From Sail Magazine:

The solar-powered RailLight Premium LED light comes with a QuickMount attachment “system” featuring multiple attachment options. These include a rail clamp that attaches to railings measuring 3/4in to 11/4in in diameter; a transom clamp that adjusts up to 2in, for use with cockpit coamings, toerails or the topsides of a dinghy and rowboat; and a post mount that attaches permanently to any deck, post, dock or piling.

The light requires neither wires nor batteries and incorporates a double Fresnel lens. A sealed stainless steel housing protects the system’s light emitting diodes, which have a working life of approximately 20,000 hours.

A built-in sensor automatically turns the light off when the sun is shining, while a sealed switch makes it possible to go from two LEDs, for a softer ambient light, to four LEDs. At maximum power, the light can be seen from a quarter mile away. A full charge provides eight hours of operation.

Buy or Learn more about the RailLight Premium

RailLight Premium

From Cruising Compass:

The best selling solar-powered, weather resistant boat light just got better: the solar-powered RailLight Premium. This bright, sleek LED light attaches quickly and securely to give light anywhere you want for safety, work or visibility. The RailLight Premium comes with the quick-release QuickMount attachment system that includes the rail clamp (clamps onto any railing from 3/4″ to 11/4″ diameter), transom clamp (adjusts up to 2″ making it perfect for cockpit combing, toe rails, attaching to tenders, dinghies, rowboats, canoes-any small boat that needs a safety light), and the new post mount that attaches permanently to any deck, post, dock or piling. The RailLight attaches and detaches in seconds; no wires, no batteries, no costly installation-just instant light wherever you want it. The sealed stainless-steel housing will shed water while the bright LEDs are rated for over 20,000 hours. The RailLight provides enough light to dine or even read by. There’s a built-in sensor that automatically turns the light off during daylight, and also a sealed switch that lets you change from two LEDs (nice ambient light) to four LEDs (bright!), or off completely. The sealed, internal NiMh battery is replaceable. The super-bright white LEDs are housed in a double Fresnel lens system so that the light can be seen over 1/4 mile away. On your deck, the RailLight will shed a wonderful glow for up to eight hours with a full charge of sunlight; since a RailLight is mounted outside it is always charging, no matter if there’s bright sunshine or not. The RailLight Premium is available at Ahoy Captain, and other fine chandleries, or on the web at www.sollight.com for $39.95.

Buy RailLight Premium

RailLight Premium

The Panbo Marine Electronics Weblog just gave our RailLight mini a glowing review.

I can tell you that it works, and at about $30 is appealing little cruising accessory.

Read the full review on Panbo.

RailLight Mini- Solar Powered LED Light

The solar powered RailLight Mini™easily attaches to railings on boats, RVs, decks and much more.

RailLight Mini- Solar Powered LED Light

On June 4, 2010, British ocean rower Roz Savage made history when she rowed into Madang, Papau New Guinea after rowing solo across the Pacific Ocean. Her three-part, 7,000 mile journey began in 2008 when she rowed out of San Francisco Bay in her 24′ ocean rowing boat, headed for Hawaii. After 250 days at sea, she finally reached Papau New Guinea.

The sole nighttime outside illumination her boat during her epic journey (that included searing heat, overwhelming humidity and several storms which roll her boat completely over several times) was provided by SolLight. On the last stage she had the new RailLight Mini to keep her safe from busy nighttime boat traffic as she threaded her way through the eastern islands of Papau New Guinea.

“The RailLight worked brilliantly,” she said. “I never had to worry about running down the one small battery on my boat and the light was super bright. I felt as safe as possible considering where I was, and the light stayed on all night. Best of all, it relies on sun power: our best renewable resource.”

Roz will now take off a few months before pondering her next ocean adventure.

Roz in Papau New Guinea

RailLight Premium

The best selling solar-powered, weather resistant boat light just got better: the solar-powered RailLight Premium™. This bright, sleek LED light attaches quickly and securely to give light anywhere you want for safety, work or visibility.

The RailLight Premium comes with the quick-release QuickMount™ attachment system that includes the rail clamp (clamps onto any railing from 3/4” to 11/4” diameter), transom clamp (adjusts up to 2” making it perfect for cockpit combing, toe rails, attaching to tenders, dinghies, rowboats, canoes—any small boat that needs a safety light), and the new post mount that attaches permanently to any deck, post, dock or piling.

