A dead device is deadweight when an electrical outlet is nowhere in sight, which is when a portable solar power bank comes in handy. It can keep your gadgets powered up when you’re enjoying life off-grid — perfect for camping, backpacking, traveling, or emergencies.
We’ve tested over 100 different portable solar chargers since 2013. During the course of this review, we performed tests evaluating these 19 solar charged power banks, including exposing them to direct and indirect light, hauling them around on our bikes and in our packs, and plugging in our gadgets to see how well they charge devices.
Our top recommendation is the BigBlue SolarPowa 28. This solar charger performed well across the board and still impressed us with its portability. If you’re looking for a good value, the Blavor 10W offers a lightweight, compact, and reasonably priced unit that still manages to perform well for its output.
If you’re looking for a larger solar panel for even more power on your next adventure, we also tested the top 100+ watt portable panels in our solar panel for power stations review. If you don’t need solar but do need some power, check out these great portable chargers or these larger power stations.
Editor’s Note: We updated our solar charger review on July 10, 2025, adding the Blavor 10W, FlexSolar E10 Mini, and BigBlue SolarPowa 14 to the testing lineup.
The BigBlue SolarPowa 28 offers the best balance of portability and charging efficiency of any solar power bank we tested. When your small electronics need a charge, this panel delivers it more consistently than any other. It efficiently converts sunlight to energy in both direct sunlight and cloudy conditions, while remaining lightweight enough to carry in your backpack, glove box, or camping gear tote. It unfolds into four sections and features three USB ports (one USB-A and two USB-C) for simultaneous charging of multiple devices. It has a storage pocket for cables, a battery bank, and other accessories as well. Our lead tester, Sam Schild, remarked, “I like that it’s speedy and that it can power up to three devices at once.”
Read more: BigBlue SolarPowa 28 review
The Blavor 10W balances extreme portability with surprising efficiency, all in a very affordable package. This 10-watt panel is lightweight and thin when folded, and has a velcro pouch to hold a battery bank and cable when you’re transporting it. When you need a power boost from the sun, you can simply unfold it, plug a cable into the USB A or C output, and it will generate energy from the sun.
While the Blavor 10W solar panel is light and portable enough to throw in your pack for a backpacking trip, it’s not as light as our top choice for backpacking, the FlexSolar E10 Mini. You certainly can take the Blavor on your next backpacking trip, but if you’re counting ounces, the FlexSolar weighs over 5 ounces less. However, the Blavor is such a good deal that we’re not too concerned with slightly more weight, and its overall functionality is hard to beat.
Read more: Blavor 10W review
The FlexSolar E10 Mini is the absolute lightest solar panel we tested. And at 7 ounces, it won’t weigh you down when you take to the trail. Our lead tester Sam said, “This is my top choice for backpacking because of the weight savings, but also because the simpler design reinforces he minimalist mindset I like to take backpacking.” This tiny 10-watt panel folds down to a smaller size than some modern smartphones and has a rugged backing material. It unfolds into a small array of four solar panels linked together, and it comes with a pair of carabiners, so you can clip this onto your pack or a fixed object. This model has few other features, which we find ideal for backpacking.
Read more: FlexSolar E10 Mini review
The FlexSolar 40W is a high-output model that easily unfolds from the size of a large book into six solar panels. This is our top recommendation for those seeking an easy-to-use and set up solar charger with a DC output, capable of putting out 19 watts, for larger portable power stations.
Despite folding down into a small enough package, the FlexSolar 40W is not nearly as light as some other models we tested. At nearly three pounds, it weighs more than twice as much as some other panels within the 20-40 watt range. That said, it also weighs less than most 50+ watt models we’ve tested, so it’s more portable than many options available. This panel is a worthwhile consideration for all your higher-watt on-the-go solar charging needs.
