As a portable solar company, it’s a challenge to prove that we make the best solar battery charger in the industry. We rely heavily on customer testimonials, especially from customers who have bought several battery solar chargers (including ours) and express just how much better Suntactics solar chargers compared to the leading brand solar chargers on the market.

As a small business, it’s really comforting to hear this every time: “Hi, I recently bought a Suntactics solar charger after purchasing [brand name] and yours is simply the best!”. Unfortunately most people do not have the luxury of purchasing several solar chargers to see which one is truly the best, and usually give up on the notion that portable solar can actually be a worthwhile option for their next backpacking trip.

We really don’t want you to take our word for it, we want you to read the reviews that are coming from our customers, especially from those who have tried multiple solar battery chargers and still think Suntactics is the best choice:

“I field tested numerous solar chargers including: Bushnell SolarWrap Mini, Goal Zero Nomad, Joos Solar Orange. I returned all of them and purchased this one based on the epic reviews. It was the staple to my Kilimanjaro trip this last summer.” -Todd

“I started the trail with a PowerMonkey Explorer solar charger… and it didn’t charge my phone worth a damn, even in direct sunlight, even in the desert. […] Halfway through the trail I was able to switch to the Suntactics sCharger-5 solar charger, and you know what? THE THING WILL MAGICALLY CHARGE.” -Carrot Quinn

(If that’s not enough read the hundreds of reviews on our website, and on our Amazon listings)

Hardcore long distance trail hikers like Todd and Quinn only want the best gear for their legendary hikes, but unfortunately for most people, purchasing several solar chargers to see which one is truly the best is not an option. We really recommend doing your homework before investing in any solar charger, including ours! It really comes down to learning about how solar and battery charging works!

Solar Battery Charging 101

We like to keep it simple, it’s important not to focus on Watts, but Amps! Amp current will give you a better determination of how powerful your solar battery charger is, and will give you an idea of how long the panel will take to charge your device. To get this number, you have to do some math; Watts/Volts = Amps.

Now that you know how many Amps your solar battery charger can output, you need to find out how many Milliamp Hours (mAh) it takes to charge the device at wall speed. Just a reminder; 1000mAh or 1 Amp = 1 Hour

In every battery device, there is a certain “cap” on how much power goes into the device, this is a safety measure battery devices have to prevent fires or overheating. Typically small devices like smartphones require only 1000mAh, and larger devices like tablets require 2000mAh to charge at wall rates.

So for example, the iPhone 6 battery capacity is 1810mAh, that means if it’s charging from it’s standard 1000mA charge cord from a standard electrical outlet, it would take approximately 1.8 hours to charge from 0% to 100%.

Suntactics Vs. The Competition

Suntactics does not equivocate on our power output, we try our best to be as accurate as possible. Our accuracy is in our name, we are tactical when it comes to portable solar. Our customers know this, Adfischer from Whiteblaze.net explains why Suntactics is better than the competition:

“I have tested multiple panels including Goal Zero, Suntactics, Solio, some homemade, and some no-names. The testing I have done was in real world conditions with a multimeter measuring power output and voltage.

I live in Tennessee. During the winter I have seen the SunTactics deliver 850mA from the USB, and in the summer the full 1A when pointed directly at the sun. Laying down flat on the ground anywhere between 600-750mA. In overcast conditions I can get between 100-200mA from the Suntactics. The Goal Zero maxes out at 500mA on the USB port because of a limitations of the circuitry.

An iPhone 5 battery is 1440mAh. On a decent sunny day you can charge it in 3-4 hours or less. I have done it plenty of times with my iPhone 4S which has a 1432mAh battery. On a really good day I have fully charged it in 2.5 hours.”

This is pretty much in line of what we experienced when we compared our Suntactics sCharger-5 with the Goal Zero Nomad 7. In the video above you will see for yourself exactly what Adfischer from Whiteblaze.net experienced, the Goal Zero Nomad 7 charging at about ~500mA and our sCharger-5 charging at ~1000mA in direct sunlight conditions.

Based on our two separate tests, you can see that the two panels are not created equal. Goal Zero claims the Nomad 7 is 5 Watts at 5 Volts which would equal to 1000mA but this is simply not the case. As you can see the Goal Zero Nomad 7 panel only puts out 450mA-500mA in two separate tests, which would mean it’s actually a 2.5 Watt at 5 Volt panel.

Here’s another example of a big brand name getting it wrong; Anker. Anker has put out a very popular folding solar charger called the Anker 14W, it is very large and has taken over the market, however, it’s not putting out the power it claims it does!

In the other test, we have the Anker 14W and the sCharger-14, they are both charging an iPad which can only charge at ~2000mAh (that is its safety cap). Both chargers claim 14 Watts at 5 Volts, which should equal 2.8 Amps. However, our sCharger-14 is the only solar charger that is hitting over 2 Amps! The Anker 14W is just barely pulls .9 Amps, yet it claims to be a 2.8 Amp charger!

Why get an Anker 14W solar battery charger that pulls just barely 1-Amp when you can get an sCharger-5 that does the same thing, but more than half the size and weight?

We called the Anker headquarters, we were very confused as to why we are only getting a reading of under 1 Amp from a solar charger that claims to output over 2 Amps, they told us 14 Watts was a “theoretical limit”.

What?! Are you kidding me?!

People expect accuracy, especially from gadget devices like solar battery chargers. We value our customers too much to equivocate on our current outputs on our solar panels, that’s why we are straight forward and our customer support has this kind of knowledge to better serve our customers needs.

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