Blog

I decided to try a solar power option because I expected it to be sunny quite a lot of the time. That sounds obvious, but I know from experience that to get the best out of a solar panel, you need full sun directly onto it. Attaching it to the back of a rucksack can be its nemesis.

I was also conscious I’d be hiking West to East. This is not ideal since most of the walking should be done by mid-afternoon, meaning that shortly after the sun gets to shine fully onto the solar panel, I should be setting up camp.

Add to that the fact that siting the panel on the front of my rucksack would make it virtually impossible for the sun to get directly onto it. I pondered siting it on the top but the fixings aren’t there, the top isn’t always horizontal anyway, and it would interfere with the other stuff I had going on around the rucksack lid.

Nevertheless, I was impressed by this little gadget and it’s probably the best one I’ve used (albeit I haven’t used one for a few years and these things get better fast).

One afternoon, after I’d stopped to camp I set it up facing directly at the sun, it was just after 3pm. I plugged it directly into my phone for 30 minutes (my phone was horrified at the low power and kept asking me to check the charger), it went from 58% to 60%, so would need another 20 hours at a similar intensity to fully charge the phone (OK, that wouldn’t happen exactly – I use that number to demonstrate that its unrealistic).

Phones don’t charge well from a variable source, and direct sunlight is variable given the clouds and atmosphere changes, so it’s better to charge a power bank, which I did, then used that to charge my phone.

Putting all this into context, I really didn’t have to rely on the solar panel since I could get my phone and power bank charged at campsites and the maximum I needed them to last was three days. BUT this little charger proved its worth and it only weighs 115 grams, so I’d take it on other trips – it's an option to harvest power from just sunlight. That facility has got to be worth having in case everything else fails.

You can of course increase your advantage by taking larger solar panels if you expect you will need to rely heavily on it.

Mark Richardson
Mark was the founder of Ultralight Outdoor Gear back in 2006 and has completed long distance backpacking routes in some of the remotest parts of the world. His favourite hikes have been Torres del Paine (full circuit), the John Muir trail and the Markha Valley trail (Ladakh, India). Although semi-retired Mark has not lost any enthusiasm for minimalist backpacking and is tackling Scotland’s Munros choosing multi-day backpacking routes over the more usual guide book excursions. Read more from Mark Richardson