Read more: FlexSolar 40W review
We’ve been testing portable solar chargers and panels for years and have put well over 100 individual products through our comprehensive testing process. With each new round of testing, we carefully select the most interesting, most popular, and most promising models and purchase them at full price. Then, we test each product objectively and thoroughly. During testing, we look at how quickly each model charges with different amounts of sunlight, how it handles multiple devices at once, the rate of charging, and its portability, durability, and overall usability. We used each contender in the field to test our metrics and tested them in our backyard home lab. See additional details on our testing processes in our How We Test article.
Our solar testing team is spearheaded by Review Editor Sam Schild. Sam is a lifelong outdoor adventurer and off-grid explorer. Over the decades, he has spent thousands of nights under the stars, far from any power outlets. Sam has powered his bicycle rides across the country — more than once — and is a seasoned thru-hiker with numerous long-distance trails across America under his belt. He uses solar panels to keep himself connected to friends and family no matter where he roams, whether on his own two feet or with the aid of a pair of bike tires. Over years of using many iterations of solar panels and continually improved solar charging technology, Sam is intimately acquainted with the benefits and limits of powering devices from the sun. He tests solar panels large and small for GearLab, based out of wherever his feet are in the American West and Southwest.
Also joining our testing team is James Lucas, a long-time writer, editor, and photographer. As an avid climber who authored the Yosemite Valley Bouldering guidebook, you can find James outdoors more days than not. He spends his time documenting the outdoors and gear testing in Boulder, Colorado, and on frequent travels to California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. James frequently uses solar panels to power his adventures and charge his camera gear when working out of his van in the Rockies and when perched atop sunny El Capitan in Yosemite.
We chose the best, most popular, and most promising portable solar panels on the market today to test side-by-side in this review. We tested every model under the same conditions to see which ones provided the most power and which were the most convenient to use. Whether you are looking for a solar setup for car camping or a compact charger to power your smartphone and GPS devices on a backpacking trip, our review offers excellent recommendations for anybody.
Dozens of companies produce affordable, effective monocrystalline panels ranging from small 5-watt models to more substantial, powerful options that will allow for a faster charge. Generally, the larger, higher-watt panels are going to cost more but will charge your devices faster and more efficiently.
The BigBlue SolarPowa 28 and Blavor 10W offer the best overall value. The BigBlue is a 28-watt solar panel that charges devices quickly, is portable, and costs less than most other panels we tested. The Blavor 10W is significantly less expensive than the BigBlue and the least expensive model overall, making it a stellar value. The Blavor isn’t as powerful as the BigBlue, though, so you’ll have to wait longer for this little 10-watt panel to fully charge your devices than you would with the BigBlue, and time is money, as they say.
The BigBlue SolarPowa 14 is also a great value, and only costs a few dollars more than the Blavor 10W. This smaller 14-watt model from BigBlue is sleek and portable, but it’s not as efficient as the larger BigBlue SolarPowa 28, or even the comparably-sized Blavor 10W.
The Goal Zero Nomad 5 is a less-powerful, 5-watt panel that won’t charge as many things as fast, but is exceptionally portable and easy to take with you just about anywhere. It is incredibly light and portable and performed better in direct sun solar testing than most other smaller portable solar panels we tested.
We also tested quite a few battery banks with an integrated solar panel. Most of these options cost much less than solar panels without an integrated battery bank. Many of these items don’t work nearly as well — several of them failed to generate a measurable charge during our 1-hour test. To get them to convert sunlight into energy, we had to have them perfectly angled into the sun and wait three times as long to get even the smallest measurable amount of charge. So, while these options are less expensive and come with an integrated battery, they aren’t as good of a value when it comes to harnessing energy from the sun.
Overall, we think a solar panel that’s separate from a battery bank is a better deal. You can purchase the SunJack 25W solar panel with two 10,000 mAh batteries. While this makes the panel seem more expensive than many other comparably sized solar panels, the two battery banks make it a good value overall.
A solar power bank is designed to power your device when you’re away from outlets. We took this into account when we chose to weight direct solar charging speed the heaviest in our testing metrics. It’s also no surprise that some of our highest-scoring panels in this metric were chargers with the largest capacity.
