BigBlue 14W Solar Panels with USB(5V/2.4A), IPX4 Waterproof, Folding Portable Solar Phone Charger Compatible with iPhone, Tablet, Samsung LG etc

I love my portable camping solar panels. Have taken them on several hikes in the UK and France and they are great for keeping my devices topped up with power. The fabric is durable and the design is simple to use with two USB ports. It is worth noting that to get the maximum power output you need to use both ports. It will only provide a maximum of 2.0 per port. If works well in both direct sunlight and shade, although the power drops off a lot in the shade. For best output I prop the panels so they are at 90 degrees to the sun if it isn’t directly overhead. I also pair it with a portable battery pack, which I then charge my other devices with. As more devices switch to USB C, I would look for panel with high output on a single port to charge the battery pack faster, but this model will keep an iPhone topped up. I also like the display so that I can adjust the position to maximise output.

Purchased to add versatility to my off-grid/disaster kit. I wasn't expecting much and initially I got very mixed results. You do need to work with this solar charger to get to know what it can do and what it'll do badly. 1. The bad - On intermittent charging days (good sun mixed with fleeting clouds) don't try charging a device ie phone. Mine went from 75% charged (looking to a top up) to 40%. It was the first day I used it nearly returned it until I worked out why. Every time the charging cut in or out, the phone was waking up to vibrate/alert resulting in a net drain. Use a powerbank and that'll work a bit better. 2. The good - On a sunny (northern UK) day in early spring, I've got about 1000mA per hour into a powerbank consistently. Which is pretty good as I wasn't trying to optimise it. 3. The average - On a cloudy day, you're not going to get much or at least, for me, where I am, zip. To be honest, that's no worse than expected. Is this a good device? Yes. It seems to be well made and certainly it works. It is not 'wallet sized' unless you have a truly well stuffed wallet!! Joking aside, it will fit in a trouser cargo pocket (tight squeeze maybe) but it is compact for what it does. Overall, considering that it's the price of three or four packs of AA batteries, buy one quick before they put the price up!

I like the overall design and the build quality is good but the USB-A port is too exposed to potential scratches and damage, so extra handling care is required. The stitched on clip pouch beside the USB-A port is sewn on well, sturdy and practical, many small things can be placed inside, like a power bank, charging cables and a mobile phone etc. I have 2 Anker power banks, the 10000 and 20100, each fit inside the clip pouch fine but I found the 20100 feels more secure as you have to stretch the elasticated strap over the top of it to securely fasten. As for charging, I was very pleased by the performance of the solar charger, BigBlue claims it is 14W but my own opinion is that the device is more closer to or actually 12W, as 5V x 2.4amp = 12W (5 x 2.4). This calculation I've demonstrated may not be entirely accurate as I wasn't able to fully test the amps and watts input/output of the solar charger first. This being said however, the solar charger performed better than I expected, on a clear sunny day I was able to charge my Anker 10000 from 25% to 50%, that's 2500mah to 5000mah in 1 hour 20 minutes. Even on a fully overcast day with no sun and either white or light grey clouds the solar charger still worked, albeit the amps and watts would have been heavily reduced by probably half or more; this is still impressive considering you're not only restricted to just using the device on a clear sunny or partly sunny day, and can charge your small electronic devices in more variable weather conditions. I put the solar charger through it's paces and tested it's IPX4 waterproof rating, didn't really want to get the device wet but felt I needed to test BigBlue's claim properly and thoroughly to see if they were right. Using my Anker 10000 power bank and during a 20 minute light to medium continuous shower, the solar charger stopped working because the clouds became very dark grey, the rain peltered the device, soaked each one of the 4 solar panels and the water partly seeped into all the front of the solar charger's blue stitched fabric, but not the back. After the rain had stopped and the the clouds turned from dark to light grey the solar charger sprang into life again and the blue light on my Anker 10000 power bank began flashing. (Please refer to my photos for an accurate visual reference) You get a 65cm USB-A to USB-C cable and 2 carabiner clips on the box which are nice extras, both serve a practical use and the quality of them is decent. I purchased the solar charger when Amazon had a sale on, so got the device for £40 which I believe is a more realistic and fair price than it's RRP of nearly £60. To maximise quick charging capabilities of your electronics, use at least 2.4 amp cables as this is the maximum USB output of the device. On a cloudless day you can get a relatively steady 2300 - 2400mAh, as long as you keep the solar charger directly facing the sun and at the right vertical angle. Would I recommend this solar charger... absolutely, as long as you look after the USB-A port and handle the device with care it should give you years of solid quick charging pleasure.

The bad news: the highest charging current I've had in ideal conditions (Scotland, midsummer, midday sun, clear skies) is only 1.7/1.8A. A long way short of the maximum suggested by the manufacturers. The good news: 1.7A is an extremely useful charging current. The Big Blue can also pump out some solid current on overcast days - close to 1A with light cloud. Obviously really heavy cloud will drop the output to zero. In mixed weather conditions I found it more than capable of keeping phone, headtorch batteries etc charged on an extended camping trip. My phone gets used pretty heavily - photography, news & weather if I can get online, Kindle books etc - so this was a solid performance. I also used a couple of 18650 batteries and a Nitecore F1 charger as a lightweight buffer for the rainy days when I couldn't deploy the panel. On sunny days there's charge to spare to fill up the batteries. The 3 stars for water resistance is just my best guess. The unit seems to cope OK with a smattering of rain but I wouldn't want to get it really soaked. The panels seem to have a waterproof coating but I doubt very much if the main electronics, under the display, are waterproof. Why does water resistance even matter for a solar panel? In showery conditions the Big Blue can gather a lot of useful charge in the bright spells. A fully-waterproof unit could be left out unattended while you get on with something else. That's the bottom line for portable chargers: do they fit seamlessly with daily life in the field or does it feel like device-charging is starting to dominate your time? The Big Blue performs well enough not to be a nuisance. The display is great - indispensable really. If you want to learn how best to use the panel you need to see how well it works in different conditions. I measured the weight at 610g on scales of unknown accuracy. All in all, I like it. May not perform as well as claimed (I didn't really expect it would) but it does perform well.

