Off-Grid: EnerPlex Kickr IV Portable Solar Panel Review, the Jumpr Slate and More

I have been keeping an eye on the solar powering side of mobile tech for a couple of years. I was never impressed enough with price tags and their delivery systems when they first started popping up. As with all technically aspects of our lives, technology improves and implementation gets better. Along with those aspects, the price tag drops from a high-end specialty item to an affordable option for mass consumption. Until more recently, a large majority of the solar options took hours to charge up a built in battery pack that then in turn you used to charge your device. There was a shift to direct charging panels, but their charge times were still way too long and their cost was still pretty high. Towards the middle-ish of last year, and definitely more apparent at CES 2014, I started to see more solar panel options that offered higher watts and amps that were able to charge up phones and tablets in a more reasonable amount of time. Ascent Solar is one of those companies, their brand being EnerPlex, I have been checking in with over the last year and I am happy to report that they have some options that I think it is about time we share.

Enerplex has a number of direct charge panels, battery packs, bags and cases available for you to pick up. Each has its own unique look and charging ability.

In the Kickr line, which is the name of the portable solar panel charging line, there is the Kickr I, which puts out 1.75 Watts Unregulated, 1.5 Watt, / 5 Volt System Regulated at 0.3 Amp Output. Then you have the Then you have the larger Kickr II, which puts out 3.5 Watts Unregulated, 3.0 Watt /5 Volt System Regulated at 0.6 Amp Output. Then we have the big boy, the one we are taking for a run, the Kickr IV. Don’t ask me where the Kickr III went, it isn’t listed.

Meet the Enerplex Kickr IV

Power:

6.5 Watts Unregulated
6.0 Watt, 5 Volt System regulated
1.2 Amp Output (STC)
Cell Type: Copper Indium Gallium di-Selenide
Open-Circut Voltage: 9V
Conversion Efficiency: 10.5%
Weight: .68lbs / .31kg
Size Folded: 225mm (8.8˝ ) x 185 mm (7.3” ) x 18mm (0.71” ) [images in gallery below]
Size Open: 774mm (30.5˝ ) x 185mm (7.3” ) x 2mm (0.08” ) [images in gallery below]

In the Box: 

• The Kickr IV
• Multi tip USB Cable (micro, mini and 30-pin)
• 8 multi-colored LARGE hair ties (best description I have)
• Instruction manual

The weight and the design are exactly what you would notice when you first pull it out of the box. It is extremely lightweight and flexible. You don’t feel like you need to baby it to keep it safe from harm. The outer shell is a plastic/rubber material that is soft to the touch and easy to grip. At one end you have the electronics needed to take the solar rays and convert them through to a standard USB out port.

The panels themselves are all neatly contained in a fold up fashion. Simply, unfold it to expose the panels to the sun and plug in your cable and start charging. On the top and the bottom they have placed 2 sets of grommets for you to use to hang it from your tent, a tree branch, your backpack or wherever else you see fit to dangle it in front of the sun if you aren’t looking to just toss it on a table or the ground.

The real question though is does it work. According to their outline, the Kickr IV can fully charge an iPhone 5 in 1.4 hours, a Samsung Galaxy S III in 2.1 hours and a Google Nexus 7 in 4.4 hours.

Not being part of the testing I can only assume that this was conducted on a 0% battery, most likely while it was turned off. No matter, I did a brief amount of testing myself. It is still January and while I do have a little sun, it probably isn’t the optimal condition for laying it out. I stood it up to face the sun and hooked my Sony Xperia Z to it for about 15 minutes. I set the Battery Monitor Widget app to track the charge every 60 seconds so we had something to go off of. To be fair, I was streaming music from Google Music to a set of Turtle Beach i30 Bluetooth Media headphones for the first 5 minutes of the test, along with a little chatting on Google Hangouts. Surprisingly enough, I got more of a boost than I was expecting. Take  a look.

Battery jumped 9% in 15 minutes. If we go ahead and call it 10% then the math comes to 2.5 hours in the sun to charge the Xperia Z from dead to full. Assuming it is on and I am using it during that time. It is a tricky thing to fully predict. Each phones battery size is different, users use their devices different and the sun is an unpredictable monster. This was only a fraction of a test. As the weather starts to permit, I will be embarking on a much longer and larger solar charging adventure.

Keep in mind though, the Kickr IV isn’t just to charge your phone and tablet. Virtually anything you own that takes a USB cord to charge can be plugged straight in to this panel. Be it a digital camera, MP3 player or even an external battery bank to charge up for evening uses. I would also like to mention that you shouldn’t just think of this a campers gadget. Natural disasters, fires, floods, blackouts, brownouts andy time their isn’t a solid source of power from the wall, a Kickr IV can help. Yes, as long as there is light out.

 

The next review up from EnerPlex will be their Packr backpack with built in solar panel.More so for the guys on the go in the woods and the streets then for a discrete portable solar panel, but still very cool and useful.

As for what EnerPlex is up to in 2014, well, they have a number of new offerings. They brought out the Surfr series solar cases for the iPhone 4 and 5 lines as well as the Galaxy SIII and S4. They also brought out the big guns with the Jumpr Slate portable battery bank. Easily the slimmest battery pack we have ever seen. Coming in at 6.7mm thick, 2-full size USB ports, cut outs to slip it in the rings of a three ring binder. Comes in either a 10,000 mAh or 5,500 mAh variety. Be on the look out for some coverage on those shortly as well.

Interested in buying any of the Kickr line? Hit up one of the Amazon links below, they are in backwards order and some have multiple color options.