While I make every effort to make electronics as small a part of the backcountry experience as possible, I can’t say I’ve ever gone on a trip without taking along some type of electronic item. Whether the old school giant Petzl headlamp that I packed on trips in the 90s, or the smartphone and satellite communicator (along with, thankfully smaller and lighter headlamps) of today, electronics are admittedly a part of every trip in some manner for just about all of us. Even on trips where I haven’t brought the smartphone or the satellite communicator, in addition to the headlamp a camera is non-negotiable for me. And as the folders of photos I keep from previous trips demonstrate where trip timelines stop short, I’ve run out of battery more than once.

The Lixada 10 watt solar panel is an ultralight option that can directly charge devices via USB.

Electronics on the Trail

My general power usage on the trail is however, what I’d consider light. I navigate by way of a paper map with perhaps the occasional smartphone GPS check to double verify navigation decisions or position, and then the phone, which remains in airplane mode for the entire trip, is turned off. If I’m bored at night, I might fire the smartphone up and look at the route for the next day on USGS topos rather than the larger scale paper map I carry. My headlamp is used sparingly – I usually don’t hike at night – and my light is used on the lowest mode possible to accomplish the task.

My camera is however used frequently – so I toss in an extra battery or two to solve the issue. My inReach satellite communicator is turned off during the day and during the night, with check in messages sent in the evening and morning. With this type of approach not only am I able both make use of modern day conveniences in the wilderness, but I’m also able to throttle their usage to a level that works for me and so that these devices don’t infringe upon my wilderness experience. And leaving with all these devices fully charged, I can confidently manage trips of a week or more and have even made it through 10 days on one phone and headlamp charge. I’m not however, so lucky with the camera. And how many $50 spare camera batteries does one really want to pack along? Not only can the cash add up, but so can the weight.

For either heavier electronics usage than my use case, longer trips, or longer trips where you might resupply but don’t have time or an opportunity to recharge, a solution is needed. The most popular option can be found in portable lithium power banks, which feature a USB output and are relatively lightweight, easy to pack, and can charge your devices day, cloudy day, or night. On the downside, the level of power is finite, they self-discharge over time, and in order to deal with the charging losses, you need to buy a power bank with a much larger mAh rating than you think you need which equals more weight (generally you’ll need to add about 40%). And with the limited cycle life of li-on batteries, I try to accumulate as few as possible. Solar is another option, and is typically heavy as well. Often solar chargers have an integrated battery – the idea is to recharge as you hike during the day, then charge your devices at night. This may work, but adds weight, complexity, and another battery to deal with.

The Lixada 10 Watt USB Solar Panel

The Lixada 10 Watt USB solar panel however offers direct charging – there are no batteries involved and the product is essentially a solar panel with a USB port. The panel is approximately 10 x 5.5”, with everything embedded in what appears to be HDPE plastic with a carrying / attachment handle and 4 grommets, one on each corner. The panel is available on Amazon.com for less than $20 shipped and weighed 3.3 ounces on my scale. While 10 watts is in the name, the specs do suggest more of an actual output after all is said and done of about 5 watts (a standard iPhone wall charger is 5 watts, for comparison). Inside the white plastic USB cover and hidden is a red LED that illuminates when the panel is exposed to enough light, but it’s hard to see in actual usage. Note that Lixada also offers a slightly lighter panel as well – however with reports of that particular panel warping in the sun, it not being available for Prime shipping, and the USB connector falling off, I opted for the panel reviewed here.

Frankly, at less than $20, I felt like I could take a chance on the panel at that price but had around 50% confidence that the panel would even arrive in any type of working condition. However, the panel immediately felt solid and a quick test in the sun and it began immediately charging my iPhone. The panel is very light, with rounded corners – and slightly flexible. The USB port appears to be glued on, and durability wise – just to be safe I always support the USB port by pinching with one hand when plugging in or unplugging a USB cable. Additionally – and since this is not a heavy duty unit, I like to gently unplug devices (I have unplugged USB devices in the past and part of the port comes out with the cable).

However, if you expect to simply strap this panel to the top of your pack and charge your phone as you hike all day, you will end up disappointed. Phones are picky about charging, and as soon as the solar panel is faced away from the sun, a cloud comes by, or you hike under a tree in the shade charging will stop and will not start again until you unplug and re-plug in your phone. Be aware that this is the case when stopped and charging as well – if you accidentally step in front of the panel or temporarily face it away from the sun charging will stop.

