www.etoncorp.com, 3.9 ounces
We love all the features and apps of the iPhone, but bringing a phone or iPod into the backcountry can be a mixed blessing. Sure, you can tweet about your latest wildlife sighting, ask Siri to ID a snake, shoot off an Instagram of the fresh trout you caught, or post a summit photo via Facebook. But all those tasks drain your battery—and the fast-draining batteries of the iPhone is definitely something we don’t like. But with the Eton Mobius phone case, you always have the ability to recharge. A built-in solar panel gives you 25 minutes of talk time after one hour of charging (much longer if you’re only sending text messages or operating the phone in airplane mode). And a standby switch lets you turn off direct power transfer, so you only use the juice when you need it. A small green light indicates how much of your reserve power is left, so that you can regulate use to the essentials (we’ll let you interpret what you deem “essential”). Before our tester headed out on a day-long hike, she used the micro-USB cable to pre-charge the Mobius, giving her the equivalent of an extra battery as well as the solar capabilities.