Portable Solar Chargers

What is a portable solar charger?

It's an external battery pack with a small solar panel built in: it stores energy to recharge your phone, GPS or torch, and recharges itself in the sun. The advantage over a simple panel? It stores the power, so you can recharge your devices whenever you need to, even at night or on an overcast day. Compact and practical, it slips into your rucksack or clips onto it to soak up the sun as you walk: battery life in your pocket, trip after trip. It's the ideal companion for staying powered up, far from anywhere.

Capacity and charging your devices

Capacity, measured in milliamp-hours (mAh), determines how many times you can recharge your devices. A high capacity will charge a phone several times over, enough to see you through a multi-day trek. One or more USB ports let you charge your phone and torch at the same time. Check the charging speed and whether fast charging is available: on a short break, it's best to have a charger that gets energy back into your devices quickly.

Solar power, durability and weight

The built-in solar panel is a handy top-up: it slowly recharges the battery as you walk, ideal for extending your power on longer trips, though you should always set off with a full battery. Built for the outdoors, a good solar charger is tough, waterproof and knock-resistant, often foldable so you can unfold its panels, and sometimes fitted with a backup LED torch. Weigh up the capacity-to-weight ratio: the bigger the battery, the heavier it is, so choose your charger type based on how long your adventures last and your power needs.

Gearing up properly

A solar charger pairs perfectly with a more powerful portable solar panel, and works alongside your rucksack and other hiking accessories.