Outdoors / Home - LightCap200

I've got to admit that I love solar products. But solar promises don't always match up to solar hype.

That's why it's so exciting to find a smart solar product that works even better than I had expected.

The LightCap200 from SolLight turns standard water bottles into solar-powered lanterns.

Weighing just 2.6 ounces, the LightCap fits any bottle with a 2-inch wide mouth, including those from Nalgene®, Camelbak® and GSI®.

The LightCap200 uses four SuperBright™ LEDs housed in a reflective-lens system intended to magnify their brilliance. SolLight says the LEDs should last for 50,000 hours. The lights and all electronics are sealed within the cap so that they won't come in contact with whatever you've got sloshing around in your water bottle.

I've got to admit that I don't actually have one of the water bottles that the LightCap200 has been designed to fit. So I did an improvised test by just placing the LightCap200 on top of a tall glass of water.

The LightCap200 performed splendidly in the test conditions, filling the glass with a beautiful white glow. It didn't exactly make the room blindingly bright, but it definitely gave off enough light to read by (provided that the book is held quite close to the bottle/glass).

I loved the versatility and toughness of the product. A built in retaining ring on the camp lets you suspend your bottle lantern from a tree limb or hook to cast light from a higher vantage point. (Obviously I couldn't try this feature for myself since the lid wouldn't screw onto a drinking glass.)

You can also use the LightCap as a flashlight if you like simply by cupping the lid in the palm of your hand.

The LightCap200 has a sealed push-button on/off switch -- but it also has a built in light sensor that automatically turns off the LightCap200 whenever there's enough light for charging. If you leave the switch on, the LightCap will automatically turn on when the sun goes down and turn itself off at sunrise. (Although with a maximum charge of 6-8 hours, the LightCap will probably fade to black before the end of most nights...)

The friendly instructions for the LightCap200 explain that the cap is guaranteed against failure due to manufacturer defects for 'one earth year' (that's about 1.63 Venusian years, fyi). I love the informality of the warranty. If the cap breaks, you don't have to hunt for your receipt. You can just send back the defective cap and SolLight says they'll send you a free replacement.

Friendly manufacturer + cool Green solar product = a strong 1GreenProduct.com recommendation.

(By the way, if you test your LightCap200 indoors like I did, fully charge it and then remember the room must be dark for the LightCap200 to shine. I thought the product was broken until I remembered to switch off the light and - bingo! - the LightCap200 came on instantaneously. It was a real d'oh! moment.)

Where to buy:

Order your LightCap200 ($19.95) online at SolLight's website or find a store near you using Sollight's Dealers page. [Note that not all dealers carry every Sollight product, so you might want to call before making a trip to the store to make sure the dealer has the LightCap200 on hand.]