The RailLight attaches and detaches in seconds; no wires, no batteries, no costly installation—just instant light wherever you want it. The sealed stainless-steel housing will shed water while the bright LEDs are rated for over 20,000 hours. The RailLight provides enough light to dine or even read by.

There’s a built-in sensor that automatically turns the light off during daylight, and also a sealed switch that lets you change from two LEDs (nice ambient light) to four LEDs (bright!), or off completely. The sealed, internal NiMh battery is replaceable.

The super-bright white LEDs are housed in a double Fresnel lens system so that the light can be seen over 1/4 mile away. On your deck, the RailLight will shed a wonderful glow for up to eight hours with a full charge of sunlight; since a RailLight is mounted outside it is always charging, no matter if there’s bright sunshine or not.

Mount a RailLight on your boarding steps or ladder, near your dock locker or utility box, on your bimini or awning, by your BBQ or swim platform, on dock posts, walkways and picnic tables, or take them to shore for nights on the beach. The exclusive QuickMount™ clamp system allows you to instantly click your RailLight into any mount without tools. The RailLight also makes a perfect emergency light if all your boat power goes out.

For $39.95 you can have a secure, solar-powered outdoor light virtually anywhere on your boat without having to drill holes, run wires or worry about running down your batteries. The RailLight Premium is available at West Marine, Ahoy Captain, and other fine chandleries, or on the web at www.sollight.com.

Sailing Magazine reviewed the new RailLight Mini in their July 2010 issue:

Adding a little light to the cockpit is easy with the RailLight Mini from SolLight. Similar to the familiar solar-powered lawn lights, the RailLight uses two bright LEDs powered by a solar-charged battery to offer go-anywhere lighting without wires or the need for extra batteries. The light includes a tough nylon clamp that mounts onto rails, stanchions or posts, while a quick-release feature allows the light to be removed without having to undo the clamp. Made for harsh environments, the RailLight is made from marine-grade stainless steel with a watertight plastic housing and waterproof switch that lets users turn off the light when not needed.

To learn more about the RailLight Mini and buy it online check out the RailLight Mini page.

Watch how quick and easy it is to install the RailLight Mini on a boat railing:

The solar powered RailLight Mini™easily attaches to railings on boats, RVs, decks and much more.

RailLight Mini- Solar Powered LED Light

The modern and compact design of our solar-powered RailLight Mini will provide light where you need it on your boat, RV, dock, deck or railing without adding wiring or worrying about ever replacing batteries. The stainless Mini, constructed of tough marine grade materials, comes equipped with our high efficient FastSolar™ technology and QuickMount™ rail and post clamp system that allows you to quickly disconnect the light from the rail clamp with the quick release connection.

Quick Feature Overview

• Marine grade, stainless construction resists rust and corrosion
• Light lasts up to 8 hours on a full charge of sunshine
• Installs in minutes, detaches in seconds
• Automatic or manual switching

Learn more about the new RailLight Mini

SolLight, Innovators in Outdoor and Marine Solar Lighting Solutions Introduces the only Multipurpose Solar-Lantern, The LightCap 300

LightCap 300 - Solar-powered lantern, BPA-free water bottle and waterproof container

The new LightCap300 is a solar powered lantern, a one-liter BPA Free water bottle and a waterproof container for valuables all under one lid. Our custom wide mouth bottle has a 50% wider opening than standard bottles for easier cleaning, mixing, drinking and storing contents.

The LightCap300 represents the culmination of three years of customer feedback and testing. It is 20% lighter, 4 times brighter and charges 50% faster, using FastSolar™ technology, than our original solar powered lantern. The sealed charging system stores up to 8 hours of light on a full charge, the integrated light sensor prevents accidental battery drain during the day. The complete LightCap300 weighs just 9.7.oz. (275 grams). Instead of a single LED, there are now four super-bright white LEDs for 4x the light with less relative power consumption. The sealed waterproof push button switch allows you to go from white LEDs to a red LED to off.

On August 7 , 2009, two friends and I took off on our motorcycles to ride from the California/Oregon border to the Washington/Oregon border.

Big deal, you might say. Ha! Try doing it all on dirt. Barely discernable rails and forest roads, over steep, rocky, mountain passes, through the barren desert, across rivers and streams, and… well, you get the picture.

The route is called the OBDR: Oregon Backcountry Discovery Route. (http://www.treknow.com/obcdr/). It is unclear when it was first done, or by who, or why. But it was, and it is, and it’s now a virtual rite-of-passage for any serious adventure rider in the northwest. Indeed, riders come from all over the world to test their endurance, equipment, and most of all, their route finding skills on the OBDR.

