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309 of 324 people found the following review helpful.
Ok Performance, but understand its weaknesses before buying
By L. Kirk
The Nomad7 and Guide10+ solar battery charging kit is a pretty good product that aims high, but fell somewhat short in performance in my use over a period of several weeks. The kit consists of the foldable Nomad7 solar panel unit with an output pack and zipper pouch, and the Guide10+ batteries and recharger. The thing to understand about solar panels is ... they really need direct sun to work well. If it's bright but pretty hazy, if it's partly cloudy, if you can't get a direct straight on view of the sunshine ... all of these factors impact the recharging times. A partly cloudy day and an off angle for the panels can double the amount of time it takes to recharge the batteries. And in my experience, obtaining optimum conditions is challenging. Read on for a discussion of pros and cons I experienced during my product testing.(Pros and Cons are tagged with "Kit" if the observation is for the whole kit, "N7" if it pertains to just the Nomad 7 solar panels, and "G10+" if the comment pertains to just the Guide 10+ battery pack/recharger.Pros:N7 - Cool Design: The 2 solar panels fold like a book, and a wraparound Velcro tab secures the panels closed. The panels are inside the closed case, and the outside contains a zippered mesh pouch that contains the solar converter and port panel, and lets you store the accessory cables, AAA adapter, instructions, and the Guide10+ battery charger. It's a brilliant design that puts everything you need right there in a fairly compact package weighing around 1.5 lbs.G10+ - Multiple Recharge Options: You can recharge the batteries from solar energy with the N7 or N3.5 panels or from USB (8-10 hours per spec.).G10+ - Charger Has a Flashlight: Pretty cool, and pretty bright too (100 mW).Kit - Multiple Accessories Included: A solar cable lets you charge the battery pack most quickly. Other accessory cables let you charge electronics that use a 12v car charger, and a standard USB type mini-B cable. Also included is a AAA battery adapter that lets you charge them in the G10+ charger. If you want to charge phones or Bluetooth headsets, you'll need to get a microUSB cable ... I purchased one separately from the auction web site for just a couple of dollars for several 1 ft cables.Kit - Having a Power Source Wherever/Whenever: This is the usefulness of the N7 solar panel: you have a power source wherever you are, whenever you need it. When the power goes out after a storm, you can recharge batteries as long *as the sun is out*. If you're on the beach, or camping or backpacking, you've got juice. Just realize, it's not really going to save you money using the sun to recharge your batteries.Cons:G10+ - Battery Charge Doesn't Last: The rechargeable batteries appear to be good quality, but they do not seem to hold up under use. The AA batteries are rated at 2300 milliamp hours. Using a pair in a Logitech cordless mouse, a pair depleted in less than a week. Other AA rechargeable batteries of similar mAh ratings have lasted 3+ weeks. In addition, multiple times that I tried to use a fully charged set of these with the G10+ to recharge my phone; it could not even complete one full phone charge. It seems like my set of batteries must be defective.Kit - Takes Longer than Expected to Charge: Unless you live in a super-sunny place, you'd be surprised how rarely you get a full sunny day. I was. During my testing period of this product, I was confined to weekend solar charging (I'm in an office cubicle during the week with no sun). I rarely had a full sunny day to use the panels for charging. When those puffy white clouds come along, you're not getting much if any charge action. So the recharge times are extended each time a cloud comes by. Overcast day? Fuggedaboutit. This isn't a *product* weakness per se, it is a product class weakness ... today's solar panels just aren't hugely efficient, and smaller panels are even less so. I'm in the mid-Atlantic area, which generally has lots of partly/mostly sunny days, and I found charge times to take at least the maximum time the manufacturer suggests, and usually much more time. They say 2-4 hrs to charge with the N7 panels, real life charging took typically 6-8 hrs for most of the batteries to get to 80-100%. Once I got a 4-hour charge time. It's also harder than you think to be able to lay the panels flat to get the best angle. On the beach, sure that works. In your house or workplace? Mmmmm, not so much. Lay it on the floor, and the cat/dog/child may step on it, besides which you need to keep the G10+ charger out of the direct sun, so that's going to be underneath. Cool idea, but harder to achieve the best setup to get the stated charge times.G10+ - Battery Charger Has No Status Lights for Individual Stations: Batteries rarely discharge evenly, and so recharging occurs unevenly too. Without individual status lights, the batteries that finish first continue to receive charge, and those that aren't finished are likely unplugged too soon since there is one general status light. And the range for the indicator lights is too broad: 0-50%, 50-80%, 80-100%. Not very precise.G10+ - Less Recharge Power than Expected: See results below for phone charging. The first number represents the mAh rating of the batteries used. 2300 are the Guide10+ batteries. The others are other brands of rechargeable batteries. The