Shorter days are coming, and anyone who camps into autumn knows the reality: you're zipped into your tent by 7pm unless your campsite actually feels worth hanging around in. A headlamp pointed at the ceiling does the job, but it's harsh and nobody's lingered over a card game under one yet.
The latest pick from Backpacker's deal coverage is BioLite's rechargeable Solar String Lights, and the details are genuinely handy rather than gimmicky. You get 40 feet of string that winds into a circular carrying case — and that case isn't just storage. It doubles as a 4,000 mAh power bank, which runs the lights for up to 25 hours on a charge and can top itself back up two ways: plug it in via USB-C, or flip it over and let the built-in solar panel do the work. For multi-day trips where outlets don't exist, that solar backup is the detail that matters.
The lights themselves shine in six colours — red, green, blue, purple, orange and white — or can cycle smoothly through the whole set. That makes them flexible enough to read by in white mode or turn into a backcountry Halloween party in full colour-cycle mode, which is exactly how the reviewer used them on campouts around Texas and Colorado.
Durability is where cheap string lights usually fall apart, and it's where these reportedly held up. The construction is tough plastic with a braided cable, described after a season of use as close to bulletproof. There's even a clever improvisation on record: when a ski tour along the Continental Divide turned into a blizzard, the reviewer wrapped the lights around their pack as a beacon so friends could follow them down through the whiteout. Not the intended use case, but a decent argument for packing them.
So who should care? Group campers, first, since ambient light is the difference between everyone retreating to their tents and an evening actually spent talking. Festival-goers and van-lifers fit too — the whole system packs into a small disc, so it's an easy add to any kit. And anyone heading into shoulder-season or winter trips where nights stretch long will get the most hours out of it.
One honest caveat: this is a comfort item, not a safety essential, and the story comes from a deal-of-the-week feature, so pricing and availability may shift — worth checking current stock before you commit. But as campsite upgrades go, something that weighs little, charges itself, and moonlights as a power bank for your phone covers a lot of bases for one item in the pack.
If your autumn plans include a campsite, a rooftop tent or a long weekend at a festival field, this is the kind of small addition that quietly changes the mood of the whole trip.
Story via Backpacker.
