5 Best Solar Lights for Camping

Portable solar lights are a great investment since you do not have to lug heavy batteries or gas lanterns around. If your camping area and camping trail receive enough sunlight, you can rely on solar energy to provide the needed power. At the same time, solar lights for camping provide clean energy, and that’s a huge plus.

More importantly, the LED lights inside ensure that you do not worry about the heat when sleeping.

Like most modern appliances and gadgets today, these solar rechargeable lights are also lightweight and compact, thus making them incredibly easy to carry around.

So if you are planning a camping trip this summer and do not want to rely on propane lamps, here are our top choices for the best solar lights for camping.

Let’s get going, shall we? But before that,

1. HISVISION Solar Powered LED Camping Lantern

  • Capacity: 400 Lumens

The Hisvision solar LED camping light is an affordable camp lantern. It can effectively double up as a flashlight in hours of need. The solar panel is at the top, and when exposed to sunlight, a small LED indicator lights up indicating the charging status. It also supports USB charging.

The battery lasts up to 5-6 hours on a full charge. However, when using purely solar energy, you will have to ensure that the panel has uninterrupted access to sunlight.

It comes with four charging modes and also packs SOS distress mode. While the light may not be the most powerful out there, it’s enough to light up the path or the tent.

The low price tag and the brightness make it a favorite among campers. It’s lightweight enough to stow in cars and RVs. And the included carabiner makes it easy to hang it from backpacks.

2. Garberiel USB Solar Camping Light

  • Capacity: 200 Lumen

The Garberiel camping lantern is not your average lantern. It has an overhead light-like shape, making it great to light up tents. Plus, you can easily control the light via the in-box remote. You won’t have to get up unnecessarily to switch it on/off. The solar panels are at the top, and when fully charged, it provides light for up to 48 hours.

Then again, you will have to keep in mind that solar charging is slow and can take a long time to charge fully. The mantra is simple here. The intensity of the light will increase with the accumulation of charge. The good thing is that it also supports USB charging, just if you want to charge this solar lantern quickly.

The intensity of the light is good enough to fill a room. However, the overhead light-like design makes it difficult to light up trails or hang it from backpacks.

3. SUAOKI Collapsible Clover Style

  • Capacity: 140 Lumen

The SUAOKI Clover sports a clever clover style and folds into a compact shape when not in use. Also, you can extend the panels upwards to act as a light. The solar panels are at the top and do a pretty good job of charging the built-in battery, and several users have backed this claim in their comments. You’ll have to ensure that the panels face the sun, and that’s about it.

The light is bright for camps and tents. You can also push the panels inside to double it as a flashlight. Alternatively, you can also use it as an emergency light during winters. The battery life is decent for the price. You can get an hour of low brightness light after charging it for an hour. Cool, we would say.

Like most camping lights, it also sports four lighting modes, including a nifty flash mode.

The clever design means it’s convenient to carry. You can easily throw it in your backpack and get going. However, the lack of a carabiner or a loop prevents you from hooking it to your backpack.

So far, this solar camping lantern has received considerable positive reviews from its users for its battery life, brightness, and lightweight design.

4. Mesqool Store Inflatable Solar Lantern

  • Capacity: 250 Lumens

Another space-saving camping light is the one by Mesqool Store. This one is an inflatable lantern and is extremely easy to stow and carry. The best part is that you can light it up in several different colors to change the mood of your tent. It packs a small solar panel above that charges well when you keep it under the sunlight long enough.

It has a backup charging option in USB charging, and you can use it for emergencies. There are nifty LED indicators at the top to indicate the status.

With 4200mAh capacity, the battery is massive and requires some time to charge completely. After that, it stays on for weeks, especially if you resort to one of the less energy-consuming colors. For the record, it has 9 color lighting modes.

It’s a little brighter than the Suaoki light above and is enough to light up a medium-sized tent with ease. It is highly portable, and you can easily hook it on your backpack’s loops.

Alternatively, you can check out the LuminAID Solar Inflatable Lanterns.

Buy LuminAID Solar Inflatable Lanterns

5. KIZEN Collapsible LED Solar Lantern

The Kizen camping light brings quite a few features to the table. It’s small and lightweight, and the collapsible design makes it convenient to carry around. Secondly, you can also use the collapsed form factor as a flashlight. And yes, there’s a dedicated lighting mode for flashlights.

The base is stable, and you can keep it almost anywhere. At the same time, the metal hook at the top lets you hang it from tree branches, poles, and the like.

The solar charging works as expected. Again, similar rules apply here—the rate of charging will depend on the intensity of the sunlight. It takes around 4 hours to charge it by the supplied USB cable.

It’s a popular product on Amazon and has more than 4,000 reviews. Most reviewers have spoken about its versatile nature, battery life, and bright light.

You’ll Need a Light

Solar lights are a great option if you want to have clean energy. However, charging these lights to their full capacity simply via solar panels requires time and exposure to adequate sunlight. Thankfully, the USB charging acts as the perfect backup.

So, which of these solar lights for camping are you planning to use?

Last updated on 13 May, 2022

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