Do you listen to tunes when you’re camping or doing adventure sports in the wild? Or do you prefer nature’s sounds throughout your entire camping experience?
On our travels (and in conversations) I’ve found that there are two camps on this debate– those that love it, and those that scoff at listening to music in the bush. Personally, we love it. At the right time. Paddling across a pristine lake at night with the stars sparkling above and a little Enya or Sigur Ros on the earphones truly transports you. Trekking 15km of portages in a day can be awesome with the right tunes on–but without, it can be just grueling. The crackling campfire is wonderful– but add a little Jack Johnson to it and it is sublime.
Granted, there are times when the sounds of the loon are all we need. Like dawn.
So, it’s natural that we’ve gone through all sorts of earphones and speakers on our adventures– destroying many along the way. But through trial and error we eventually found the perfect little sound system for the bush. Enter Goal Zero Canada’s “Rock-Out” Speaker. The magic in this little fella’s great acoustics lie in the fact that the speaker is in a wood box inside of it’s casing–creating rich and great sound. What about batteries? No problem, plug the speaker into your solar panel and charge it up! Or you can simply charge it via USB. Still, neither of these things is what impresses me the most.
What has never ceased to amaze us is how indestructible the Rock-Out is. We’ve filled them with sand on the beach, got them wet kayaking, covered them with snow while winter camping, and dropped them an innumerable amount of times. They really have gone through The Expeditioners test…and somehow…they still manage to rock on.
Funk Factor: Purported to run up to 20 hours on a 2 hour charge–we’ve reached 15 hours!
Learn more about them at www.goalzero.ca
Photo by The Expeditioners Magazine Roberto
In photo you have the Goal Zero Nomad 13.5 charging my ipod mini and the “Rock-Out” Speaker on the left.
