Levin 12000mAh Rain-resistant Solar Panel Dual USB Port Charger Power Bank for Smartphones & Tablets - Black

This thing survived many days in below freezing weather in Maine! It is water resistant, but NOT waterproof. Keep this in a zip-lock freezer bag if you want this to survive any serious camping/backpacking trips. Do not let moisture or water sit on this too long or it will eventually seep in and destroy it. If you put it in a bag after it has gotten rained on you will kill it, make sure it is dry first. Do not rely on the solar panel exclusively to charge it. It would take 43 hours in perfect sunlight to fully charge (12,000mAh/280mA), but it will give enough charge to keep you going. Treat this as a standard battery bank, and use the solar panel for emergency charging only. Since the battery IS attached to the solar panel itself, I would not let this out in direct sunlight for more than a few hours at a time, depending on the ambient temperature. Too much heat is never good for a battery.

So far it works well. I fully charged the charger using the power cord the first time I got it as instructed and was able to get 2 full charges on my i6 with one full battery. The solar part is cool. Even on overcast days, the green solar light will pick up any solar energy it can and try to charge. If left out in direct sunlight, it will charge faster. But if indirect sunlight, you will not get a full solar charge on the battery itself. (may take weeks to charge) So far, so good. I am going off the grid for 2 weeks and I am hoping this will save me. The type of cord you use for charging will also depend on the speed of the charge. If using an after market cord to charge your accessories, it will take a long time to charge and I noticed it drains the battery faster. If you use the cord that came with the phone, ipad, etc, it will charge faster and I noticed it does not drain the solar battery as fast. So far, worth the buy.

Works great, as long as I use it right away. If I leave it sitting more than a week or two it seems to discharge itself. I think it picks up stray light, the solar charging circuitry activates, but that ends up draining more than re-charging since it's not in direct sun. If I leave it in the dark somewhere it seems to hold onto its charge a bit longer. No problems whatsoever charging it up and taking it along camping for a weekend, recharging my phone a few times over a few days. If I had to do it over again I'd get something else, without a solar panel - even in bright sun, it charges so slowly the panel really adds little to this product. A full day in direct sun might translate to an extra 20% or so on my phone when I charge it - so I guess it delays running out of power by a little bit, topping it up with the sun, but don't plan on getting very far on just the solar panel alone. Solar panel aside I'd give it 5 stars for its price & capacity, if the darn thing didn't discharge itself when it's sitting around!

Took this with me for an 8 day backpacking trip to Alaska to keep my GoPro batteries and phone charged (although I didn't have service for my phone). It charged things fine and was water resistant (didn't actually submerge it in water), but it did get rained on quite a bit. The solar charging didn't seem to charge it very quickly and certainly not back up to full. The only way I got it fully charged was by plugging it in. If you're looking for a waterproof charger, this isn't a bad option, but I can't say as a solar charger it works very well. The carabiner it came with was a joke as it wasn't big enough for the charger and was very cheap so I just replaced it with a better one that fit and one that I didn't have to worry about it breaking.

This is an update to what I had said about this product a few days ago. I am reversing my comments and changing my 1 star to 4 stars. I realized after trouble shooting a little farther that I had used a wall charger plug-in device that was incompatible. Thank goodness I had made a mistake. I plugged the device into my PC's USB port and it started charging as the LED's started increasing. I used an Apple phone wall adapter as well and it was fine. Still seems to be having problems charging in solar mode though. I hope this will be small thing to resolve as well because the device is a great concept. Please disregard my former comments.(Prior Comment)I bought this for a week long camp trip. I had high hopes for this product, but it looks as though it is not accurately showing a full charge now when it is charged up from the wall. It worked great during the week I was camping, but since getting home I've used it and drained it and recharged via the wall outlet however it only shows 1 led light showing that its just a 1/4 charged. For the past two days I've had it in a room full of sun and it showed that it was charging via solar. But still when I turn it on, it only shows 1 blue LED not fully charged. A great concept here, but mine is not properly working.

This is amazing. It charged my Moto X in under 45 minutes out in the back country. It topped off it's charge while attached to my backpack. I haven't used it many times, but so far, It's perfect for camping. Just remember to fully charge it from a wall outlet before going out!Update: I had to drop it a few stars. Although it's still functional, I'm concerned about the battery. I haven't left it in the heat or left it plugged in once completely charged, but after several uses, the case is starting to bulge and the batter rattles around inside. I suspect the battery started to swell and then shrink upon discharge; when it's completely discharged, it's not bulged anymore. I wouldn't buy this again.

Had two for 3.5 years with no issues. Today one was split in half because the battery was swollen to half again the thickness of the case. Tossing the other before it has a chance to blow up.