Starting just south of Lakeview, Oregon, the route winds it’s way gradually north for 900 grueling miles. Occasionally there are a few miles of paved roads, but it engages 95% dirt. All kinds of dirt. And sand and rocks. Over high mountain passes and across hip-deep rivers and creeks. Fun!

Our start was auspicious: we arrived at our starting point just after several days of torrential (and highly unusual) rain. In fact, because of the mud, we couldn’t even make it to our first campground that night—and we hadn’t even begun the ride. The next day we took our time getting started, hoping things would dry out a bit as we poured over our maps and gear. Finally around 10am we headed out.

We rode hard all day. And ended up, around 4pm, right back where we started. That, as it would turn out, was the story of our trip. We were lost for virtually the entire time. Occasionally we would find ourselves where we had set out to go, but usually by accident, and not before at least fifty stops at unmarked trail and road junctions, trying to figure out where the hell we were.

The riding was fun and challenging, but the route finding heinous. One day it took us nine hours to travel forty-five miles. Actually, we rode over a hundred miles, but mostly in the wrong direction, or simply up (and back down) dead-end roads trying to find our way. Think of it this way: you’re in New York City and you want to drive to Chicago. There are virtually no street signs or road numbers. Most of the time you’re unable to see where you’re headed, but it doesn’t really matter because 75% of the roads you go down simply end. That’s the OBDR. Woohoo!!!

We took seven days to cover 2/3 of the route, encountering perhaps three other groups of riders along the way. Some people ride north to south; we rode south to north. The three roughest days (some very challenging terrain) are the one heading north from California; it gets a bit easier the further north you get, but the navigation is still a chore.

Yes, we had lost of maps and route descriptions and a GPS. Didn’t matter. There were roads on the maps that weren’t there; there were roads on the ground that weren’t on the map. There were totally unmarked six way intersections. There were steep, rocky single-tracks, washed out roads and boulder fields, deep-sand desert sections, mud bogs, dust-choked logging roads with piles of loose gravel, and yes, occasional sections of beautiful traveling.

Mostly, we camped, aside from a couple nights in small hotels in a couple of the tiny towns not far from the trail along the way. The camping was beautiful and the Oregon State Parks were remote, spotless, and virtually empty. What a treat!

As we packed up for our sixth day, it began to rain. Hard. We delayed and procrastinated until noon, and finally decided to throw everything in the truck and head further north out of the rain and into the desert where we hoped it would be dryer since the section of the trail we were planning on riding that day was deep in the forest which would have been a dangerous mud-fest.

I rode an old Suzuki DR350, Kelly rode a brand new Beta 450 and Wayne had a Yamaha WR250. All were street-legal dirt bikes with very aggressive knobby tires. A friend of mine had done the route last year on her BMW F650GS—and indeed we passed one group on huge, fully loaded touring bikes (BMW F800GS and KTM 950 Adventure). While I guess it’s possible to do it this way, it is much more enjoyable on a lighter dual-sport bike, that’s for sure. I’ve ridden similar terrain in Patagonia, Alaska and the western US on my BMW and it’s a chore!

Of course we secured everything to our bikes with Mini-Shockles, ShockStraps and SofTies and nothing came loose. That was in sharp contrast to the stories I heard from other riders who lost all sorts of gear as their bikes bucked and jumped around, especially in the rocky sections. One rider we talked to had his tent tied on with heavy duty bungie cords, only to discover that it had wiggled it’s way loose somewhere in the past twenty miles. Oops.

I’m working on putting together an off-road route from the Washington/Oregon border all the way north to Canada. All on dirt. I’ll keep you posted. Indeed, the journey is the destination.

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Two students of Harvard’s Graduate School of Design have incorporated Sollight products into their first project as architecture professionals. Shin Cho and Stuart Helo, two 2009 Harvard grads and partners of Cho+Helo created a jagged aluminum pavilion hovering over the lawn outside the Graduate School of Design’s main building. The structure consists of 120 tetrahedra bolted to nine curvy secondary supports attached to a steel base. The tetrahedra are also equipped with SolLight solar-powered LEDs for nighttime illumination.

Speaking about the Sollight’s used in their installation, Helo said,

We love your lights! They really provide just the right kind of subtle and delicate lighting that we think makes our installation quite an elegant feature at night. Hopefully we will have the opportunity to use them again in the future. Thanks again!

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