take note that the solar panel that comes with this unit will allow you to charge your phone while it's in direct sunlight, but you cannot charge the battery unit. i was under the impression you could charge the battery with the solar panel, but apparently that's not the case. i left this out in direct sunlight for 12 hours and never got beyond a single bar of power which lasts about 30 minutes with a small fan hooked up to it. you also cannot run anything ac from the solar panel, so if you're interested for the inverter alone, you're going to be disappointed, it won't allow you to run ac while it's charging.that said, you can charge it from the wall or a car, and with a full charge the unit is fantastic. i was able to power a tv, small fan, and my phone a couple times on a single charge for several hours. on another occasion i ran a box fan at full blast for about 6 to 7 hours before it ran out of juice. if you keep it charged, this is a must-have for power outages or camping.the imports are good with a couple usb ports and a type b (american standard nema 5-15) socket (like the wall socket in your home) for connecting small appliances like a tv, lamps, fan, etc... which will operate for hours. there's also a built in light that's fairly bright and useful.it's light, compact, sturdy, and well designed. if the solar panel actually charged the unit, this would be a 5-star review, but it does not work.

i'm always sorry to have to leave a less than stellar review, but this falls short in so many ways compared to my several other solar generators.arrived with 2 of 5 bars charged...leaving 3 of 5 bars to go. well, i'm on hour 5 of charging via ac wall outlet (via the included wall charger, and this is typically the fastest charging method for one of these types of units) and it's still filling up that last bar to full.as of writing this review, i don't see any mention of this in the product listing, but the instruction manual that comes with it states that it takes 7-9 hours (i assume from empty to full) for a full charge via ac outlet, which just seems incredibly unreasonable for a station that only has an advertised (still yet to be tested...) 280 wh capacity. that is not a huge capacity, and i don't see why this should take nearly that long to charge.i can't imagine if the grid was down and i was using this -- as my sole power station -- and charging it by solar. it'd take days to charge considering optimal sunlight is short lived for solar charging on any given day. and in the end i'd have a 300w max, 280wh (although this is almost always stated to be higher than actual) station. this will be nothing more than a back-up on top of several back-ups that i already have, and i suppose for anyone that has nothing, it's better than nothing, but not by a lot.it does not show you how many watts are going in (when charging), nor how many watts are going out when something is plugged into it. i have small brick style power banks that have that functionality, so for a larger unit to have nothing more than the old style 5-bars to represent charge status in 20% increments is wild.it does support pass-through charging, meaning it will charge my phone will the unit itself is also charging, so that's something. my cell phone is pretty old, so it only supports fast charging (which i believe is somewhere around 15w) as opposed to super fast or lightening or whatever else technology has moved on to these days, and my phone does say fast charging when i plug it in, so that too is something.the instructions say that this is not intended for long-term storage, but rather as a daily use item. but seeing as how long this takes to charge, i cannot fathom using this as a daily generator. i'd spend 10x more time charging it than using it. so every few months i'll just check that it's charged up to around the 80% range +/- and repeat indefinitely, keeping it as a 4th string backup or to charge phones and such while reserving my other units for higher draw electronics (especially since i can fully charge those other units in anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of hours...nowhere close to 7-9 hours!).the price-to-wh ratio, if there is no active promotion, is on par with far superior units out there, making this a poor value if it's not on some sort of (significant) sale, and even then, i'd recommend saving up and getting a better unit.2 stars because it does work to some degree, but it's lacking in pretty much every conceivable way to any other power station that i already own. if it didn't take such a ridiculous time to charge, i'd bump that rating up higher, but for what it is, i have no choice but to give what i still think might be too generous 2 stars.

the first day, i tried the generator it worked ok. however i woke up to a dead battery the next morning. talk about a solar eclipse of the heart!and don't get me started on its power trip. attempt to plug in anything beyond a laptop and a phone, and it throws a tantrum like a diva on a bad hair day. code red, people – the drama is real!for the price tag, i expected this generator to be more than a one-trick pony. but alas, it couldn't even handle a tiny lamp without throwing in the towel.in the end, it was like dating someone with all the promise but none of the follow-through. back to the drawing board – and back to amazon it went!