Jackery SolarSaga 100W Portable Solar Panel for Explorer 240/300/500/1000 Power Station, Foldable US Solar Cell Solar Charger with USB Outputs for…

At 70 years of age, I’ve been a camper/hiker, of one kind or another, ever since my Dad threw me over his shoulder and took me fishing. Over our years together, we had many adventures in Mother Nature’s Grandeur, but, in those days, the only ‘technology’ that went with us was Dad’s bamboo fishing pole!

Today, car/tent camping is my choice and with all the electronics that we all think is necessary now days, I had to find a way to power all my toys while exploring the backroads of America. I wanted a substantial power source, but it had to be portable and could be recharged if it was needed for longer excursions.

Being from the Stone Age, I figured I’d end up with some kind of gas or propane generator, but as I researched, I discovered the new world of high capacity portable batteries with built in AC, DC and USB plugs, rechargeable with AC, DC or a Solar Panel. If you’d like to learn more about which Portable Power Station I chose, see my review of the Jackery Explorer 500 (https://smile.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RQ5LWS1DHIDBW?ref=pf_ov_at_pdctrvw_srp)

Since I have a road trip planned for next summer, I wanted to obtain some kind of solar panel to keep my Explorer 500 charged up, so I chose Jackery’s SolarSaga 100 Portable Solar Panel and decided to experiment with it over the Winter. I received prompt delivery of my new Solar Panel and as it turned out, it was just in time for the first test. Living on the rural Oregon Coast, it’s not unusual to loose power when there’s a storm. Although I did have some modern conveniences ( wood heat, running water and propane generator to keep the frig/freezer going and the camp stove for cooking), I’m happy to report that despite being without electricity for 4 days, I was able to keep my toys and my neighbors toys charged. We were able to watch all the TV we wanted through our iPads and MacBook Pros and kept all our iPhones (3), iPads (2), MacBook Pros (2), Bluetooth Speakers (4) and Bluetooth lanterns and flashlights (6) fully charged. Life would have been very boring if I hadn’t been able to keep our ‘toys’ functioning, so I felt this was an excellent investment.

Included are pics of my Jackery Explorer 500 with the complimentary SolarSaga 100 Portable Solar Panel which shows the rugged, compact unit encased in a protective storage bag with attached pouch for cables and instruction card. Support legs are attached as well which flip out to angle the panel properly for sun exposure. One edge has a compact plastic enclosure encasing the plug-ins and a storage compartment for the attached charging cable. I decided to keep the panel hooked up to the Explorer 500 all the time so it was fully charged and ready for whatever ‘toy’ needed power. Fortunately, the sun finally came out and then the panel did an even more outstanding job of keeping us going.

This was a good ‘dry run’ to get familiar with this unit’s capabilities, as I do a lot of car camping every summer and now have a better idea of how this set up will serve me as I travel and in future home emergencies. Some reviewers have questioned why Jackery’s SolarSaga Solar Panels (60 and 100) are more expensive that other brands. Folks, we all know that some manufacturers produce higher quality products made with high end components and constructed properly. Personally, I always try to purchase the very best product I can afford, so if that means spending a little more, it’s usually worth it. The other important and valuable aspect of choosing a top notch product is choosing a reputable company that provides excellent service and stands behind their products. We’ve all had poor experiences with companies that provide little customer service or worse yet, no customer service. Let me tell you that the Jackery Staff is the very best that you’ll find! Prompt, polite and frankly, I get the sense that they are genuinely concerned that you are happy with their products. I simply had some general questions on their equipment functionality, and I received feedback within a few hours, not days!

If you’re looking for an outstanding, top quality portable compact power station with a complimentary solar panel, I highly recommend spending those few extra bucks (it’s not that much more) for Jackery’s Products. If you just can’t afford the larger units, then start out with a smaller power station and the 60 watt solar panel. They offer various capacity power stations (160, 240, 500 currently, but are coming out with a 300), two solar panels (60 and 100 watt) and several portable power banks of a variety of sizes to throw in your pocket that can supply you with much needed power for your outdoor adventures or as emergency backup.

Take the leap with Jackery, Friends, as you’ll be making a solid investment and you’ll be very pleased with their customer service!

