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The Best Portable Solar Panels: My Take After Years of Testing
A permanent solar panel installation can be expensive and tricky to navigate, and for some homes and renters it’s not a viable option. But the best portable solar panels can put the sun’s rays to use in any situation. Whether you want some backup power at home or collect some off-grid juice for a cabin, RV, or campsite, portable solar panels are a good way to get the job done.
I’ve been testing portable solar panels for a few years now, and these are the ones I recommend for different scenarios. They are best paired with one of the best solar generators or portable power stations. I’ll also offer some solar panel tips in an FAQ.
There are loads of great portable solar panels on the market now, and much depends on what you need. You’ll want to consider the maximum wattage they can deliver, connection types, portability, price, and more. I go into more depth in the FAQ below, but another important consideration is brand. If you already have a solar generator, it is often a good idea to pair solar panels from the same brand, especially if it has a proprietary solar charging port.
The models from Jackery were consistently the most effective solar panels I tested. Both the 100-watt Solar Saga 100 and the 200-watt Solar Saga 200 generated a relatively good amount of power in full sun and in overcast conditions. Neither folds down very small, but they can easily be carried one-handed thanks to strong molded-plastic handles at either end in Jackery’s signature bright orange. Both fold neatly away very easily with the help of magnetic pads, and the legs attach via Velcro, so they’re very quick to put up or away compared to panels that use metal fasteners. Sun permitting, the SolarSaga 200 consistently delivered around 140 watts, sometimes reaching up to 170 watts. I fully charged the 4,085-watt-hour capacity Explorer 2000 Plus Portable Power Station from around 20 percent in two scorching days with my SolarSaga 200 panel.
It’s a shame Jackery insists on the proprietary DC8020 barrel connector designed for use with its own power stations; most panels come with MC4 connectors and an XT60 adapter (the most common solar charging port on solar generators). But Jackery solar generators often have two of these barrel ports, enabling you to plug in two panels. It’s vital to angle the panels correctly, but the fold-out legs make them easy to prop up. Jackery is now offering various versions of the Solar Saga 100, so you can pick the one that suits you. The latest version of the Solar Saga 200 is bifacial and offers increased conversion efficiency of up to 26.7 percent (up from 24 percent in the model I tested). It’s also IP68 rated, so you don’t need to worry about rain or dust.
If you need more power in a single panel, I like both the Bluetti 350-W panels and the Bluetti 500-W panels, though they are expensive at the RRP. Make sure to look for discounts, as they commonly on sale. The 350-W panel uses a familiar folding design with fold-out feet and a sliding strap with metal fasteners to prop it at various angles. It’s heavy at just over 30 pounds, but the molded handles make it easy to carry. I got a maximum of around 290 watts out of this, and the conversion efficiency is 23.4 percent. The much larger 500-W panels fold down to a similar profile and weigh around the same, but they have a slightly better 25 percent conversion efficiency, and I was able to pull around 490 watts in ideal conditions. Both panels are IP67-rated, and they come with MC4 to XT60 cables.
The 350-W panels are fairly easy to set up; though the metal fasteners on the kickstands take a bit of fiddling. Unfortunately, the 500-W panels are downright finicky. To fold down compactly, it is broken into twelve separate sections and folds out in a double row, so I found I had to wrestle with it to get the feet set up and ensure it was stable. You’ll also need to watch out at the higher angle if there’s any wind, or a gust might just catch them and flip them over. The flip