Solar panels

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

I know a lot of folks on here like goal zero but on doing some research on some backpacking sites and electronics reviews there appear to be better options for less money. Here's two I'm looking at:

Instapark Mercury 10
http://m.outdoorgearlab.com/Solar-Charger-Reviews/Instapark-Mercury-10

Anker 14w foldable dual port solar panel
http://m.outdoorgearlab.com/Solar-Charger-Reviews/Anker-14W-Foldable-Dual-Port-Solar-Panel


I know the battery pack argument and there will be a new Trent along as well but this is to supplement power to the new Trent and our phones which do work up high to call home and mine will be my GPS.

Does anyone have experience with either?


P.S. We need an electronics subforum because no one ever knows where these threads go.

 

[MuleyFever]

I do not but thanks for posting. I am going to buy that Poweradd Apollo 2. It looks perfect for what I need and small and light.

 

[jm1607]

I have this guy that I got on a crazy sale, like $15 new:

http://www.amazon.com/Bushnell-Bear...=UTF8&qid=1431354958&sr=8-1&keywords=bg+solar

It's not the quality of the others. Bushnell is usually hit or miss, it's all made in China. BUT, it's very light and small and does everything I need it to. I think it weighs about 3oz and is about the size of a twinkie. I'm very happy with it and see no reason to change!

 

[ffparamedic]

JM that's the one I had looked at and had planned on going with.....$15 is a steal!
http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/Solar-Charger-Reviews/Buying-Advice

http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/Solar-Charger-Reviews/ratings

 

[jm1607]

JM that's the one I had looked at and had planned on going with.....$15 is a steal!
http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/Solar-Charger-Reviews/Buying-Advice

http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/Solar-Charger-Reviews/ratings

Ya, I think Amazon made some sort of mistake lol.

It does the job and damn it's small/light. Without doing a ton of research I would think you would be hard pressed to find a smaller/lighter one.

Hey, it got pretty good ratings!

 

[LJ Buck]

Check out the inergy spark xtreme. It is a solar panel and battery pack that holds enough juice to charge a phone twice.. it's water proof and is about the size of a I phone. I think mine weighs 4oz. cost about 40$

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

I went with the instapark mercury 10. I'll let you guys know what I think when I get a chance to play with it. The anker was to heavy to justify.

 

[direwolf]

I ordered the Easyacc 15000 mAh with solar charger on Amazon. Cost around $30 and weight of 11 oz. I'm still testing it out, but it seems to have enough juice to charge my Samsung note 3 (big battery)at least 3 times. It charges faster than my wall charger, but then the device seems to run down faster than when I use the slower wall charger. The solar panel is relatively small and it doesn't seem like the solar panel is capable of bringing the battery bank back up to full charge. More info later.

 

[COlineman78]

My entire back-country electronics kit is based on 18650 batteries, so I would like to find a good solar charger without an integrated battery. I have an 18650 device with both USB in and out that I use to recharge my phone and I could use to also recharge my flashlight batteries. I'm thinking about trying the 5W BLKBOX panel (9 oz). There are tons of great Cree 18650 flashlights out there, so I highly recommend a similar solution for others. There are a lot of both good and bad 18650 batteries, so be aware.

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

I just received the instapark mercury 10 yesterday. It's smaller than I expected but I didn't really pay attention to the listed measurements. It weighs a little more than listed at 16.75 oz, whereas it's listed at 12, I am sure some extra material can be shaved off. It seems like a decent product. I have not run it through the paces yet but tried it today and it charged my phone from 48% to 56% or a tad over 300 mA in 36 minutes and we were a bit cloudy so that should improve a good deal on clear days. It should work well for my intended purposes. I'll post more when I get the chance to test it further.

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]