We executed this experiment using a set of identical 10,000 mAh battery banks. We hooked up each panel to one of these battery banks with a multimeter and then set them in the sun for one hour. We then recorded the amount of charge each panel created in milliamp hours over the one-hour period. We performed this test three times on every panel and averaged the results.
The BigBlue SolarPowa 28 generated the most power in one hour of direct sunlight, an average of 2,177 mAh. This 28-watt panel consistently put out power and even outperformed a few higher-watt panels we tested.
We performed most of these tests with the panels lying flat on the ground for maximum consistency. During early morning and evening testing, though, we also performed some tests with the panels angled directly at the sun. We found that when a panel is pointed directly at the sun, it performs better. So, when the sun is high in the sky, directly overhead, it’s best to keep them flat on the ground. But when it’s lower in the sky, near the horizon, you should angle the panel at the sun to achieve maximum efficiency. Also, when the panels aren’t lying directly on the insulating ground, they stay cooler. And when solar panels are less hot, they work better.
We tested several solar chargers with DC power outputs, and these performed the best when connected to the DC power stations used in our 100+ watt solar panels test. The FlexSolar 40W performed better when using its DC charging output, generating 2,200 mAh in an hour, compared to 1,259 mAh in an hour when using the USB-A port connected to the 10,000 mAh test battery.
The Goal Zero Nomad 50 generated an average of 1,619 mAh over three tests, though it didn’t perform noticeably better when hooked up to a larger battery with its DC charging output. The Goal Zero Nomad 20 also has a DC charging output, so it’s capable of charging DC power stations as well, but this 20-watt panel only put out an average of 728 mAh in an hour and also didn’t perform noticeably better when using the DC output.
The BigBlue SolarPowa 30 and Blavor 30W Foldable each have a DC charging port as well. However, neither of these panels performed better when charging a battery using the DC power output rather than the USB-A port. The BigBlue 30 put out an average of 1860 mAh using its USB-A port but 1000 mAh using the DC charging capabilities. The Blavor 30W put out 1200 mAh using its DC output and an average of 1197 mAh using its USB-A port.
During direct solar charge testing, we found that the portable battery banks with an integrated solar panel weren’t nearly as efficient as the others we tested — the Blavor Qi 10,000mAh and the Riapow 26800mAh were especially inefficient. This isn’t to say that these panels don’t work at all, but their conversion efficiency is incredibly low and slow. Not one of the integrated battery banks with a solar panel worked as well as the larger panels we tested. Additionally, we repeatedly had issues with these batteries overheating when placed on the ground in direct sunlight.
We found these panels really worked best only if you angled them directly at the sun. Even then, they’re far less efficient than even the other 5-watt panels with slightly larger surface areas. First and foremost, we consider these panels battery banks. The integrated solar panels on these shouldn’t be relied on like you would any of the other panels we tested here.
We found a few smaller panels performed surprisingly well in direct solar charging speed. The Blavor 10W, FlexSolar E10 Mini, and BigBlue SolarPowa 14 generated 1,401 mAh, 1,247 mAh, and 1,178 mAh of power, respectively. These panels, paired with a battery bank, are a better portable charging solution than an integrated battery bank and solar panel, for most people.
During our first round of testing, we devised a separate test for the lower-watt portable solar chargers with integrated batteries. We left each of these panels to charge in the sun for three hours, hanging so they wouldn’t overheat. None of the panels generated nearly as much power as the larger models, but they did generate some charge eventually. After the three-hour test, we divided the power generated by 3 to be comparable to the one-hour tests we performed with every other panel.
The QiSa 38800mAh Qi Wireless generated the most power in an hour, at 977 mAh, and the Hiluckey HIS025 25000mAh Power Bank generated 542 mAh. These battery banks have larger panels than the single panel on the Blavor Qi 10,000mAh, Mregb 42800mAh Power Bank, and Riapow 26800mAh Wireless
The Blavor Qi 10,000mAh and Riapow 26800mAh failed to generate any measurable charge during our testing, and we’d encourage people to think of them more as portable chargers than as highly functional solar panels.
