BigBlue 28W Solar Panel Charger with Dual USB-C and USB-A, Portable Solar Phone Charger for Camping, Hiking, Backpacking, Emergency Solar Charger for iPhone, iPad, Samsung Galaxy, Power Bank, GPS etc

When I first purchased this portable solar panel, I was skeptical about its capabilities. To be honest, I didn’t anticipate its impressive performance. Let’s begin with the build quality. The manufacturer has done an excellent job with the design and construction. The foldable design makes it incredibly portable, and the panels themselves feel sturdy and well-made, not cheap at all. I appreciate that it comes with carabiners, which makes attaching it to a backpack or hanging it easy and convenient. Since I’m always on the go and carry a lot of tech, I’m constantly in need of extra power for my gadgets. I paired this solar panel with a NESTOUT 15000N portable outdoor battery, and they work seamlessly together for my needs. The solar panels keep my battery charged, and I use the power from the battery to quickly charge my devices. The USB-C ports and USB-A port works great without any problems and allows me to connect to my devices quickly without any delay. Now, don’t expect these small panels to charge devices rapidly. They do the job, and so far, with the sunlight I’ve been exposed to daily, they’ve worked flawlessly. I highly recommend this product. Considering its limitations and my use case, I believe it was a wise investment. I’ve also recommended it to several friends who work outdoors, and they’re equally impressed with its performance.

Good for simple charging when camping or off grid activity. This also part of my emergency preparedness kit. Works great, easy to use, lots of connectors that should work with most modern rechargeable battery powered devices

Here’s a polished version of your review: The large blue solar charging unit works as advertised. While it does not charge devices especially fast, it charges them reliably and effectively. However, after only 6–7 uses, the plastic backing that supports the internal USB unit broke. The backing is secured with four screws, but the plastic around the screw mounts cracked and failed. Unfortunately, the backing piece is sewn into the unit, so removing it requires undoing part of the stitching. At this point, the only practical repair option appears to be epoxying the USB unit directly inside the pocket. I can understand why the failure occurred. The USB assembly is mounted to flexible fabric material rather than a rigid support panel. If it had been attached to a stiffer backing similar to the solar panels themselves, it likely would have held up much better when carried inside a backpack with other items pressing against it. This is a great unit for short or long hikes and outings out to the beach, park or wherever you may need to charge a device.

Used this in conjunction with INIU 45W Fast Charging Portable Charger on a 5-day kayak trip. The solar panels charged the portable charger in a couple of hours. Used the portable charger then to charge phones. Very happy with the set up.

I bought this in anticipation of a camping trip in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota. I'd had 'solar charger' on my list of camping/hiking wants for a long time, but this was the most legitimate actual need for it that I'd come to in recent years. This one came recommended to me from The Wirecutter, and while it seemed like the obvious choice from the review, some other amazon reviews had me hesitating because of some reported bad experiences. In the end, I didn't have any different solar chargers come across my radar with such positive feedback from a review site paired with this price point, so I decided to risk it, and was delightfully pleased that this charger actually worked well for us! I personally did not have an issue with this charger not storing up power - while that would be a great feature, I wasn't really expecting it. My goal of having a solar charger with me out in the wilderness is to have some emergency method of charging a phone when there are no other options. With modern smartphones now, the battery can drain itself over the course of a day even without any use. While camping, I keep my phone in airplane mode and only mean to have it for taking pictures, and in case I need some way to figure out where I am or getting ahold of someone in an emergency. Being in northern Minnesota in the fall, we found enough pockets of sunshine to reasonably charge two smartphones at a time, and I would say it was on par with the charge time of average wall chargers plugged into an electrical outlet. Having the multiple panels seemed like a helpful way to catch the sun at varying angles as it moves. I also love the fact that you can easily hook it to a backpack or anything else with the included carabiners if you want to use it on-the-go. Overall, I was really satisfied with how this worked on my first trip out with it, and am relieved to now have it in my supplies instead of just in the back of my head. Hopefully it holds up!

A lot of people complain about the charge times or it not working. First it's a solar panel, it's not going to charge as fast as it would plugged into your car or wall. Second it works best when it is outside in direct sunlight, not behind glass, not in the shade, not in cloudy weather, IN DIRECT SUNLIGHT. It will charge if it's not in direct sunlight, but much slower. Also it's going to take longer to charge if you're using your phone while charging. The more you plug into it, the longer it will take to charge everything. It also doesn't help if you're using a 12ft long cable. So keep in mind when buying this, direct sunlight, turn off the device you're charging, charge 1 device at a time when possible, and use the shortest cable possible. It's very useful to have. Good for camping, hiking, hunting, survival, emergency preparedness, or just being environmentally conscious. If there's a reason why you can't charge your phone from an outlet, this is perfect. The size is about that of two tablets/iPads stacked on top of each other or a small laptop when folded up. And about 3 or 4 tablets/iPads side by side when opened up. It came with some carabiners so you can attach it to your backpack, tent, a chain link fence or just about anything that would help face it in direct sunlight. It also has a little indicator light where you plug your USB cable into that lets you know if you are getting power, the brighter the light, the more power you're getting. As long as you keep those few things in mind this solar panel is effective and super simple to use.

