Photograph: Eric Butler
The winter sky is an intense blue, the powdery snow a brilliant white. You are ready to slalom down an awesome ski slope, with an adrenaline-pumping playlist queued up on your MP3 player. But just as you're getting ready to shove off, your music player's battery gives out.
Several words come to mind, only one of which is printable here: Bummer.
But the fun doesn't have to end. You can keep your gadgets going even when their batteries are exhausted and you're far from a wall socket. At least, that's the claim behind five portable power products I tested. Here's how they deliver.
Charge everything: Mobility Electronics' IGo EverywherePower 3500 ($70) earns my vote for best all-around gadget charger/power adapter for its versatility and compactness. You can easily charge PDAs, cell phones, digital cameras, and MP3 players--up to two at a time. If you want to charge a notebook, however, you have to step up to the EverywherePower 7500, which costs twice as much. The 3500 plugs into a wall (or into a car or airplane power socket), which means that you can juice your gadgets on the go. I keep a charger permanently stowed in my airplane carry-on bag, so I don't have to gather power cords when packing for a trip. Weight: just 5 ounces.
The IGo device uses a system of power "tips," sold for about $10 each. Each tip is designed to connect a particular gadget, such as an HP IPaq, to the charger. When you buy a new gadget, just buy a new tip.
Wear your power: Though it sounds sort of like a recently discovered alternative set of planets, the Solar ScotteVest System is actually a coat with removable zippered sleeves, 42 pockets for gadgets, and a mesh lining that lets you run connector cables and earbud cords inside. But the coolest (or dorkiest, depending on your viewpoint) feature is its detachable solar panel.
The solar panel attaches to the vest's back with Velcro. A power cord runs from the panel through a discreet opening in the vest's back and connects to a removable, rechargeable battery inside. Your gadgets, in turn, connect to the battery via a USB cable. You're not limited to charging USB devices, however. Several companies, such as Zip-Linq, make cables that can connect a non-USB device, such as a cell phone, to a computer's USB port for charging purposes. The Solar ScotteVest battery's USB port outputs 5 volts of power, enough for a PDA or digital camera but too little for a laptop, a camcorder, or any other power-hungry device. You can charge the battery with the solar panel, and then leave the panel at home. If you want to continually power your devices on the go, however, you will simply have to wear the solar panel outdoors during daylight hours.
At $535, the Solar ScotteVest System is costly, though the company offers some less-expensive solar panel/vest alternatives. It's heavy and warm, with a waterproof exterior, so it might be useful for gadget-toting ski bums, bicyclists, and hikers. The battery fully recharged my anemic digital camera within 30 minutes (about the same length of time the camera takes to charge via AC power).
I couldn't charge my IPod or IPod Mini, however. Evidently, Apple's MP3 players differ from most devices in how they receive power via USB. A solution to the problem is in the works, but at press time no one could say exactly when the fix would arrive or how much it would cost.
Photograph: Marc Simon
Keep on rolling: As its name implies, Brunton's SolarRoll 14 is a solar panel that rolls up for storage. Measuring 12 inches wide by 57 inches long, the SolarRoll provides 14 watts of power and can power or recharge laptops, digital cameras, cell phones, and other electronic gadgets.
But the SolarRoll 14 isn't all sunshine, either. First of all, you need to have a car power adapter for each device you want to connect to the solar panel. Car adapters are available for most gadgets, but their cost adds to the SolarRoll's already daunting $399 price. Second, the panel doesn't store power (as the Solar ScotteVest System's battery does). So when the roll isn't exposed to daylight, you'll have to hope that your devices' batteries hold out. Still, if you regularly spend long weekends camping--and any weekend spent camping seems long to me--the SolarRoll may be an option worth considering.
Get a booster: From now on, I intend to keep a Cellboost in my messenger bag. Resembling a slim, silvery cigarette lighter, the disposable battery/charger gave my Sony Ericsson T616 phone an additional 60 minutes of cell phone talk and standby time. Cellboost chargers are available for most cell phone models. They're easy to find--I've seen them in grocery stores. And they're inexpensive; I bought a package of two for $10 at Amazon.com. Only downside: Usually, the earbud and power ports are next to each other on a cell phone's base; so when Cellboost is connected, you can't plug in earbuds.
Get cranked: About 100 years ago, when you wanted to make a call, you turned a crank on your phone to get the operator's attention. Now, when you want to make a call on a dead cell phone, you can turn the crank on the SideWinder Charger ($25).
Turn its crank for 2 minutes, and the SideWinder generates roughly 6 minutes of talk time on Nokia, Motorola, Audiovox, Kyocera, and Sony Ericsson cell phones. The SideWinder successfully resuscitated an old Nokia cell phone that hadn't been charged in months, and it added a few minutes of talk time to my Sony Ericsson phone. On the other hand, 2 minutes of dedicated crank turning feels more like 2 hours, and the noise that it makes prevents you from talking while turning.
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