"JuiceBags"

Anyone have any experience or seen this line of solar cell equipped back packs?

I took a quick look at one of them yesterday, they seem like a pretty well made bag that includes a solar cell array that is hooked up to a cigarette lighter type of plug into which you can plug 12v rechargeable devices, ie, cell phones, ipods, etc.

They're not the cheapest pack around but I was intrigued with the notion.

Anyone have an opinion?

I was thinking for use as an EDC bag for the more urban among us it might be pretty handy.

John E

no, but my friend has a solar cell backpack made by someone else and says it works great!

I was looking at these yesterday. Their website says they are on sale.

I am keen on getting some type of solar recharger for my laptop. It contains all sorts of useful PDFs about survival that I would love to be able to take with and use if the SHTF. Also a good source of music and entertainment when camping if I knew the battery could be charged.

I would appreciate hearing the other board members reviews for charging/using laptops with these.

Those things get discussed on CPF now and then. They're technically cool but my conclusion is always that they're not worth the weight. For urban or vehicle use a conventional charger makes more sense (powered by AC or 12V). For outdoor use, just how much electrical stuff do you want to power, anyway? Obvious candidates: 1) flashlight, an AAA powered one will run 8+ hours with enough light to walk around by (some of them also have high-powered settings that come in handy; 2) GPS, Garmin Geko again runs around 8 hours(?) on two AAA's; 3) FM radio/music player, Sandisk Sansa M200 series runs 10+ hours on one AAA. If you're a little bit careful the four AAA's total should last many days. A spare set is under 2 ounces. Yes you'll eventually need more and/or a way to charge your existing ones, but you'll also eventually need food, and batteries aren't that hard to come by.