Review: Luci Solar Light

In  my last video on our teardrop trailer interior shelf, I mentioned that we use the Luci Solar Lantern for some of our exterior camp lighting. Like the Little Sun solar light, the company who makes the Luci, MPowered, also provides the lights to people in developing countries. Unlike the Little Sun who claims to provide lights for every one purchased, customers are given the option to purchase one or more of the Luci lights to someone in need.

The Luci is a solar powered, compact and inflatable light that never needs batteries. It has a little handle and can be used as a flashlight, a table light, for emergencies or as mood lighting. There are several versions including the Luci Color, Luci Lux with a warm glow and the original camping and outdoor versions.

We use our Luci as lighting for our picnic table while eating in the dark, as a side table light when we sit by the fire and (most useful of all) as a flashlight for nightly camp toilet visits. I like that the Luci is light and easy to carry. The Little Sun lamp has a stronger flashlight, but the Luci is easier to hang on a tree or a hook and use as a table light.

The Luci does conveniently compress for easy storage and while you sometimes need to blow into the mouth nozzle to inflate it, sometimes all I do is pull on the handle and it inflates by itself. The batteries can last up to 12 hours, but I've seen our little light still on and working far into the next morning.

Photos by MPowered/Luci

Review: Little Sun Light

I don't normally tout the benefits of certain products on the Tiny Yellow Teardrop, but we just purchased the Little Sun light for the Sunflower and I'm really impressed how it works—and what it does for others.

If you camp, you know how dark it can get at night. I can't count how many times I've banged my shins on picnic tables or tumbled over camp chairs while walking around in the pitch black. We have lights in the teardrop, but wanted a really good light for the picnic table, for emergencies and for taking to the pit toilets. I saw this little lamp shaped like a sun and thought it would be perfect for the my sunflower themed teardrop trailer.

It turns out that Little Sun is not only solar powered and super bright, but proceeds of the sales of the lights go to countries that are primarily "off grid". Nearly 1.2 billion people live in areas of the world without electricity, and Little Sun lights are being distributed to families in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Access to renewable light allows children to study, people to start business and families to eat around their tables—after the sun goes down.

We actually just used the Little Sun as a great flashlight while attempting to fix our broken washing machine. Even after just an hour in the sun, the light was so bright. Little Sun features two light levels, and five hours of charging in the sun produces 10 hours of soft light or four hours of bright light. It also has a little strap on the back so you can hang it from a camp shelter or the roof of your trailer.

Photos courtesy of Little Sun