Performance

Some solar chargers on the market claim to have an auto-restart feature to help with this, but not so with the Lixada. As such, at least for phone charging, this panel is best at camp or on a lunch break. Other solar chargers I’ve tried charged at such a slow rate in this manner that I’d never think about taking them on a trip, however the Lixada will add about 40% charge to my iPhone SE (with around an 1800 mAh / 7 watt hour battery) per hour when angling the panel towards the sun and splitting the difference between where the sun is at in the sky and about where it will be in an hour. This is nearly equal to a standard wall charger rate. This rate holds true for me whether on a cloudless day or even through light cirrus clouds that might pass by. However, don’t expect to charge in the shade or on a cloudy day. Also note that charging may vary by how much your phone is charged (my tests were initiated at 40% phone charge), and also by any “optimized charge” settings you may have enabled on your phone to help with battery aging (check and adjust settings as desired).

Obviously, on a phone with a larger battery (search for the watt hours of your own device to extrapolate) this will take longer, but for me this type of performance is great. With light phone usage and leaving home fully charged, whether while enjoying a cup of coffee in the morning, during a lunch stop, or while setting up camp in the late afternoon, opportunities abound to add a boost to your charge.

If however, you’re more of a break camp before dawn and setup camp by way of headlamp type of hiker, this strategy may not work. One way around this is to hookup the panel to your pack – possibly with the help of micro carabiners, bungees, cordlocks, etc. if needed, and then plug the panel into a small lithium-ion power bank, which isn’t so picky about charging. This way, you can use the power bank to charge devices at night, repeating the process day after day as needed. Testing this strategy worked well with the Lixada, and with the panel attached to my pack in the most convenient way possible, but likely not the most efficient orientation for collecting light, I can add an average of 15% to a 2500 mAh power bank in an hour of hiking in perfect sunny conditions with no effort to point the panel at the sun, and that’s averaged between hiking in all directions (north, south, east, and west).

A 30 minute lunch break where I did leave the panel aimed directly at the sun added 18% of charge to this same power bank. Thus, over a full day, depending on conditions, this method will work and you could recharge devices at night. However, if you’ll be hiking under tree cover all day and / or the weather is not cooperating, you’ll be out of luck. Desert or alpine hiking will work best, and if you’re southbound you’ll get worse results, better if you’re hiking north (with the panel facing south all day).

The smallest and lightest power banks will likely give you about one full phone charge or so, and you can also hit the trail with the power bank already charged. However, this adds weight and complexity, and for me this panel shines in its light weight and simplicity – one panel, one cable and you may be good to go for under 4 ounces. Adding a power bank will add a minimum of 2-3 ounces, and at the point the panel may become less competitive, and depending on your particular situation it may just make more sense to pack a larger power bank at that point. Although, you will not have (somewhat) perpetual revolving power in that case. Lastly, it is more efficient to charge devices directly by way of the panel.

While phones are probably the most common device most people would want to recharge in the backcountry these days, nearly all devices worked for me, and most other devices will auto-restart charging on their own after being shaded. My camera with about a 1000 mAh battery (around 7 watt hours, which is a better figure to use since voltage between batteries can vary, making mAh non-apples to apples) will charge at a 30% per hour rate – and this is actually limited by the camera which limits charging to a .5 amp rate. In this case the panel is producing more power than the camera can take. If you have a USB headlamp – one could determine the watt hours of their battery and extrapolate, but my headlamp uses a single AA battery. I use a rechargeable AA Eneloop battery to run it – which allows me to leave home fully charged. However, the light I use doesn’t have a micro USB port and you must use a separate charger to charge the Eneloop battery. The lightest and most compact I’ve found is the Olight Magnetic Universal Charger at .75 ounces (unfortunately discontinued). This charger works with the panel, and (limited by the chargers rate) will fully charge an Eneloop, allowing me to keep my headlamp of choice but make it rechargeable in the field.

While this older inReach charged fine, a new inReach Mini had some issues.

Unfortunately, I did have issues with one device – an inReach Mini Satellite Communicator, which left me a bit befuddled compared the good performance I had charging nearly anything else. The inReach charged at a very slow rate – just a few percentage points per hour which is more trouble than it’s worth, at least if you’re sitting in camp. I tried everything I could think of – charging with the inReach on and off, connecting things in every which order possible, but still the inReach stubbornly would charge at a rate of just .2 watts. Adding to the confusion is that approximately 1 out of every 20 attempts or so, the inReach would connect and charge at a normal rate of 2+ watts. But it seemed totally random and I wasn’t able to determine any setting or process that would reliably get the device to charge at its full rate.

