INTRODUCTION

   I may not be much of a camping person especially not in the woods like some people i know but i do like spending much time on the beach and on the mountain so to avoid any unpleasant circumstances i always like to carry a portable battery pack along with me (actually i have two one in my backpack and one in the car just in case) but the bad thing with such devices is that you need to recharge them every now and then to ensure that they have some battery juice left in them in case you need it. Luckily manufactures came up with a somewhat brilliant solution to that issue and so there are currently quite a few portable battery pack models in the market that also feature a solar panel at the top which can be recharged by using the energy from the sun if the battery happens to be empty. Sandberg has been manufacturing interesting gadgets for quite some time now and since they just launched their very first 6000mAh solar PowerBank we decided to check it out.

   Sandberg stands for quality and user-friendliness. If it is important for you that accessories are high quality and easy to figure out how to use, then choose Sandberg. Our ideology "IT is for everybody" is part of everything we do. Since its inception in 1985, private consumers, institutions and companies have benefited from this simple philosophy. Distributors and dealers appreciate the availability, range, simple procedures and the exceptionally low failure rate. Every year over half a million Sandberg products find their way to users in more than 30 countries. Choosing Sandberg means choosing a safe and conscientious product that meets all applicable regulatory requirements. A product manufactured by subcontractors who are committed to following Sandberg's Code of Conduct to ensure decent working conditions and reduce the environmental impact of the production and waste disposal.

   Under the hood of the Solar PowerBank 6000mAh Sandberg has placed an Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery which should be just enough to recharge a regular smartphone roughly 3 full times and a tablet just slightly over once thanks to the 2100 mA output (depends of course on the capacity of the batteries used in both the smartphone and the tablet). Of course a capacity of 6000mAh nowadays may not seem quite enough to some people but we also need to take into consideration the size of the unit since this particular one was designed to accompany you outdoors and as you will see later on although the solar panel needs to be somewhat large to gather as much power as possible from the sun still it's quite compact. Whether or not however the solar panel works as advertised and the capacity of the battery is sufficient enough is something which we have to find out for ourselves.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The Solar PowerBank 6000 mAh arrived inside a clear plastic box from where you can see it clearly prior to making your decision.

Some words about the product in 6 different languages are placed at the rear right above its specifications table and the 5 years warranty logo.

Sandberg bundles an USB to micro-USB cable and the user guide with the Solar PowerBank 6000 mAh.

THE SOLAR POWERBANK 6000 MAH

The Solar PowerBank 6000mAh is almost entirely made by plastic and measures 125mm in length, 80mm in width and 15mm in height with a weight of 205g.

Size-wise it's just slightly smaller than the EasyAcc 13000mAh battery but as expected a lot smaller compared to the XTPower 23000mAh battery (the solar panel is the reason for its larger than expected size and not the lithium-ion battery).

A total of 10 power cells are placed at the top of the device (unfortunately i can't make out the type).

We have almost 800W worth of cold lights on our photo bench so it's no surprise that the device started charging already (red LED indicates charging, blue LED indicates remaining life).

At the lower end of the device we see the USB port (2100mA), micro-USB charging port and the start/stop charge button (it can also be used for you to see the remaining battery life).

Turning the device over we see that the connectors and the button are tagged.

There's also a large opening at the top from where you can hang the device.

CONCLUSION

   With portable battery models ranging from 1000mAh and up to well over 30.000mAh currently the 6000mAh of the Solar PowerBank is certainly not a number we can get excited about. However for a portable battery based around a solar panel even 6000mAh might be way too much since according to Sandberg you will need at least 26 hours to fully charge it and so ask you can certainly understand it's not something many will be doing (we only used a regular power socket and it took around 6 and 1/2 hours to fully charge). Of course the solar panel was added in case of an emergency and not as valid way to charge the unit so no one actually expects anyone to fully charge it solely via sunlight. Now Sandberg claims that the capacity of the Solar PowerBank is 6000mAh but as expected that's not right on the spot and so after 4 full charges it managed to recharge the Samsung Galaxy S4 two full times and the Nokia Lumia 520 slightly less than 4 times so according to our calculations the capacity of the battery is somewhere between 4200 and 4400mAh which is not bad at all for the size.

   Although Sandberg is the manufacturer of many interesting products until now they haven't expanded outside the EU and so the Solar PowerBank 6000mAh is only available here for a retail price of 55Euros (Amazon.co.uk). Of course there are cheaper portable batteries in the market some with higher capacities and some even with solar panels but the good thing with Sandberg that most companies don't have is that they have built a good reputation over the years both thanks to the quality of their products and the very good after sales support and that matters a lot to some people (us included). The Solar PowerBank is a very good and quality compact portable battery that will never leave you without power for all your mobile devices and although the capacity good be higher still it's good enough to grab our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Overall Size/Weight
- Design
- Charging Via Solar Panel
- 5 Years Warranty
- 2.1A Output
- Price

CONS

- Availability Outside Of The EU
- Capacity Could Be Higher