Despite the heat wave we are currently experiencing, I am seeing the signs of summer’s departure become more evident each day and as much as I love fall, I am just not ready to say goodbye just yet.
It has been a goal of mine to do more camping this summer and working at Small Dog has only fueled that desire. With all of the cool outdoor gear from companies such as LifeProof, Outdoor Tech and Goal Zero, I just want to try it all. This week, I was feeling extra ambitious and decided to take an overnight camping trip to Lake Willoughby for my birthday. Due to the spontaneity of the trip I found that I was grossly unprepared, and going through the camping essentials checklist, I was coming up short. I was lucky to find a small store nearby with things such as hotdogs, water and even firewood. All that I needed for the quick trip were the basics: tent, sleeping bag and lantern. With the tent and sleeping bag covered, all that was left to get was a lantern or light source of some sort to carry around the camp site. That’s when I remembered the Torch 250 from Goal Zero. I had been wanting to try this lantern/flashlight/backup battery tool for a while now and this served as the perfect opportunity to do so.
Being that this venture was on a weekday and about an hour and half away from home, I wasn’t able to arrive at the ideal time and ended up getting there around 6:30pm. This gave me enough time to set up camp but it was just late enough for it to start getting dark in the cover of the trees. It was not long before I was using the Torch 250 as my lantern, preparing “dinner” and getting my sleeping arrangement together with plenty of light (250 lumens). As I was winding down for the night by the fire, I was flipping through the photos that I took that day on my iPhone and was prompted that I had less than 20% battery left. Normally, I would not be too upset with replacing the glow of the screen with the glow of the fire but in this case, I needed my iPhone to wake me up at 6am for work. After a little bit of stressing, I remembered that the Torch was also designed to charge devices such as my iPhone and was there to save me again. I grabbed my Lightning Cable, plugged into the Torch, and by the morning I was up for work with 100% battery.
Though this camping trip was just an overnighter, next time I would love to really put the Torch to the real test on a multi-day trip. One of its most unique features is its many ways to recharge its lithium battery. Designed with a solar panel on top, foldable hand crank on the side and integrated USB charging cable, you can recharge in virtually any situation.
Looking at the calendar, Labor Day is right around the corner and there is still plenty of time to gear up for the last hurrah. Swing by any of our locations and ask about a 250 Torch by Goal Zero your recharging needs today. It’s awesome!