is what we found:

Appearance: At unboxing, you are greeted with an aluminum exterior that feels great in the hand. At just over 3lbs, the Aspect Solar SunSocket EnergyBar 100 (EB-100) is portable, lightweight, and packs a surprising amount of charging ability in such a compact unit.

Functionality: You have four ways to charge the EB-100: a standard wall AC outlet (cable included with purchase), a vehicle socket (with DC-154 adapter cable), solar panels, or by a SunSocket Solar Generator. We tested it with both the standard wall AC cable and Aspect Solar’s EP-60 Portable Solar Panels and both worked great (read about it below).

With two USB ports and a standard vehicle socket DC outlet, you can pretty much charge anything you’d want. If you want to charge mobile devices and small electronics, you can plan on getting up to 10-hours of charge time! Heck, you can even run an LED television off the EB-100 for over 3 hours if you happen to crave some TV time outside.

Ease of Use: Right out the box, you can easily charge the EB-100 with a standard wall outlet and it works great. We were able to completely charge it in an hour. But we didn’t want to stop there. We headed outside and charged the EB-100 with Aspect Solar’s EP-60 Portable Solar Panels to really put the battery to the test. Here is the rundown of what we found: The EP-60 solar panels are incredibly sweet. Quick setup, easy to use, and we were charging in seconds. We tested both units on this bright and sunny day. It took just over 5-hours to take the EB-100 from no-charge to full battery with the solar panels – pretty impressive in our eyes.

Value: At $199.99, Aspect Solar is making portable energy accessible and affordable for regular people like us. Even considering the excellent build quality, great functionality, and array of compatible devices, it’s still a big purchase, so you want it to last for years. Don’t worry. The EB-100, and every Aspect Solar product, comes with a great 5-year guarantee warranty program that is actually easy to understand.