Testing on other chargers the Mini seems to select an odd charging rate – it wants to draw .4 amps under any circumstance. On the panel, it selects .04 amps. An older inReach, the inReach SE, charges fine. I’m wasn’t sure if this amp rate selection (which is slow, but the Mini has a small battery) caused the issue, or if the Mini was trying to initiate a data connection with the panel or some combination of the two. In an attempt to figure out the issue I tried a USB adapter that is designed to turn USB ports into charge-only ports and disables any type of data connection. In addition this adapter features a chip that tells the connected device it’s connected to a fast charger, in an attempt to get devices to charge faster from computer USB ports.

In any event, it sounded like it was worth a try as the device would take any data initiation attempts out of the equation, and also would modify (and in a way regulate) the USB output of the panel. While I had high hopes, no luck with two different brands of these adapters. Additionally, testing with an entirely new panel yielded the same results, with the moral of the story being to test any of these devices to make sure they’re compatible before heading out. One could of course, utilize the method of using the panel to charge a power bank and then the Mini, or alternatively leave the panel connected to the Mini while hiking all day – which may be enough to offset light usage, but not very confidently.

Accessories and Packing

The panel isn’t any good without a few additions however. First, you’ll need to pack a cable. If everything you want to charge uses micro USB, one cable and you’re set. However, as opposed to power banks where you could get away with the shortest (and lightest) cables available, for this panel a longer cable is best. This not only prevents excessive stress on the USB port of the panel, but allows you to position your device in the shade so it doesn’t overheat – I’ve found with careful placement and anticipation of the direction in which the shadow created by the panel itself will move works great. However, the standard cable length of 36” / 1 meter will work, but seems a bit excessive. You can save weight by going with a 1.5’ USB cable such as this one at Amazon. Note that any adapters you may use could create a power bottleneck, so it’s best to choose adapters that allow for fast charging. If you have an iPhone that charges via a lightning connection, you’ll either need to pack an extra cable, a micro USB to lighting adapter, or buy a 3 in one USB charging cable (or just pack the lightning cable if the iPhone is the only thing you want to charge).

I prefer to not take my chances with this panel in the rain. The panel fits perfectly in a gallon Ziploc, but you’ll still have to put it somewhere and the size and shape of the panel isn’t the easiest to find a spot for (without stressing the panel) in your pack. The panel fits well in an older Zpacks Slim dry bag that I had on hand – which keeps the rain out, and the clip lets me clip this anywhere on the outside of my pack. This marks the first time I can ever recall using something to store a product in where the case / bag / packing solution costs more than the product it will protect. All said and done for me the panel, dry bag, cable, a lightning adapter, USB AA charger, plus a Ziploc for the cables tips the scale at 5.65 ounces. Fairly light as it is, but if your headlamp has a micro USB charging port my .75 ounce USB AA charger can be left out along with the lightning adapter if your phone charges via micro USB (subtract .9 ounces total). A gallon Ziploc instead of the dry bag will take off about another half-ounce. Making things even lighter for me, I can leave out a 1.5 ounce spare camera battery or two, potentially making the total additional weight packed only around 2 to 3 ounces.

With the Lixada solar panel you have the ability to build out an ultralight backcountry charging solution.

In Conclusion

Overall, while it won’t charge your devices at a 10 watt clip (the most I’ve ever seen is 4.47 watts of output), the Lixada 10 Watt solar panel does work for many devices, but not all, that are most often carried into the backcountry. Is it worth packing? Maybe. All of these devices already can last for extended trips with prudent usage, and for me there’s something to be said for self-limiting your electronic usage on the trail, limiting the devices you take, and not taking any recharging solution whatsoever. And if it doesn’t work well with your own devices, you’ll have to either add weight to the system by way of a power bank, or just go easy on that device. Additionally, for some a (larger) power bank charged at home may offer less fuss on the trail. However, for longer trips and for those that would prefer a recharging solution that won’t ever run out of charge so long as the sun is out, the Lixada USB Solar Panel is an option and about as ultralight of a charging option as you can get – so long as it’s compatible with your device, of course.

You can find the Lixada USB solar panel here at Amazon.com. For additional reading in the ultralight backpacking solar panel category see our Solarpad Pro solar panel review as well as our PowerFilm USB+AA solar panel review.

Editor's Note: This review originally appeared in Issue 50 of TrailGroove Magazine. You can read the original article here for more photos, pros and cons, and our star rating of the Lixada ultralight solar panel.