With summer in full swing, few things are as satisfying on a warm afternoon than a perfectly cooked Hebrew National. Thing is, few people actually enjoy fumbling around with a bag of coals and a jug of lighter fluid to produce said hot dogs. So what if you could utilize the natural energy of the sun? This endeavor is exactly what the folks at the Cincinnati-based GoSun — the team behind the successful GoSun Stove and Grill — intend to deliver with the aptly named Solar Dogger; a fuel-free, solar-powered hot dog cooker that’s capable of producing superbly cooked hot dogs in just 10 minutes.
Launched via the popular crowdfunding site Indiegogo, the GoSun Solar Dogger excels not just at cooking a tasty hot dog but also at being one incredibly portable cooking tool. Capable of fitting into a durable clamshell case, the entire thing weighs no more than a few pounds which make it incredibly easy to tote around wherever summer takes you. Furthermore, the innovative solar tech native to the device even allows people to fry up their favorite cylindrical-shaped foods even if it’s cloudy.
“In 2001, our founder, Patrick Sherwin, made his first meal in these incredible vacuum tube solar cookers — a hot dog. Now, we’re getting back to our roots,” read the brand’s Indiegogo page. “Hot dogs are very American, but this is going to change them forever. GoSun plans to make solar energy very American. Is it safe? Yes. Is it durable? Yes. Is it awesome? You tell us.”
The Solar Dogger works by making use of a set of compound parabolic reflectors surrounding a tube outfit with borosilicate glass. As sunlight becomes focused onto the tube via the reflectors, the inner cooking chamber begins to heat up. The device’s vacuum tube then is capable of converting roughly 80 percent of sunlight into heat, allowing it to reach temperatures of up to 550 degrees Fahrenheit. Additionally, the Solar Dogger also possesses the ability to harness solar energy even if it’s not entirely sunny out.
During its campaign on Indiegogo, GoSun offers adopters the ability to purchase a Solar Dogger for $59 — i.e., $20 off its MSRP of $79 once it goes to retail. As of now, the device has raised just shy of $12,000 with around a month left in the campaign. Perhaps its lone downside is the fact that if everything goes according to plan, GoSun doesn’t plan on shipping the first batch of Solar Doggers until this coming December.