phone being charged is a GSM Samsung Galaxy Nexus, battery rating of 1750 mAh.2300: Phone charge: 22% G10+ charge: 9200 maH Time to shutoff: 2 hours Ending charge: 39%2300: Phone charge: 10% G10+ charge: 9200 maH Time to shutoff: 1.3 hours Ending charge: 29%2400: Phone charge: 25% G10+ charge: 8280 maH Time to shutoff: 2.5 hours Ending charge: 64%2400: Phone charge: 26% G10+ charge: 9200 maH Time to shutoff: 2.5 hours Ending charge: 74%2150: Phone charge: 20% G10+ charge: 6880 maH Time to shutoff: 3.5 hours Ending charge: 91%What the figures mean are: what the phone's initial charge was, what the aggregated charge of 4 AA batteries in the G10+ was, how long until the G10+ stopped charging the phone, and the phone's ending charge. Basically, I never even achieved 1 full charge from any battery pack, so the claim of 1-3 phone charges per G10+ charge did not bear fruit. Maybe with a feature phone with a tiny battery, eh?Kit - Tablet charging? Not likely to happen. Most have proprietary chargers with molded cables. Besides which, their batteries often have 2-3 times the capacity of my phone, which wouldn't even charge once from the battery pack.N7 - Direct Charging from Panels Not Successful: I tried charging a couple of different phones directly from the solar panels. None would go into charging mode. Their circuitry evidently has a minimum voltage it has to receive to start charging. This might work if you're in full sun, with optimum panel angle, but many, if not most of us, are going to find perfect conditions nearly impossible to achieve. In this case, the manufacturer recommends connecting the Guide10+ pack to the Nomad7 and the device to the Guide10+. That's fine, but don't mislead folks into thinking that direct charging from the panels is likely, because it really isn't.Kit - Using Solar Charging Isn't a Money Saver: Using rechargeable batteries sure IS a money saver, but charging with solar panels really isn't. It takes mere pennies to use a conventional charger to recharge 4 AA batteries.Bottom Line:The usefulness of this product is in having a power source at hand wherever you are, provided there is sunlight. The amount of sunlight directly correlates to the amount of charge power the Nomad panels provide, and consequently, the ability of the product to charge batteries. It is important to understand that this is the product's strength. Saving money on charging batteries is not its strength. Being able to charge a lot of devices -- or even one smartphone one time -- is not a strength of this product. You may be able to boost a depleted phone's battery enough to make some calls after fully depleting the Guide10+ batteries, but that takes several hours.I recommend the product within those parameters described above. However, I would suggest buying more powerful, more reliable rechargeable batteries to use with it. I found Immedion batteries rated at 2400 mAh to be the best performers in my testing. If you are just looking for backup power to tote around to recharge some devices that run out of power, then I recommend a rechargeable Li-Ion power pack rated around 7500 mAh. I have used such a product to successfully recharge the same phone 3 times on a single charge. Just something to consider.

128 of 139 people found the following review helpful.
AWESOME PRODUCT!!!
By Seth G. Beasley
I made the mistake of buying the Goal Zero 19006 Guide 10 Adventure Kit with 4 Goal Zero AA Batteries, not this one, which is the Guide 10 PLUS Adventure Kit. The Guide 10 Plus is iPad compatible, whereas, the Guide 10 is not.I bought this kit mainly for camping. I find myself needing to charge my iPhone and iPad and knew this company made a good product. In April 2011, I went to Overland Expo in Amado, AZ and the Goal 0 reps had a big booth and gave away some small solar powered led flashlights. I was very impressed with their presentation of the products. This kit fits perfect in my bug out/backpacking/camping bag. I weighed the item, as I do with all items that go in my pack, it weighs 1 lbs 6 oz with: the solar panel, all cables, battery pack and batteries. EVERY OUNCE COUNTS when backpacking. So, for me, this was a good option compared to having to pack batteries and then maybe having to worry about scavenging more, if in a survival/bugout/zombie/post-apocalyptic situation, lol.NOTE!!!!I can charge my iPhone(4) directly from the Nomad 7 solar panels or with the Guide 10 Plus battery pack. But I can ONLY charge my iPad (1st Gen) with the Guide 10 Plus battery pack, I CANNOT get the iPad to charge when directly plugged into the Nomad 7 solar panels...this was disappointing for me, but I'll make do. Furthermore, I plan on buying 2 additional Guide 10 Plus battery packs with 4x AA batteries and 3 packs of 4x AAA batteries. I plan to use the AAA's in my flashlight, lantern and head lamp, and to use the AA's in the Guide 10 Plus packs to charge my electronics.

87 of 97 people found the following review helpful.
Nicest solar battery/device charger I've seen.
By Jesse D. Walker
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RJ03OJG8CFH7V The Guide 10 plus adventure kit is a nice, compact solution for battery and device charging. It includes the solar panel, the battery pack, a few cables, and a AAA battery insert (so you can charge those). Note that the unit I received was a little different than depicted in the stock Amazon photos (single mesh pocket on reverse of panel rather than on the flap as shown). See my video for more.