We were recently sent a Jackery Explorer 500 Portable Power Station and an accompanying Jackery SolarSaga 100w Portable Solar Panel to try out.
Firstly, 'What is a Jackery I hear you ask?'
It's a rechargeable battery powered generator. It comes equipped with an AC outlet, DC carport and 3 USB charging points. Basically think of it as a portable source of electricity. It can charge all of your gear whilst out and about from smartphones and laptops to cameras and drones. It can also power your electrical appliances like hairdryers and straighteners!
Whilst I initially charged the Jackery at home, I love that you can keep it charged whilst out on the road with renewable energy using the lightweight, fold-able solar panel. This literally means you need never go without power and struggle to charge your gadgets whilst on your off grid travels again. "That's all well and good but we get very little sun here in the UK!" I hear you say but it doesn't need to be a clear day with blazing sunshine for this piece of kit to work. I managed to get an average input of around 25W on a relatively cloudy day.
In the past, whilst camping I have always relied on charging my phone by plugging it into the car whilst driving. Not always the best option, especially when your phone is completely dead and you're doing little/no driving that day! With the Jackery we no longer have that problem. Over the course of a weekend camping we used the Jackery to keep 2 phones charged, play movies on a chromebook each evening, power hair straighteners for around 15 mins each morning and power USB lights for around 3 hours each evening. Upon returning home the Jackery was on a battery life of 85% still, meaning all of this had used only 15% of its battery life! I think you could quite easily manage a full week off grid before you had to even think about recharging the Jackery and obviously much longer if you constantly keep this topped up with the Solar Panel!
Another thing I love about the Jackery and have found really useful is the inbuilt torch. This is perfect for when camping or if ever there is a power cut!
This is an absolutely fantastic, robust and well made piece of quality kit that we have found numerous uses for in the short time that we have had it. It's certainly made our camping trips easier that's for sure!
Jackery are celebrating their 9th Anniversary. From 18th-20th October there will be 15% off all products. Check Jackery UK Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.co.uk/jackery
*The products mentioned in this post were gifted but all opinions are my own
