I bought a Goal Zero Yeti 500X portable generator at REI this weekend, and it seemed like a great excuse to write about it. I picked it up because I've always wanted to play with solar power, and I have at least one 10 day hiking/camping trip planned for the fall this year. I had been stressing about my photography stuff being off the grid for so long. I didn't want to deal with trying to charge my camera batteries (which are old) off the car alone. I also like backing up my photos to a laptop when I'm on trips, just in case. With all of that in mind, below are some initial thoughts.
I have known about the company, Goal Zero, for years now. Basically, they make solar panels and chargers/generators. They have quite the product line, from small phone chargers up to massive generators to run appliances. I'd been drooling over them, and solar power in general, from a distance until now.
Let me start with somewhat of a con, which I noticed before anything else. They really skimp on the accessories. This generator retails for $700, and it comes with only the unit and a wall charger. Honestly, in a lot of ways the wall charger seems like the least useful option. I don't know, maybe not. For me personally, my utilities are included with my rent, so I have zero problems charging it with the wall. However, for $700 though, the car charger would have been nice to include, and/or a carrying case. The car charger is an extra $40 on amazon. I am also going to try and get a solar panel sooner or later too, so I can let it sit in the car during drips and just charge during the day while I'm out shooting and hiking.
I plugged the unit into a regular AC wall socket in my apartment, and it charged from 0% to full capacity in about 7-8 hours. I didn't really pay much attention. I just plugged it in and went to bed. This information doesn't mean much to me yet, because I don't know what you get for that, right? If I can charge my laptop 1 million times, 8 hour charge time is great. If it only charges my laptop .5 times though, not so great. I had read a lot of reviews that slam the unit for how slowly it charges. I don't think 8 hours is bad. Granted, they could have been charging on solar or in their car. Those tests will come later.
Once it charged, I let me laptop (Macbook Air 2020), headphones (Bose Sport), and mobile (Pixel 4a) run down their batteries, to just about to die and charged them all at once. This drained 7% according to the display on the Yeti 500X unit, which I think is great capacity! The charge time was really quick too, maybe half an hour for full charge? I don't quite believe it honestly. I'll pay closer attention next round.
The biggest pro that I have for the unit so far is that it has a lot of ports, and they're useful. It even has TWO USB-C ports, one at 60W for a laptop, and one at 18W for a mobile. It also has two USB-A for other USB devices (Kindles, headlamps, GPS, etc). There are also regular wall outlet ports, but I haven't used those yet. I might need them later for camera batteries on my aging Canon 5d mk. III, but otherwise, I figure most of my needs will be the USB ports. Speaking of the ports, another feature I like is that you turn a section of ports on/off for power draw purposes. I will be glad to save space on trips by not having to pack all the wall adapters.
The unit weighs about 13 lbs. I spent some time carrying it around by the handle to do the product photo that I posted. It's a bit awkward to carry, but not impossible. I would deal with it to run studio lighting on location for a portrait shoot if I had to. I could also deal with carrying it to a campsite if I was car camping (not so much backpacking trips). I would like to try the carrying case, but again I have to buy that separately for $50.
I really believe that this unit has a lot of potential, and I really hope that it lives up to that. Everyone's needs are different of course, but I think this is a great starting point for playing with solar power for me. It should run what I need it too when I go camping, and since I live in the mountains of Colorado maybe it is a good back up to have incase the power fails in winter. Again, this is just some initial thoughts after 24 hours of playing with it.
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