While I don't have one yet, I've read the reviews of a fair number of portable solar chargers, and it seems if want something that will reliably power your device, you need to heavily discount the "rating". Even more so if you plan to use it somewhere that isn't overly sunny.

I've had my eye on the Brunton 26 Watt foldable array.

It seems that the six to seven watt units get pretty mixed reviews. It seems you need to get up to 12-26 watts before you get a reliable power source for small devices.

The Brunton 26 was the first unit that more or less unanimously got good reviews.

When you look at the size of the Bruton 12 or 26 watt unit, I suspect most "integrated" solar panels aren't really going to work very well, if at all.

I've also recently become fond of the Tekkeon MP1800 portable power source. It has two 18650 lithium ion batteries, giving it a pretty good amount of juice for portable devices like phones with a reasonable size and weight. Using USB for both charging and providing power works pretty well too.

Tekkeon also makes some larger battery packs which might also be interesting.

-john


Edited by JohnN (03/16/10 08:32 PM)