Solar Gorilla

The best solar charger on the market

Product

Solar Gorilla

Promise

A beast of a gizmo! This solar charger is powerful enough to charge your laptop but lightweight enough to carry anywhere. But do its claims stand up?

Performance

It’s been a while since we really wanted to keep a solar charger. While plenty are available for mobile phones, ipods etc, we’ve always wanted one that could power up a laptop while we’re on our travels. Now we have mobile broadband dongles, there’s no reason why we should ever have to go home! This Solar Gorilla opens up clamshell style and supports two USB sockets – 24 and 5 volt for either laptops or MP3 players/mobiles. It’s water resistant, so can withstand a bit of a splash or humid conditions, plus it comes with a protective neoprene case for when you sling it in the rucksack and go. One last, clever feature – a slot that allows you to suspend it on the outside of your tent. Genius.

Verdict

It actually works, that’s all you need to know. Even a cloudy British day saw us being able to use our laptop for hours. At 820g, it really is light enough to carry anywhere, and the fact that it’s already in use by aid agencies around the world is a great advert for its usefulness. When are they going to make one for your car?