Effective solar charging , bought for the jackery. Convent folding panels .solidly built , won’t break and perform accurately with the jackery. They come with Jackerys own input plugs so you need an Anderson adapter to use with anything else . Great company

The Jackery SolarSaga 100W Solar Panel is among the higher priced products in this category and in my opinion, it’s worth the extra money. Upon first inspection, the precision fit, form and function of this product conveys much forethought by the product’s designers. From the durable plastic trim to the cable compartments, everything fits together for practical utility. Yesterday, I connected the SolarSaga 100W to my Jackery 500 Power Station and the two products perform well.

I did take advantage of a 15% discount from HOBOTECH which lowered the price enough to make this purchase a slam dunk.

I purchased the Jackery Explorer 500 and the SolarSaga 100 watt system together to use in our full time fun in our 4×4 adventure van. We love to be off grid taking our van into the backcountry mountains, deserts, grasslands, along rivers and oceans, you name it. Even on the infrequent times when we pull into an RV park with hookups, we often will place ourselves in a quiet private spot away from the cramped RV spots.

Out comes our screen tent, chairs, big sun umbrella, propane fire pit, laptops, iPads and the Jackery Explorer 500. Then the SolarSaga is set up in about 2 minutes by retrieving it from the rooftop cargo box, open it up, place it leaning against its legs and plugging it into the Jackery. No fuss, no muss. Works instantly. I plug in my laptop to the Jackery, sit on the picnic table and surf the web, play games, watch YouTube, plan our next adventures. I have been in pouring rain in the Washington rain forest inside my screen tent just happy as can be with my laptop and Jackery 500 to power it. I do not have the SolarSaga set up in the pouring rain though. My MacBook Pro uses a lot of power when gaming but the SolarSaga keeps the Jackery 500 topped off. It is beyond me how the SolarSaga keeps up with the laptop power but it does. The Jackery charge usually stays at 100% dropping to 98-99% intermittently. When just charging the Jackery 500 without power draw from electronics, the SolarSaga impresses me how quickly it recovers charge percent.

So enough about the power aspect. Let’s talk about convenience. The SolarSaga makes it real easy to get solar power. It opens up from a fairly compact size and is set up in a minute or so. It looks and feels very quality and it is light as can be. The covering has a nice feel to it. It appears that there are water resistant zippers on the pocket that hold the power cords and cover the power port. This could help keep water at bay should your SolarSaga be left out in some LIGHT rain. The unit is not claimed to be waterproof, but I have heard from reliable sources that they have had the SolarSaga in rain (not heavy rain) without issue. It will probably happen to me as we have frequent unexpected rain showers where we go. But normally, I retrieve the SolarSaga in an instant when the clouds roll in.

When it is time to pack up, I simply unplug the power cord from the Jackery 500, roll the cord up and place it in the zippered pouch of the SolarSaga, fold the unit in half and snap it shut, fold the legs against the sides and the velcro holds them tight against the sides. Then I put it in the rooftop cargo carrier and that is it. Again, about a 2 minute process. The SolarSaga is extremely thin, very light, feels like quality materials, seems durable, and puts out some good power. That’s pretty much what I need it to be.

So yeah, I’m happy with it. Any downsides? Hmmm. Okay, the included power cord could be longer. I have purchased a separate 30 foot 8mm female/male extension from another manufacturer to reach when the sunny area is far away from the Jackery 500. I haven’t tried the extension yet so I don’t know what power loss there will be yet with the longer cord.

One other thing to mention, I am very paranoid about my SolarSaga walking away from my site. Well, there are some convenient grommets at the corners of the solar saga. Unwind a thin wire cable (50 feet is enough) to the SolarSaga, secure it with a simple lock and lock the other side of the cable to your vehicle. It keeps the casual thief from walking away with your solar panels. It’s enough security for the vast majority of where you will be. When the SolarSaga is near my vehicle, I have a much more robust cable to lock it to my vehicle. I believe those grommets were designed as a way to tie your panels to an object so they don’t move in heavy wind. The SolarSaga will tip over if a gust comes along without securing them but most of the time, they do fine on their own.

I hope this helps you in your research of what portable solar panel to get. I did my research too. Some selling points for me are the two year warranty, good customer service (I have heard), quality of the unit, and ease of use/compatibility with the Jackery Explorer 500. I have no ties with Jackery so what you have here is the real deal review. If ANY issues come up, I promise you I will do an INSTANT update and tell you all about it. I have a feeling that Jackery will be very responsive to help out if any issues arise.