If you love hiking or riding off-road, you know that the one thing you don’t want to be without (besides water) is power for your cell phone. Whether for entertainment or for emergency communications, you need power and your cell phone usually can’t make it through the day without being topped up.

Enter the Bigfoot Solar Power bank

In a unit slightly larger than your hand, the Bigfoot by ToughTested has enough power stored to charge your cell phone up to 8-10 times.  Assuming you’re really lost (or intentionally off the grid) you’ve also got the advantage of a built-in solar panel for a never-ending source of power.

Weighing just under 4 pounds, the Bigfoot is light enough to throw in any bike bag or backpack.  It also features a built-in LED flashlight, so that’s something else you could leave behind.

Durable but lightweight

You don’t need bulk to be durable, and the Bigfoot is a great example.  It’s IP67 rated – meaning dustproof, shockproof and waterproof. Rubberized corners offer great impact resistance. Rubber covers protect all the connection ports.

There are two USB A ports and they are 12W QuickCharge 3.0 enabled.  A Type C in/out port provides for fast charging and for quick laptop charging.  Here are more specs:

Capacity: 24,000mAh.

micro Input: DC 5V 2A

Type-C Input: DC 5V 3A Max

Solar Panel: 5V 400mA

USB Output: 5V 3A

Type-C Output: 5V 3A Max

The solar cell is the only slow feature on the unit, and according to the manufacturer, it is really intended as just an emergency backup.  The instructions suggest not using it for extended periods in the intense sun (4-5 hours), so you could theoretically charge your smart phone sufficiently in three hours with the 400 mAh capacity of the solar panel.

The flashlight offers three modes – a high, a low, an SOS pattern and a strobe effect. The powerful beam is useable up to 100 feet away.

If you’re heading off the grid, head first to the Tough-Tested website and pickup a Bigfoot 24,000mAh Solar Power Bank.   http://toughtested.com/bigfoot-24-000mah-solar-power-bank-with-torch-flashlight.html

 

Disclosure:  We were provided with a Bigfoot Solar Power Bank so we could do test it for this review. Opinions however, are strictly our own, as always.