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

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

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!

Used this for hiking over a few days with it on the top and hanging down the back of a rucksack.Good points1) 14w 4 panel design charges devices well and is much better than FLEXSOLAR 10w panel which I have also tried and gave up on. In sun / mixed cloud it puts out enough power to charge up devices / phones even whilst using them for photos / google maps etc.2) lightweight - 288gCharging a battery powerbank appears to work better than charging a phone - the battery bank seems less fussy about the amount of charge being delivered whereas your phone will constantly stop and restart charging as a cloud passes by or your direction changes.Not so good points1) the pretty denim material, pocket with clip press studs are unnecessary adding weight - the pocket can hold your phone but it's going to get very hot meaning it won't charge well.2) the 4x1 layout means it is long - 1 panel on the top of your backpack the other 3 panels hang down most of the way to the bottom, easily damaged taking off the pack and putting it down, lean against something or squeeze through a narrow gate or something. Even using it on a surface on its own needs quite a lot of length to lay it out. Better and more practical if it was in a 2x2 layout i.e. wider.The weight of this Big Blue 14w panel is 288g (309g with the supplied 2 clips)The Flexsolar 10w panel is 340g (no clips)Overall pleased with it as an outdoors gadget.

I love this. It's as good as you can expect from current solar technologies. Runs at about 2.5A in bright sunlight but significantly less in shade. I charge my power pack during the day and use that to charge my devices at night. I bought this for wild camping and it certainly serves that purpose - folds up relatively small, relatively light weight. And it hangs from my backpack on charge during the day (although obviously the angle not always optimum!). Highly recommended if your needs are similar to mine.

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.

First I tested it in the day time - heavily overcast between bouts of rain. It produced 0.2-0.4 AThen I tested it in the day time with light cloud cover - translucent sun. It produced 0.7-1.2 AThen I tested it on a bright day still with some light cloud cover. It produced 1.8 - 2.2 AIt seems to work, though you need to be careful when inserting and removing the USB from the Ammeter because the Ammeter is not strongly attached to the casing. If the ammeter comes loose then it can break the charging circuit since it is in series.My ammeter did break loose on the first day, so I used hot glue to squirt under it and around it in order to secure it firmly.It has a portable size.On the negative side, the ammeter became detached from the case. If it breaks off completely then it will break the charging circuit rendering the product useless.The maximum current on day 1 was 2.2 A - not 5 A as advertised.On days 2 and 3 it seemed fine in mild sunshine. On succeeding days I could not get the current above 0.2A even in bright sunshine, so I guess that the product is broken. It has not been field tested and yet it already is malfunctioning