Over multiple years of testing, we’ve found that the battery bank and solar panel combos can work as solar panels if you’re careful to keep the battery cool. After struggling to keep the battery from overheating, we found the slightly larger panel on the Mregb 42800mAh Power Bank created slightly more power than the smaller battery packs with a single integrated panel if we were able to keep it cool. The Mregb generated 105 mAh of power in one hour when angled in a way that keeps the battery off the ground and, therefore, cooler, and points the panel directly at the sun.
The BioLite SolarPanel 5+, which has a smaller 3,200 mAh battery bank, performed better than most of the battery banks without a fold-out solar panel array, generating 543 mAh in an hour, It has a much smaller battery capacity and looks a lot more like a solar panel than the four brick-style battery bank “solar panel” combos we tested. The Biolite 5+’s solar panel worked comparably as well as the other 5-watt solar panel we tested, the Goal Zero Nomad 5, but was less efficient overall. The Nomad 5 generated 789 mAh over one hour.
In this metric, we consider the following questions: is your panel going to quit on you just because one cloud passes overhead? To test this, we performed the same test we used to test direct solar charging with a white sheet suspended over all the panels to simulate a cloudy day.
Again, the highest-performing models in indirect solar charging speed were the ones with a larger watt rating. However, their performances do not directly correlate to overall wattage, with notable diversions where smaller panels converted more electricity.
Like in direct solar charging speed, the BigBlue SolarPowa 28 performed near the top in indirect solar charging testing, generating 583 mAh in an hour. The Sunjack 25W performed slightly better, and generated 675 mAh of charge in one hour. These panels did better when charging under our while sheet cloud simulation than the larger 40 and 50-watt panels we tested. Compared to other similarly-rated panels in the 20-30 watt range, the SolarPowa and Sunjack blew the competition out of the water.
Unsurprisingly, the solar chargers with large surface areas did better in this metric because there were more cells exposed to the sun at one time. The Goal Zero Nomad 50 did well in indirect solar testing, generating 622 mAh of charge in an hour. This panel is massive, so it stands to reason that it would do at least okay in less-than-ideal conditions where every bit of solar power is needed.
The Goal Zero Nomad 20 proved to have less of a decrease in power generation from direct to indirect light than almost any other panel we tested. Though its output isn’t quite as impressive as other 20-watt panels we tested, this increased consistency across weather conditions is notable and appreciated. And though it wasn’t the most impressive panel of its watt size, it generated 262 mAh in one hour.
The BigBlue SolarPowa 30 also performed well during indirect solar charging. The panel, which features a built-in ammeter to maintain consistent power in varying conditions, generated 862 mAh of power in one hour during one test, but generate an average of 126 mAh during two other indirect sunlight tests. We were a bit surprised that this panel didn’t perform better, since the BigBlue SolarPowa 28, which doesn’t have an ammeter, has performed so well in the past. However, in this year’s side-by-side testing, the tried and true original BigBlue 28 performed consistently better under our simulated cloud cover sheet than the newer BigBlue 30.
The Anker Solix 30W Foldable also performed well in indirect sunlight, generating 284 mAh of power in one hour.
Disappointingly, if perhaps not surprisingly, all the battery banks with a single solar panel combo units — the Blavor Qi 10,000mAh, Mregb 42800mAh, and Riapow 26800mAh — failed to generate much, if any, charge at all during our indirect sunlight tests. This solidifies them, once again, as portable battery banks, first and foremost, with unreliable solar charger performance.
The battery banks and fold-out solar panel combos in the testing lineup performed better than the battery banks with a single panel. These panels didn’t generate a lot of power in one hour, but they generated a measurable amount. The Hiluckey HIS025 25000mAh Power Bank generated 214 mAh, the QiSa 38800mAh Qi Wireless generated 234 mAh, and the Blavor PN-W12 Pro generated 265 mAh of power in one hour.
We looked at each model’s portability in terms of packed size and weight. Some panels fold down into a small package but aren’t very light, while others are lightweight but don’t fold at all.
We considered how easy each solar charger is to set up and take down, and we also considered if they have storage solutions for your cables or features that make them easier to pack into a backpack or bring along on a camping trip.
