Back country solar? Or battery pack? Or both?

Arch Stanton

Arch Stanton

Active member
Joined
Jan 13, 2016
Messages
136
Location
Altamont, OR
Merry Christmas,

Do you carry a solar panel or a battery charger? Or both?

Goal Zero or sun tactics for a solar panel?

Dark energy or Anker for a portable charger?

Or other good ideas?

Thanks
 
Batteries. I don't like to plan things based upon good weather, seems to never work out for me. Plus, sometimes you need some real juice.
 
It's totally dependent on the hunt for me. Being an ultralight nut, if I know I'm going to get a consistent, good amount of sunlight then I run with the solar charger only. The technology is really lacking in small, compact solar chargers but I've had pretty good luck with he Renogy 5V. It is about as light as them come weighing around 6.5 ounces. It's also really inexpensive. You should be able to pick one up for $30. With direct sunlight it seems to charge my iPhone a slightly lesser speed than a wall plug in but again, you need direct sunlight.

If I'm bringing a battery it's the Anker Powercore 10,000. Super light weight at something like 6.4 oz.

Here are links to the Renogy and Anker:
https://www.renogy.com/renogy-e-flex5-portable-solar-panel-with-usb-port/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0194WDVHI/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_9?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A294P4X9EWVXLJ
 
My sun is not dependable. We have clouds where I live.so solar didn’t cut it. I carry small battery pack about the size of my cell phone. Use it to charge my InReach or my phone if I need it. Phones for taking pictures or watching movies. No service where I hunt.
 
I haven't had luck with the handful of solar units I've tried. Switched to dark energy and don't think I'd go back. It's a slight weight penalty, but two of those charge all my devices for ten plus day hunts with room to spare. And as a T1 diabetic, I'd say I have more than the average amount of gear that needs charging.
 
If you had $100 to spend, buy the battery pack first. It will work no matter what the weather. I use a Dark Energy because its bulletproof and they support hunting. I bought two on a sale and they run all my devices for 7-10 days. That includes phone, goal zero lantern in the tent and headlamp.

I also have a goal zero solar panel, but there are some better ones for less money. The solar panel does not work the best and requires several hours to charge. Its a great item to use as a combo with a battery pack if you can leave it at camp to charge your battery pack during the day.
 
Dark energy charger here. That thing is bullet proof and charges my iPhone multiple times.
 
Solar doesn’t seem like a good primary backup. The time when you need a recharge the most is at the end of a long day, perhaps because you got hurt and are trying to communicate with search and rescue. That’s been an issue on a couple local rescues.

I have a Mophie backup battery that I’ve used several times when the phone got low or died because of cold. Other brands may be better.
 
I used to have a Goal Zero nomad 7 with the AA battery pack. It worked great at the house the few times I tried it. Out in the woods however, it didn't work like at home. I couldn't find a spot that was in the sun all day, so I did the best I could. The idea was it would charge the AA batteries during the day and then in camp at night I would swap out the ones in my headlamp, GPS, charge my phone, whatever I needed. What I found was that unless I stayed in camp and kept it in full sun all day, it wasn't charging the batteries fully, even if I let it go for 2 days. It was a total disappointment. I returned it to REI and then purchased a 20,000mah battery pack from Amazon for about $40. The battery pack is perfect for me. I swapped all of my devices to rechargeable (via USB) and that was a bit of an investment, but they were all things I wanted to upgrade anyways (headlamp, GPS, micro lantern, steripen, InReach, and phone). Best of all, it weights about the same, but packs a lot easier.
 
depends on how long you'll be afield and clearly the expected sunshine. If it's a week and sunny I saw bring both, if only a few days just an anker.
 
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