Has anyone used portable solar panels for charging phones, etc?
Are they any good? Do they need a lot of sunlight to work? Or will even a cloudy day provide a trickle charge?
Any recommendations?

Hi,
I had one for a short time. It was crap - big and fragile and lacking in power.

I have a small backup phone with a 1020mah battery. As an experiment last summer, I drained the battery and charged it with the solar panel. It was a mostly sunny day with occasional cloud. It took around 6 hours to charge the battery.

I like my gadgets so I usually carry a high capacity powerbank. Almost 30,000mah weighs about the same as the solar panel thing, is smaller, I can charge stuff in the tent at night...

For the weight conscious, you probably only need a cable and a bit of cheek to ask in pubs, cafes, campsites...

Hope that helps
Colin

Thanks Colin.
I am thinking spare battery and powerbank may be the more reliable way to go, then. I just like to record each day on the MapMyWalk app, so I think charging everything up fully when I hit civilisation should suffice.

Solar chargers work very well in countries like Morocco where you are more or less guaranteed sunshine but in Scotland they just don't get enough light. A power bank is the way to go.

Ian C.

Well, my six pence worth.
Powerbank and or spare batteries.
Solar charges in May in Scotland are pointless weight.