[Update 2025 Review]: Loved the first charger of this model I bought in 2022, but when I had to buy a newer one in 2025, I ended up returning it, as it seemed to minimally charge my phone in 3 hours of direct July sunlight in New Mexico, and was not effective at charging if direct sunlight is intermittent - i.e. if deployed/strapped to a pack. The new waffle-pattern panels trap every bit of dust and is difficult to clean with soap and a brush (not something I want to keep in my pack), vs. the old smooth-panels charger which wiped clean easily. Another trekker had bought this charger based on my 2022 recommendation, and had to return it within a few days, as his barely charged anything. BigBlue, not sure what your product development team is doing, but I've retracted about 6 recommendations to other trekkers on this product - as it went from "must have" to "avoid." Original 2022 review: I've used this on 12-day backpacking treks in the SW Rockies, and also for keeping my phone and bluetooth speaker charged while I work outdoors all day in the sometimes-cloudy northeast U.S. Very reliable in both; I've used it for 3 years and no complaints about performance, durability, or water-resistance (left in the rain occasionally). Take this with any group on a trek, and you will be very popular. I strapped my charger to my packpack with the included carabiner clips and charged as I hiked. No issues with overcast days, but it will be limited in charging based on strength of sunlight. In full daylight, expect a solid speedy charge on all three USBs are once - what type of charging cable used will be your biggest bottleneck.

I used this BigBlue 28W solar charger primarily during extended outdoor and field situations where traditional charging options were limited, and in that role it genuinely helped me several times when I needed to keep my phone alive. In strong sunlight with all panels fully opened and positioned correctly, it was capable of slowly charging my phone throughout the day while I left the charger outside and kept the phone itself shaded from direct heat. In situations where you have no access to outlets or reliable power, that can honestly make a huge difference. However, buyers should set realistic expectations about charging performance. Based on my experience, this charger realistically handled one device at a time effectively. Even though there are multiple USB ports available, trying to charge more than one device at once noticeably reduced charging performance to the point where the second device often barely charged at all. Charging speed was also much slower than standard wall charging or portable battery packs, so this is definitely more of a “survival / field utility” product than a fast everyday charger. I would not recommend this as your primary charging method if you have access to normal electricity or portable battery banks. However, in situations where solar power is your only realistic option, it can still be genuinely useful for slowly maintaining or recovering phone battery life during the day. Overall, it is not powerful enough to fully replace traditional charging solutions, but as an emergency or field backup it still served an important purpose for me.

Werkt uitstekend. Op een wisselend bewolkte dag heb ik 0,3A tot vol in de zon ongeveer 2,7A met soms uitschieters van 3,0A in Nederland. Powerbank van 20.000mA ging van 67% naar 100% in 3 uur tijd vol in de zon (buiten temperatuur 26 graden Celsius).

This is a great product. Perfect for charging your devices while hiking. The solar panel can be draped over your knapsack so that you can charge while you are walking. It also folds into a small size that could easily fit into a regular knapsack.

bought this and a competitor to allow free charging and usb power for phones, radieo, flash lights and walkie talkies both at home and "camping out" in SHTF situations or bugging out, recharge power is vital. so how did they do? I ran 2 mobiles down to 10%, placed this 14 w and the competitor 15 w in the sun and connected the phones, after 4 hrs this had charged to 85% while the other only 40% after 6 hours this reached full as opposed to 70%. next i tried some new rechargable batteries, AA, This took 3hrs while the other took 5 hrs. this is fairly light and easy to clean. at the same time i charged my phone I also charged a power bank, making the phone chargin more impressive. it also has a pocker for the power brick. Only negative being the carabinas, so thin they gave no confidence in hanging the panels and attached power bank, so I use my own heavy duty ones. pay the extra tenner for this, it will pay for itself very quickly.

tested on summer, charging a s23/s24 ultra and some times getting super fast charging, consistent charging.

Eccezionale!!!! Ricarica solare rapidissima che sfrutta ogni seppur debole raggio di sole. Perfetta con la Power bank Charmast Power Bank 26800 mah, di queste power ne ho acquistate due pure qui per non sprecare neppure un raggio di sole. Un prezzo per entrambi, pinnellino e power, irrisorio per una qualità super, approfittando magari di qualche offerta a tempo. Per caricare velocemente anche un cell Redmi Note 14 pro 5 g oppure un tablet lenovo idea tab plus è ideale. In pratica con il pannellino e le due power mi sono emancipata dalla rete elettrica per ricaricare tutti i dispositivi di casa. Entusiasta.