Boulder 200 Watt Solar Panel Briefcase

I just used two of these briefcase units (2x100w) at Burning Man and they worked great. I put them on top of the trailer and really didn't bother to turn them toward the morning and evening sun. During the day they got to a high of about 150W generated (combined) which was about perfect for the Yeti 1400 battery we also bought, when combined with my plugging in the yeti battery when the trailer's generator was on. I might add a 3rd unit in the future, but for now two was just fine.While I did bungee them to the roof of the trailer, they are pretty heavy and I wasn't too worried about any issues with wind. That said, given their weight, I really wouldn't want to have a single 200W unit.More specifically on the 2x100W vs. 1x200W, I'm really glad I bought two 100W briefcase units instead of one 200W unit. The two units fit perfectly on top of each other on the Frontrunner Outfitters shelf in the back of my Jeep wrangler. I just put a towel between the bottom unit and the shelf and then a towel between the first unit and the second unit and then strapped them down with two 48" flat bungee cords. The towels were probably overkill but given the solar panels face outwards (exposed) when the briefcase is closed I wanted to be safer than sorry. Also, the towels helped the units to not slide on the shelf. The size was also perfect in that I had room to the left of the two panels on the shelf to put the battery. Perfect fit. In addition to a single 200w unit being probably too big for my purposes, these units are not light and I wouldn't really want to haul a single 200W unit onto the top of my trailer.One note on pairing panels: You can't plug one set of panels into another set and then to your battery. I plugged the two sets of panels into one Goal Zero 4x 8mm combiner to Anderson adapter and then ran a single Anderson power line into the trailer.

Great Solar panels for camping to charge up our portable generator. Great value for what you paid for. Cord length is great, easily portable and easy to carry.

So far I am very impressed with this panel. Very well built (as is all my GoalZero equipment), comes with a built in handle and a carrying case so it's easy to transport and setup. When I tested it out I was getting 74 watts from the panel, (I am very happy with those numbers as this was around 7pm in Oklahoma with some high altitude clouds). The kickstand is a great addition, I don't have to find something to prop the panels on like I do with my older Boulder panels. It would be nice if it has a little more adjustment but still very helpful. The only thing that would make it better would be to have the "input" port for chaining like the other Boulder panels have (not a big enough issue to cost it a star so I still give it a a solid 5 stars)

Bought this mainly for emergency use, but also occasional offgrid needs. First test was to hook it up to the power station and run a RecTeq Bullseye wood pellet smoker/grill. Using the two together, was able to get a net positive charge while running the smoker (in other words, it was charging faster than the smoker was drawing power). This was on a mostly sunny/partly cloudy day, with a little bit of shade on the panel. Granted, the power station and solar panel are brand new, but they seem pretty solid and well built. So far it seems like a good investment. My only constructive criticism so far is I wish the cord from the solar panel to the power station was a couple of feet longer - I'm guessing it's about 4-5 feet, an 8 foot cord would be really handy, but it's not a deal breaker.

I'm a novice to solar but so far my opinions of it aren't so bad, especially with this system. I bought a 400w Goal Zero Lithium because I couldn't find a 1000w & the 1400w was too pricey.I'm a truck driver & I have lots of down time. I thought that buying a small system like this would prevent me from running my engine & substitute for an APU.When I'm driving my truck I can charge the 400w with my inverter using the truck alternator to generate the power and at night I can use the 400 w to power anything I need electrically. It saves lots of fuel and money.I thought that by buying the solar panels I would be able to put them up in the front windows of my truck and collect light but I was sadly mistaken.If you are thinking about buying solar panels, know this and be warned, solar panels take direct sunlight to charge the unit.When I first took these out of the box I was disconcerted about the weight because they were pretty heavy and I was expecting something, not really flimsy, but lighter.They are solidly built and if you take care of them, respect them and do not drop them, they will last you a long time.On the very first day, out of the box, I had good sunlight and figure it out immediately by the lack of charging I was getting from my initial position that I had to put them in direct sunlight. When I did I got 70 watts of power powering them. I was getting about a 9% charge every 30 minutes which is excellent. That is absolutely free energy and you can take that with you anywhere you go, as long as you got direct sunlight. When the clouds came in front of the sun I only got about 19 to 20%.I gave this product five stars for value and weatherproof but only three stars for easiness of use. Solar power and solar panels are not easy to use. I think the word inconvenience comes to mind more often than I wished. I'm sitting here babysitting the panels and my battery because I don't want them to be stolen. But I can't keep them secure and get direct sunlight at the same time.Granted most of the time I will be charging this battery the old-fashioned way with an alternator but solar panels are a nice alternative. They do give you options. Just be prepared for the inconvenience.