A 4K action cam that comes with its own solar-powered home

Just drop Activeon's Solar X camera into its case, flip up the solar panels and you'll get up to 4 hours of additional battery life.

Joshua Goldman Managing Editor / Advice

Managing Editor Josh Goldman is a laptop expert and has been writing about and reviewing them since built-in Wi-Fi was an optional feature. He also covers almost anything connected to a PC, including keyboards, mice, USB-C docks and PC gaming accessories. In addition, he writes about cameras, including action cams and drones. And while he doesn't consider himself a gamer, he spends entirely too much time playing them.

Expertise Laptops, desktops and computer and PC gaming accessories including keyboards, mice and controllers, cameras, action cameras and drones Credentials

More than two decades experience writing about PCs and accessories, and 15 years writing about cameras of all kinds.

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Joshua Goldman

Jan. 5, 2016 8:41 p.m. PT

It may look like a flying toaster, but it's actually the Activeon Solar X, an action cam that, when not grabbing 4K UHD 2,160p video through its f2.4 wide-angle lens, spends its time getting charged up by sitting in the sun.

Available in March for $430 (around AU$600 or £295), the camera comes with a little box -- the X Station -- with solar panels on the sides. Flip up the panels, slide in the Solar X and in 30 minutes its "Burst Speed Charging technology" will take it from dead to 80 percent charged. It takes another 30 minutes to top it off. The camera has a two-hour battery life and can get an additional four hours from the X Station.

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The camera itself looks pretty good, too, and has a 2-inch touchscreen on back so you can see what you're shooting, change settings and review your clips. There's also built-in Wi-Fi so you can connect to an iOS or Android device and control the camera or upload content to Activeon's cloud service.