Goal Zero Nomad 20 Solar Panel

In my humble opinion, a single Nomad 20 should be the bare minimum any average person should use for portable solar charging, unless your situation is severely dependent on weight (or you live in death valley). They just charge stuff faster. This will make you happy. I picked up 2x Nomad 20's because A) murphy B) they're not too heavy C) they fit in a backpack and D) chained together they usually output 30-34ish watts in strong sunlight in my neck of the woods. A pair of them usually charges up my Sherpa 100 on a good clear afternoon or keeps a Yeti 400 topped off with medium use. If you only use one Nomad 20, expect about 15-17W of actual output - which charges smaller items like an iPhone or a GoPro in a hurry, but larger stuff like iPads, Sherpas, Yetis or other powerbanks will take *a lot* longer. Angling your panels also helps with maximum output so I measured, cut and filed down an old aluminum tent pole to make some lightweight collapsible/adjustable stands for my Nomad 20's, pictures below. As another reviewer stated, you can use a cigarette->USB adapter to bump up your amps for fast charging an iPad or other USB device directly from the panel. Overall, I'm really happy with my Nomad 20's, they're tough, dependable and work well. Hope I don't jinx myself by saying it, but If they were to break tomorrow I'd probably buy the same ones again.

Worked great for a 5 day camping trip paired with the Yeti400. I kept my Mavic Pro drone, Panasonic GH5 and laptop powered up over the whole trip with this to add more energy to the battery. Note that it doesn't charge very fast so the panel needed to stay in the sun the whole day to get 1/4 of the power back. After another 2 days I wouldn't have been able to keep all those devices fully charged at the level I was using them at.

The panel works as advertised, but I think the charging times listed on Goal Zero's site are low. After a full sunny day (12 hours) monitoring and adjusting the panel to best face the sun, my Yeti 150 charged to about 20% and gave my Macbook pro an 80% charge (while turned off) before the yeti was completely drained. If you're buying to charge USB devices directly or to charge a portable battery, there are definitely cheaper options. However, build quality is great and 20W will charge any USB-powered device you own.

So Ive been messing around with solar panels for years. I own several from goal zero. I purchased the Nomad 20 since my nomad 7 is just too finicky with the iphone 5 and wont charge an ipad at all. This is what I found. With the Nomad 7, the iphone 5 will charge if you are "NOT" using any apps or the internet. The Nomad 20 will charge the Iphone 5, while using the internet, streaming radio, finally fantastic... The Nomad 20 will also charge the Ipad in "no time" I charged my ipad from 20% to 70% in under an hour while using it. So... If you are like me, and hitting the beaches, campground, fishing or backpacking, the Nomad 20 isnt a huge weight issue, its fairly compact and will fit in a day pack easily. We normally hit the shore and hang out on the beach all day, using the iphone streaming music, and the ipads, as well as small cameras, importing photos and sharing them on FB. The NOmad 20 will allow you to keep all your stuff charged. Highly *****Recommend it**** So after further testing I found something out: Avoid using non-apple cables when charging the ipad/mini . Apparently when I used an after market longer version of the charging cable for my ipad-mini, it wouldnt charge. Plugged in an apple cable and it charges fine. Used an after-market standard length cable and it worked fine also. So it seems that its the longer cables that are an issue.

I initially purchased this to go with my Sherpa 50 battery pack. Because Goal Zero products are proprietary, there isn't another solar panel that I could connect to the Sherpa 50. After a test using a power meter, I found out that the goal zero 20 watt panel did not put out anywhere near 20 watts. Living in the high desert in Southern California on a cloudless day I put the 20 watt panel to the test. The best results, were that it put out a maximum of around 13 to 14 watts in clear weather. On the other hand, the RavPower 15 watt panel put out just about 15 watts. Also, when using the goal zero 20 watt panel, if there were any clouds, the panel would stop, in that you would have to manually restart it, as in replugging in a device. With the RAVPower 15 watt panel, once the Sun came back, the panel went right back to work. This test was conducted on different days, one day being slightly overcast, the other day full California Sun.

My Goal Zero is a great score. Have had two devices charging at same time...tried to find another 2 devices for two remaining ports, but stopped looking.,...not sure what they will feed. (unestablished research on product port). It allows you to run phone and apps while charging but can"t keep up with running out of power if you remain using device too long. Light weight, great for back backing, fold up, sharp look , durable!!! Strong!!! flying off top of car after driving away with it on top of roof...good one. I have gone threw so many car chargers. Could i be to fuff? Don't know my own strenghth? Because I like it ruff, should not scare the ladys, bring on the women. ( I did put a "Wo" before men) I like to position panels on car dash and cruise safly while charging phone....So ya!! Love my Goal Zero.

