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On my past trip I used 2 different Goal Solar Panels, the Nomad 7 and Nomad 20. The Nomad 7 is older than the 20, so the model is design had changed a bit, but overall the panels worked great. I used them to power 2 battery banks and the Goal Zero Guide 10 with rechargeable AA batteries. The Guide 10 can do both AA and AAA, but for this trip we just needed AA, so I left the AAA batteries and adapter at home. The Nomad 7 charged the Guide 10 without any problems in a full day of sun. However, it was a little small for the 2 battery banks, but that was expected due to the size of the panel. Now the Nomad 20 charge the battery bank, we did have 1 issue. We have 2 power banks a Mophie and a non-name brand one I bought off Amazon.
On the Nomad 20 panel, we had the Mophie bank that was being charged and for some reason now the bank had no charge. It was about 50% capacity when we put it on the panels, left for the day. And came back not even the charging lights on the bank lit up. When connected to a device nothing, I think the bank is dead. The next day I put a different bank on the panel and the panels are charging it, so it wasn't an issue with the panel what ended up happening, as the bank had discharged so much, that the panels couldn't charge it again. I had to wait until I get home and plug the bank into the wall. I was under the impression that the panels would and should prevent something like this from happening. I wonder if it's due to the banks not being designed to be charged from a solar panel. It would be interested to try a Goal Solar bank to see if this happens again.
The second no-name bank, purchased off Amazon a couple of years ago, had much more capacity, 50,000 mah. This bank never fully charged in 1 day of full sun (it took 2 days for it to recharge completely), but it charged enough for me to recharge my tablet, phone, and the Spot X. So it would charge during the day and then recharge my deices at night. For this trip I was using the Gia GPS app on my tablet and phone for routing and navigation. We will write a separate review on the Gia GPS app soon. So, we had to bring the capability to recharge these devices, the 2 solar panels did great. The only change I would make next time would be to have 2 Nomad 20 (or larger), but we just went with what we had.
The newer Nomad 20 came with 2 micro carabiners (non-weight bearing). This was a very nice addition so could I simply add some cord so I can hang the panels from a couple of trees. The only problem with this is the wind and we had a couple of very windy days and the panels kept swaying in the wind. So my solution was to put the panels down on the dock, but that will not always be an option. The older Nomad 7 has loops it just didn't come with the carabiners. So I had some extra ones lying around, so that worked.
Now, the new Nomad 20 are designed to be chained together. It would have been nice if I could have chained the older and newer together, I'm sure Goal Solar makes an adapter to do this, but that is an extra cost. I will probably sell the Nomad 7 and just upgrade to a newer fold-able panel that is setup for this. This is not a negative comment on Goal Solar, as these panels are several years and models apart, so it's very apparent that Goal Solar has been improving their product, which is what I like to see.
Overall, these panels worked great. For the next week long trip, I would definitely take 2 Nomad 20s that would be chained together, especially if you need to recharge large capacity devices. For a short week or long weekend, these panels are perfect. If you just need AAA and/or AA the Nomad 7 or 20 is a great option. The Nomad 20, would just charge them faster.
The Nomad 7 retails for $79.95 on the Goal Zero website. This is a great panel for backpackers who just need to recharge a couple of AA or AAA batteries. The Nomad 20 retails for $149.95 on the Goal Zero website or Amazon. We are Amazon Affiliates so if you use the links below we will get a small commission on each purchase, this will not cost you anything. This small commission helps us bring you additional gear reviews.