The lightest model we tested was the FlexSolar E10 Mini, which weighs a mere 7.3 ounces. This is at least 5 ounces lighter than every panel other than the Blavor Qi 10,000mAh, which weighs 9.3 ounces but doesn’t generate nearly as much power as the FlexSolar Mini.
Battery banks with integrated solar easily fit into a pocket or clip to the outside of your backpack. However, as we discussed earlier, these should be considered battery banks more than solar panels. The solar panels on all the brick-style battery banks really aren’t big enough to rely on for solar power generation. While their low weights make them portable in this lineup, there are other portable chargers we’ve tested without solar panels that are lighter.
A better option for weight-saving portability is a smaller 10-15 watt solar panels. We already mentioned the FlexSolar E10 Mini, but the Blavor 10W (12.6 ounces) and BigBlue SolarPowa 14 (12 ounces) are both very portable. These models perform much better as solar panels than the battery bank models do, which makes them worth the weight. They also have a pocket to hold a battery bank, which is very convenient.
The Goal Zero Nomad 5 also stands out for its portability among the rest of the solar panels. This panel weighs a mere 12.4 ounces and is incredibly thin. It easily slides into any backpack, no matter how full it is. You can strap it to the outside of your pack if you want to get some charge while on the move and lean it against just about anything when you get to camp. This panel doesn’t fold, and it could be smaller if it did, but then it would have more heavy material and less total area for the actual solar panel. This panel strikes the perfect balance between ultralight weight consciousness and solar efficiency.
The BioLite SolarPanel 5+ is another highly portable option. It weighs 13.4 ounces and is about the same size as the Goal Zero Nomad 5. The BioLite 5+ also has an integrated 3200 mAh battery, which makes its low weight and small size even more impressive.
The Blavor PN-W12 Pro (20.9 ounces), Hiluckey HIS025 25000mAh Power Bank (18.7 ounces), and QiSa 38800mAh Qi Wireless (19.5 ounces) all weigh a similar amount. And these all fold down to about the same size as well — slightly smaller than an actual brick. And since these panel and battery bank combos work better as solar panels, their portability is even more impressive.
The BigBlue SolarPowa 28 is the most portable panel we tested that’s larger than 20 watts. This panel folds down to about the size of a notebook and weighs 20.9 ounces. It’s more than light enough to throw in a backpack or on your bike to charge your devices anywhere. Compared to the FlexSolar E10 Mini, it weighs nearly three times as much but packs serious charging power. On the other hand, compared to the beefy Goal Zero Nomad 50, which weighs 110.4 ounces, the SolarPowa 28 feels practically featherweight.
The FlexSolar 40W isn’t the lightest panel at 47.3 ounces, but it does fold down very quickly and easily, making it notable despite its size. It’s the easiest to pack away of any folding panel we tested, so it is more portable than its weight may make it seem. Once folded, it becomes a compact package. However, it lacks cable storage or charging port protection, which we don’t love.
The FlexSolar E10 Mini uses the same design as the FlexSolar 40W, but it’s much smaller. The E10 Mini folds and unfolds easily and quickly, and is barely larger than a smartphone when folded.
The SunJack 25W also folds and unfolds quickly, much like the FlexSolar 40W. But the SunJack only weighs 29.4 ounces, which is much lighter than the FlexSolar. This isn’t quite as light as the BigBlue SolarPowa 28, but it’s more than light enough to carry around. We also appreciate that it has an excellent zippered compartment to store cables and a battery bank, which makes it that much easier to stay organized.
Some solar panels are easier to use than others. We evaluated many aspects of functionality in our testing of solar chargers. We looked at the number of devices each panel can charge simultaneously, integrated battery capacity, other charging options, and anything else that makes these panels more user-friendly.
As you might guess, when tasked with the challenge of charging multiple devices at once, the more powerful models performed better than lower-wattage models. Smaller panels, such as the 5W models, don’t have the power to sustain two gadgets at once. If this is a priority for you, then select a panel with a higher wattage.
