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

Took this to Juneau, AK, most days were cloudy. I was amazed that it still charged our phones even with cloud cover. The size was perfect to take on the plane, then open up when needed. On sunny days it charged quickly.

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.

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.

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!

Works well at charging my back up battery source. Would recommend. Holding up well so far.

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 actually really like it, It's a moderate at 15 watts, I didn't realize this was the smaller wattage of the panels, I actually thought the color had something to do with the price. But what's important is, it works really well and better then I expected. It's enough to charge things moderatly fast, in good sun of course, it's Ultra lightweight, and I couldn't believe how small and well made this thing is! It has a special compartment/pocket to hold the phone or battery pack in place with a strap to keep the item from falling out while charging, And keeps the item out of the direct Sun. It's actually a lot fancier looking than I expected as well and the panels seem to be tough! This will be perfect for adventures in the woods!

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).

Ich war auf der Suche nach einer praktischen Lösung für ein langes Festival-Campingwochenende, an dessen Ende man für gewöhnlich nicht nur selbst ausgelaugt ist, sondern das Gleiche auch auf die elektronischen Begleiter zutrifft. Ein erster Versuch mit einer Powerbank mit integriertem aufklappbaren Solarmodul als all-in-one-Lösung endete vollkommen ernüchternd. Also etwas schlauer gemacht und auf das Bigblue 28W gestoßen, um es in Verbindung mit einer externen Powerbank zu nutzen. Und es hat mich in der Tat vom Hocker gehauen. Die Ladeleistung ist beeindruckend. Direkt angeschlossene Smartphones wurden in FastCharge-Geschwindigkeit aufgeladen. Und auch die externe Powerbank erreichte gute Ladewerte. Zwischenzeitlich gar den Laptop direkt am Bigblue gehabt und selbst dort positiv überrascht worden. Insgesamt sind wir als Familie dank des Bigblue gut durch das sonnige Wochenende gekommen und das einzige Ärgernis war, nicht schon viel früher auf diese rundum gut verarbeitete und effiziente Variante gestoßen zu sein. Kurzum: Absolute Kaufempfehlung und jeden Cent wert.

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.

Contrairement à certains commentaires, je trouve que ces panneaux solaires depliants rechargent très bien, je peux avoir une charge à 100 %/joir sur une batterie de 10000 a ou téléphone. Je suis toujours très etonnée de constater qu'il charge, biensûr moindrement, en temps un peu couvert. C'est le deuxième que je rachète, je profite toujours des promos. Il faut savoir qu'il rechargera moins sur un sac à dos car on est susceptible de changer d'orientation souvent, mais en fixe il est impeccable.