Great panel from a functional point of view. Cosmetically and assembly-wise, the unit leaves much to be desired, especially considering the cost of a top shelf product like Goal Zero. My "new" panel arrived in a factory box that was becoming unglued and with letters missing in the instruction printing on the nylon (see picture). Moderate pressure with a finger along the text dislodged further lettering and instruction pictures. Upon removing the plastic film that protects the solar panels during shipping from the factory, I found the panels did have scratches anyway even though minor. I have an old Nomad 7 (v1) that has been through heavy use and abuse and held steady with none of the cosmetic issues I found in this brand-new panel. Did Goal Zero change factories in China? Regardless, they need to work on their quality control. The quality of the workmanship and cosmetic materials is obviously inferior in the new Nomad 20 when compared to the old. If it bothers me enough I might send my panel back to Amazon for an exchange just to see if this is a fluke. I just hope these minor issues aren't telltales that could translate to problems with functionality "down the road" (literally!). The functioning of the unit is flawless so far. It captures recharging energy even in overcast conditions. As with all Goal Zero products, it benefits from a well engineered design and functions optimally with other Goal Zero branded accessories. Don't expect it to charge your iPhone 6+ flawlessly if there is any interruption In direct sunlight conditions. This is singularly Apple's fault as anything below a 4.7 V feed will prompt an error on your phone with an interruption in charging stating "this Device may not be compatible." The charging will not resume until you unplug and replug the unit back into the solar panel. Not optimal if you want to leave your phone charging while you do other activities such as hiking etc. It is best to combine the panel with a battery unit particularly from GZ, as some of the cables for functions such as chaining two panels together are particular to this brand. Overall very happy functionally, and wish I could give it five stars with a free conscience. Must also mention that before I bought the panel I called GZ with a technical question. The call was immediately answered by a real person who had a wealth of knowledge and was friendly. I hope Goal Zero manages to maintain the solid quality and engineering base they have built upon in the past. All my best to this great company and their products.

Really nice product with multiple connections. I bought a GoalZero Guide 10 charger to go along with this and it only takes a little bit of sun to start charging the batteries...even if it is not at the proper angle. What I really liked about It was that it comes with a 12 volt adapter to connect to anything that runs off of a 12 volt lighter input. Just out of curiosity, I connected a 300 watt AC power inverter that I normally plug into a cigarette lighter. I was amazed to see that as soon as I pointed the panel to the sun, the power inverter kicked in and gave me 110 volt AC power! The panel is definitely a powerhouse... The only reason I am giving it 4 stars is that it came with a few scratches and abrasions on the panels. I sent an email off to Goal Zero, and they said they would replace those panels since they are under warranty (Still pending). Amazon was good enough to give me a discount also. If it weren't for the abrasions, I would have to rate the product as a 5. Update: Goal Zero took this item back and shipped a brand new one for free....changing my rating to 5 stars for excellent customer support!

Article bien reçu et rapidement. Fonctionne très simplement et immédiatement. Il prend peu de place, a de bonnes connectiques et est esthétique en plus d'être pratique à transporter.

Gekauft wurde das Solarpaneel um eine kleine Inselanlage (12v) zu betreiben. Aufgestellt ist es in einem Fenster das nach Süden geht. Da die Anlage Portabel ist, sollte es das Solarpaneel auch sein und das wird voll erfüllt. Aufpassen sollte man beim zusammen klappen. Befindet sich Schmutz dazwischen zerkratz die Oberfläche recht schnell. Da ist das Nomad 7 das ich auch besitze weit aus unempfindlicher. Nett ist auch der Umstand das ich das Nomad 20 mit dem Nomad 7 zusammen schließen kann, um so mehr Leistung zu bekommen. Geladen wurde bisher über den Solar Port das Guide 10 Plus und über USB mein Smartphone und Tablet. Die Inselanlage ist noch nicht in betrieb. Wie gut das ganze im Winter klappt kann ich noch nicht sagen. Das Nomad 7 ist in der Hinsicht für Deutschland zu unter dimensioniert. Ich werde bei Gelegenheit dann noch mal etwas zu der Performance im Winter und der Inselanlage nachreichen.

Rapporto qualità prezzo decisamente troppo alto, per altro non sono mai riuscito a caricarci nulla, reso.

So far so good. Placement of panel is so important. Folds down small for what it is. I have been taking it everywhere I go recently as back up

I been using this solar panel and I love its performance!!!