The BigBlue SolarPowa 28, SunJack, Goal Zero Nomad 50, and FlexSolar 40W all did a good job charging multiple devices at once. After so many rounds of testing these solar chargers’ ability to juice multiple devices at a time, for the most consistent results, we recommend not doing this. Instead, it’s generally more effective and efficient to use your solar panel to charge a battery bank and then charge all your devices off of that battery.
Solar chargers with built-in battery packs excel in charging multiple devices at once, but we really consider these just battery banks, so that’s to be expected. The Blavor Qi and Riapow are capable of charging compatible smartphones wirelessly as well. This is a useful feature, as it allows you to leave your cables at home, further cutting weight and system complexity.
Beyond multiple device charging, several of the panels we tested have multiple types of outputs, which help to charge a variety of devices. The Goal Zero Nomad 50, Goal Zero Nomad 20, FlexSolar 40W, BigBlue SolarPowa 30, and Blavor 30W Foldable all have USB-A outputs and DC outputs, so you can charge more types of battery banks, including portable power stations. You can also connect multiple Nomad solar panels together to increase power output. You can even mix and match many of the Nomad sizes and models (though not the small, Nomad 5) to create larger stations pulling more power from the sun.
All of the Goal Zero Nomad panels have kickstand legs that make it easy to angle them directly at the sun. The BigBlue SolarPowa 30 also has a kickstand leg for this purpose. This greatly improves solar efficiency when the sun isn’t directly overhead, so you can maximize sunlight in the mornings, evenings, and during non-summer months.
The BioLite SolarPanel 5+ also has a kickstand leg. Uniquely, this model has a sundial to help take the guesswork out of pointing the panel directly at the sun. The integrated battery on the Biolite makes it possible to keep a small charge for when the sun goes down, but its limited capacity isn’t enough to fully charge most modern smartphones. However, in an odd twist (in our opinion), there is no way to bypass the battery bank. So if the battery doesn’t have a charge, you’ll have to wait for it to charge before you’re able to charge your device.
With the growing solar market and all the technical jargon, figuring out what to buy can be confusing. We will start by saying it can often be worth it to purchase from a reputable company with a clear warranty policy on its website. That way, if you end up with a dud, you can hopefully get your money back or a replacement.
We realize this can be confusing, so we’re here to break it down for you. Watts (electric power) and amps (current) are two common units you will see listed for these products. Amps can be thought of as the amount of electricity moving through a given system. Volts can be described as the pressure that electricity is flowing with, think pressure exerted in a water hose. Watts is the cumulative power output from amps and volts that measures how much power and consumption you are drawing. Therefore, higher-wattage devices should deliver more power and charge devices faster, under the assumption that the devices are compatible with the amps and volts requirements.
Once you get an idea of charging capacity and your intended use for a solar charger, it’s time to figure out what devices you plan on using. For smaller handheld items such as smartphones, a solar power bank with five to fifteen watts should suffice. For those hoping to charge larger items such as laptops or multiple devices at a time, higher wattage panels with twenty to fifty watts of power are recommended. Factors such as duration of use, amount and intensity of sunlight, and how often you plan on charging your devices all play a significant factor in how quickly and efficiently your devices will charge.
The size will often be relative to output and charging capabilities. Deciding on the right size will depend on the type of use and trips you plan on using your solar charger for. Someone who plans on taking backpacking trips and just needs a little extra reassurance to charge their GPS device will want something small and light. For those who have the space and need a solar charger while on work trips or weekend outings, a charger with a bigger footprint will be best suited.
The amount of sun exposure and sun intensity can significantly impact a panel’s charging capabilities. Consider the type of areas and climates you plan on spending time in. To produce peak charging efficiency, solar panels need adequate sunlight. Make sure to place your panels in ideal locations to capture sunlight and avoid running out of juice sooner than expected. Features such as kickstands and legs can help create a more optimal angle for charging.
Deciding on the right solar power bank can be an overwhelming task. We hope that our breakdown of these mobile models has helped you to narrow down the right choice for your devices, your weather, and your budget.
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