There are a ton of solar-charging power packs around but I find the Solartab an interesting and stylish one that might work well for camping trips and motorhomes.

 

It’s not light (2.6 pounds / 1.2 KG) but that’s because it’s got a nice 48 Wh lithium polymer battery inside (13000 mAh and I assume the ‘normal’ 3.7V cells) and it comes with a protective case. The panel is designed right into the battery and the whole unit looks very stylish. The 5.5 W monocrystalline panel is not big enough to charge the unit in anything less than 3 full-sun days (my estimate) and that’s if you keep the unit constantly pointing at the sun, at the right angle so look at this as a battery pack that has a solar top-up feature. If the charging electronics are well designed (with ‘smart’ features that can help trickle-charge a Lithium Polymer battery) then this might work better than using a separate power-pack and panel.

There’s two USB outputs on the unit that supply 1.0 and 2.1A output, micro-USB charging, an  LED charge/ capacity indicator system and the cover is made of polyurethane.

At $119 its cheaper than my current favorite, the Changers solar kit, and it has way more battery capacity but if it doesn’t charge in low-sunlight and you live somewhere like me, in Germany, then you might be better off just buying $119 worth of power packs and charging them from the mains. $119 will buy you over 200 Wh of  USB power packs at Amazon.com right now.

As I said, treat this as a battery with solar top-up capabilities and consider it for camping, motorhome or balcony use and not as a complete mobile solar charging solution.

More info at mysolartab.com