>>1489541Depends where/how you hike and how much power your stuff uses.
Sunlight is 1300 watts/m^2 at the upper atmosphere. That falls to 1000 at ground level (best conditions). PV panels are only 10-15% efficient, so that's 100 to 150 watts.
Then adjust for how much direct sunlight you get per day, whether you're keeping the panel pointed at the sun, and weather. Then recall that a square meter is way bigger than most panels for backpackers. Oops. A square foot is one tenth the area of a square meter.
Also, most people are shit at power management on their devices.
So yes a PV panels can power your stuff, but not without a lot of area, used in the right regions/time of year, and with some changes to your routine.
The tech advances pretty fast. I've got no idea which brands are good right now.
