@Doug
Yes I have some portable lights. As mentioned, a few strings of patio lights that were on closeout for $13.00 in late summer These light strings are about 23' and with a collective 70 bulbs, really throw off a lot of light for their size.

I also have 6 of these lights. They were on closeout at Superstore in early summer for a few dollars each. Being LED and with 4 AA Eneloop batteries installed, they will run about 15 hours straight before the batteries are dead. What I like about these lights is they have a slot in the back which allows them to be hung on a nail or picture frame hook on a wall.

You are correct about the danger of DC discharging the battery to low even though the inverter will shutdown on low battery conditions. I don't fully trust it though which is why I added the voltmeter as a quick visual reference. BTW, the voltmeter came from Ebay and cost $8.00 IIRC.

@Izzy
The power pack was purchased at Canadian Tire which is a national auto parts / sporting goods / home improvement type of store. I know they are not in the USA however I am sure that there are other brands available down there. Stanley tools makes a couple of which they sell up here as both Stanley branded and also as the Canadian Tire Eliminator brand. As for this particular model, I am not sure who makes it but Doug is probably right.

@Bacpac
I purchased this Eliminator power pack earlier this year on the advice of a friend and so far, so good. The key to any battery is not to run it down to low as this will quickly destroy any battery's life. As for how long it will hold a charge, that is very subjective as it really depends on how much use it gets, the amount it has to charge any devices, if you are using an inverter with it etc. In the summer, we took it on a week long car camping/hiking trip and used it quite a bit every day just to get a feel for it's capabilities. Between charging cell phones, GPS, AA batteries, camera, running the 300 watt inverter at night with the above LED light strings over the campsite, I only had to charge it once with the solar panels which took about 6 hours of charging in very clear weather and direct sunlight.

It also has it's own built-in 120 and 1 volt charger but they are both slow. What I found works better is to connect a regular 120V battery charger to the jumper cables and charge it this way.

For occasional light use, it works great. We really like it's portability and the on-board 12 volt and USB outlets as compared to lugging around the deep cycle battery that has nothing built-in. This particular model comes on sale quite often as it was just last week or the week before. The sale price on it is usually around $75.00.