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Me wearing the hat with the cable running to a power bank. Richard Baguely/Zooey Liao/ CNET
Like many middle-aged men, I have a big solar-powered area on the top of my head: It’s called a bald spot. If I work in the yard for too long, it turns very red and glows at night. So, I wear a hat but all of that lovely solar energy reflecting off my dome goes to waste -- or it did until I tried the $129 EcoFlow Power Hat (currently $99 on sale), a new combination sun hat/solar power source.
It features eight solar panels that feed into two USB ports (one USB-A and one USB-C) in a small box with a tiny LED under the back rim. While it adequately protected my bald spot, it failed to charge my phone in any meaningful way. Plus, it’s just a damn ugly hat.
Pros
Covers my head, adequately doing the job of a hat
Can technically trickle charge a phone, so I guess it works
Cons
Very low charging rate at just 5 watts of power
Needs a cable running down your back
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