Review on 🌞 AIPER 100W Foldable Solar Panel: Portable Charger for RV Camping with Voltmeter, 18V DC Output, USB Ports, Zipper Pouch, Kickstands, Parallel Cable - Compatible with Jackery, Rockpals Power Station & Phones by Harley Franchetti

This is my 3rd solar panel kit and it's my most powerful 100w kit so I was very excited to try them. These are monocrystalline solar panels and are generally considered premium panels compared to polycrystalline solar panels because they have higher efficiency. A few things to know about the power rating is that it is measured in a lab and even the manual says that in the best conditions you should expect 70-80% of the power rating which is around 70-80 watts in my experience . it's pretty typical. If you're looking at those big solar panels, you're probably focusing on the 18 volt output and not the USB port output, as I feel that's overkill, just like USB chargers. I did a quick test of the two USB output ports on this unit and there's not much to say that they work well. I tried these panels and during the day I got about 40-65 watts depending on the time of day (direct October sun in Southern California). I was able to fully charge my 200w portable power station in a few hours. The manual says (see image) that on a cloudy day you should see about 1/3-1/10 of the power produced on a sunny day, but I haven't been able to verify this. This solar panel has some nice features, firstly it is an insulated bag that contains the solar panel control box. After leaving the solar panel for a few hours, the bag felt cool, so we hope this will help extend the life of the control box. The second interesting feature is a lot of tips to ensure compatibility with different brands (see the manual image to see what the manual says about compatibility). The third outstanding feature are the 2 displays on the solar controller, the first of which shows the output voltage. The other indicator that is more important is the intensity, this is really useful for positioning your solar arrays. The manual gives general guidelines for positioning the panels (see images), but the intensity meter is a quick way to determine if the position is optimal. The downside is that it can be difficult to position yourself to read the display as it faces down on the back of the panels. The final standout feature is the ability to daisy chain additional solar panels. If you have multiple solar panels you have the added flexibility of connecting them together to charge a single power station or device faster, but if you don't need the extra power you can use them individually. Another surprise for me was the size of the panels. , I have 60 watt panels and expect almost double the size for 100 watt panels. In fact, I'd rate it less than 40% or so more for 66% more power rating. So when space is considered, the trade-off between size and wattage is a decent one. In general, their size is very convenient. The only downside I noticed about these panels is the stand. The kickstands hold the panels securely and I expect them to hold up in moderate winds. However, it is difficult to lay the panels at any angle other than fully open with the uprights fully extended or to stack them with the uprights fully closed. In general, this wasn't a huge issue for me, but if you want to chase every watt it can be annoying. Overall I'm happy with these panels.