Best Portable Solar Panels for Any Neo Nomad

Like some child of Zeus, the modern day human carries lightning in their pocket: electricity, trapped, like a ghost, in dense layers of metal and plastic, stored in a battery, waiting to be summoned to give life to any number of technological instrument. But portable equipment like GPS, phones, lights, computers, camera equipment - these are thirsty gadgets. On top of that, battery tech is notoriously slow to catch up with our hunger for portability and our collective disgust of the 1% battery.

Yet, even our books need charging in this world of Kindle’s and tablets.

Portable computing has brought the possibility of a Neo Nomadic lifestyle, where people such as freelancers, artists, and students can unshackle themselves from a single office or studio, to work far more fluidly and comfortably than traditional work environments. As long as there’s somewhere to plug a charger in, and you know the WiFi password, there are a growing number of ways to earn an income over the internet.

Portable solar panels aren’t just the sustainable way to keep your phone juiced up at a festival or camping trip. Using a good travel solar panel, I regularly charge a headtorch, charge my camera batteries, solar power my tablet, and my Kindle when it needs it. All in regular UK weather, all year round (but summer is especially great).

I’ve used a couple and researched a whole bunch of the best solar panels for travelling photographers, and here’s my verdict:

RAVPower Solar Charger 24W Solar Panel

This may be a slightly too large for some, so there’s a few other options below, but this folding solar panel will charge most things from flat in a couple of hours. HOURS? Sure, though a perfectly sunny day can fill your phone up at the same rate as a standard mains, most of the time you’re going to be setting this up and coming back to it later. But it’s free energy.

It’s magic. If you think about the amount of hours of sun you will have access to this year, even in the UK, that’s a lot of solar energy waiting to be scooped up by you for charging your tech. In my case, my camera and the equipment I keep in my camera bag.

RAVPower Portable Charger External Battery Bank

In combination with the solar panel I use a Ravpower portable charger bank which is incredible just on its own. I bought this over a year before I purchased the portable solar panel from RAV. It takes like 12 hours to fill up at the mains power, and days to fill with the solar panel, but that's because it’s a huge battery.

It will easily charge a smartphone up several times from flat to full, charging multiple devices at once if need be. I charge it up ahead of time and keep it topped up with the solar panel. The overall footprint of both, including cables, is minimal. And you can make that footprint even smaller with the smaller alternatives below. It’s dense but not too heavy to be portable, and it’s a lifesaver when kept in the bottom of a backpack or camera bag.

More Solar Powered Gadgets for Travel Photographers

RAVPower Solar Charger 25000mAh Power Bank

This pocket-sized battery boasts its own solar panel to slowly fill up your power. The idea is not to recharge it from flat (though, that’s certainly possible) but to charge it before travelling, and then use the solar panel to top up the charge on the go.

It’s durable and ruggedly built, which is a must for my clumsy hands. Plus, it has a built in torch and retractable hanging ring. 25000 mAh is roughly the same size as the above battery - so it’s a whopper.

TRAVELLING WITH SOLAR CHARGERS

Taking Power Banks on Flights

Usually fine, kept in your carry-on luggage. These power banks above are all under the general airline limit of 100Wh, which is around 27,000mAh - of which the larger of the two batteries is just under. However, some airlines even have a much higher limit of 160Wh, which is difficult to exceed with a single consumer power bank. That limit is also per item, so multiple are fine. Check with your airline every time, but it’s usually fine.

Are Portable Solar Panels Heavy?

No. The solar panels shown above have a mostly stiff fabric case to hold the panels in place, and the panels themselves are fairly lightweight, so there’s not much weight at all. Traditional solar panels are fixed in place by a lightweight metal frame in order to endure rough weather but the design of these portable versions is suitably light, and so are most other options on the market.

Are Power Banks Heavy?

Yes, you bet. Not that heavy, but noticeably so. Batteries are little bundles of lead and liquid, both of which are dense/heavy materials. Up to around half a kilogram of weight extra.

Yet, it’s all worth it. Make the space, you won’t regret it.