Seems to lack the circuit to prevent device discharge if so much as the shadow of a sparrow crosses the panels. Bought as a backup for going to a festival. Left a powerbank plugged into this on a very sunny day (in Devon, SW England), and when I got back that evening the powerbank had less charge than when I set it up in the morning. Tried this for a second and third day (weather mixed), until the powerbank was completely depleted. Upon returning home I tried again placing the panels in an upstairs SSE facing window on a clear bright sunny day and hooked up an old phone with 50% charge. If not attached to anything the phone would have lasted all day (being idle) but within 2hours it had shut down with a flat battery. I see no use for a solar panel which discharges devices in anything but ideal situations. Being slower than hoped I could have coped with, but actually having a negative effect makes this completely useless. I'm not going to sit next to it all day unplugging and re-plugging for every passing cloud, whilst panning the thing round to always face directly at the sun.

I really wanted to like this one. Looking forward to a small N type panel. It's got great connections and a solid cable with an xt60 adapter. Unfortunately, it never performed from day 1. I have a 100w panel when sunlight was poor I would get 1-5watts. On this it will struggle to get 1 watt. Admittedly, surface area is roughly 20% less. But in the same location with the same sunlight I wouldve expected better performance. In strong sunlight, while I would get 50-60w on the 100w panel. I would get roughly, 30-40w on this (closer to 30w most times). So not bad. I find that acceptable. It gradually got worse, it started getting lower day by day. Tried with different cables and power banks. Never achieved the highest wattage. Folded it up gently every day, like I would with my other panels. Now it's completely failed. Its interesting, I was sent this in its original box. My address label was just added on. There was no tamper tape on it at all. Anyone could basically open the box. A real shame. Pretty dissappointing. Needed a compact and reliable travel panel. *update* its charging again. I think the panels are fine. Only works reliably on DC port. Pulling 30-40w. The USB C/a have both failed.

I've had this a month now and have tested it in all sorts of weather. I have to say, although I was worried it wouldn't be too great with the British weather, it has surprised me... a lot! I've provided two examples below of my experiences where the charger was on the dash of my car (on sunny days I folded the output screen under the panels with the windows ajar). I also only charged one item at a time. Very cloudy/rainy day with no direct sunlight: When it first arrived in March, the weather was miserable but I was still able to get a reading of 0.2 to 0.4 amps. So I plugged in an iPhone and it began to charge! However, rather than leave my phone in the car, I plugged in my small power bank and left the panels on the dash of my car. I thought that the windscreen would filter out some of the required rays but I had the same reading in and out of the car. Anyway, I came back to the car that evening after it rained all day and the sun was low in the sky as its still late winter/early spring. The bank was half charged and is 4000mAh, so for pretty much the worst type of weather (no direct sun at all the whole day) for solar and the sun only being low in the sky anyway, I think it did well. I was able to fully charge this bank after two and a half days of this same weather. My 8000mAh power bank never reached full charge and obviously took a longer - 4 days but the 4th was spent stuck at 75 to 100%. Sunny days: Wow. This thing is great in the sun! the maximum output I've achieved is 2.2 amps, and that was on a bright sunny day at the beginning of April. It charged my 4000mAh bank in 3 hours and I've left my 8000mAh bank in the car which was charged completely by the time I'd finished work - I'd left it from 10am where the reading was 1.6, checked it at lunch time and the reading was 1.9 to 2.1 and then in the evening at 5pm when I finished work, the reading dropped to 0.2 with the sun being very low and the angle of my car not being great either. However, the bank was also showing as fully charged. I've also found that the last 15% or so takes way longer to complete, I'm no expert but it just seems like its harder for the solar charger to push in that final bit of charge! On sunny days it will manage but on other days I settle on 90% and switch to another empty bank. It's also worth bearing in mind that I choose to charge power banks still rather than plugging directly into my iPhone because if it takes say a day to charge it and it's still switched on, then you're going to need a sunny day to get it close to 100% because not only are you trying to charge up a 1821mAh battery, but you'll be using half of the supplied power to power the devices wifi/cellular/screen/background processes etc. An iPhone and some other devices also require a minimum amount of amps, so when its cloudy for a while and it's 0.4 on the solar charger, your phone/device might reject this and cut it off. A power bank generally doesn't so this power(although a small amount) is still soaked up. The only thing that does annoy me about this solar charger is that the USB ports are difficult to access from within the pocket - it's not a big deal, maybe something BigBlue can improve on in the next model. Very happy with my purchase.

Bought this after a smaller one failed to charge my phone. I love that it has an ammeter so it shows the charge going in and works in shady conditions (but at a lower charging rate). Very robust and worked after getting caught out in rain. This meant I was able to keep a mobile phone fully charged without any other electrical means for a week at the IoM TT races