70mai Power Station Hiker 400 review: a low weight solution for high tech campers

70mai Power Station Hiker 400: first impressions 

Despite its name, the Power Station Hiker 400 is not a solution for hikers hoping to remote work from a mountain top or wild camping spot. Instead, this solar charger is ideal for high-tech campers who want to power a lot of gadgets during long camping trips or are living in their van. With 378Wh charger consists of a small box with a carry handle that can be charged at home on the mains, or in the field with two folding solar panels that also come with handles and kick stands. It’s gear that can be easily stowed in any vehicle, and carried in two trips from car to campsite.

Once you’re set up, it can charge your phone 28 times, your laptop and drone five times each, and even a mini fridge if you’re camping cooler isn’t cutting it with the picnic supplies. It has an eco mode that turns off idle outputs when you forget to unplug and an LED light bar at the back if you forgot to charge your headlamp (of course, it can charge that too). It only takes about three hours to charge up at home and it’s pretty self-explanatory to use in the field, which we loved. 

As we mentioned, this really isn’t something that you’ll lug along on a hike, even if you leave the solar panels at home, but if you have a lot of gadgetry that you can’t live without when you’re camping, it’s a lightweight solution to staying connected when you’re off the grid.

70mai Power Station Hiker 400: in the field 

I’ll be honest, when I was offered a model of this to test, I jumped at the chance because the name made me think I’d be able to easily set up a hotspot and work from a mountain top. When it arrived, in three separate and quite large packages, I quickly realized my mistake. Fortunately, we still had our camper van, and while we tend to go camping to unplug, I took it along on a couple of weekend trips this summer to get to grips with connected living.

Here’s how it performed:  

Weight and packability 

Setting the solar panels aside for a moment, the actual power station weighs less than four kilos and has a carrying handle. Could you carry it on a hike? Sure, if you’re insane. But realistically, this is a power solution that’s small enough to stash in the trunk of your car and easy to tote over to your campsite. 

The solar panels are equally light and have carrying handles, so they're portable over short distances, and though we didn’t take it far from the van, you could easily cart it across some rough ground in two trips. In short, it is lightweight and packable for a camping charging station, but not for a hiker.

Charging 

In terms of charging the power station, it only takes three hours to fully charge at home, which is ideal. The solar panels take closer to five hours in bright conditions, and of course here in Scotland we can’t guarantee that we’ll get enough sun to rely on these.

Functionality 

When I saw how many inputs and outputs this machine has, my heart sank a little thinking it would be really complicated, but it’s super easy and self-explanatory to use. Just plug it in at the wall to charge it, attach the solar panels via the already-connected cables when you’re outdoors to keep it juiced up, and plug in what you need to when you need to.

I charged my phone and laptop several times, plus some other basic camping tech like my camping lantern and headlamp. It’s got more outputs than we’d ever need, since we don’t camp with a mini fridge and neither of us relies on a C-PAP machine or flies a drone, but if you have a lot of tech, it’s a solid solution.

One slightly fiddly feature is that both the USB-A and USB-C inputs have to be turned on by separate buttons even when the unit is on, but that’s a small gripe. I like the LED light panel on the back for when you’re messing around with gadgets after dark and just as an extra light source, and the eco mode that turns off outlets when things are charged is a great idea.

It’s far more power than we’d ever need at camp, but if you want to have an emergency backup in your car at all times, you’re living out of your van or just like bringing all your toys to camp, you’ll want to give this a second look.

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