Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'd been looking at solar panels for at least a couple of years but never saw anything that I considered reasonable for the price. Then I saw this one. At first, I hesitated because I couldn't believe that a 100-watt panel that was about $50 cheaper than any other I'd seen could be all that good. But, based on the reviews here, I crossed my fingers and took the plunge. I'm really glad I did. I bought this to use for extended camping trips. I made some folding legs out of angle aluminum, hooked it to a Sunforce 60031 10 Amp Digital Charge Controller and a Power Sonic PS12350 12 Volt 35 aH Sealed Lead Acid Battery and, during a 5-day trip which included a couple of very overcast and scattered rain days, I never had an issue with low voltage. I didn't carry a meter to read the amps, but the blue charge light on the controller stayed lit even under overcast skies and the voltage reading on the meter never dropped much below 12 volts. The battery was used to charge and run a laptop, an mp3 player, a Logitech S715i Portable 30-Pin iPod/iPhone Speaker Dock (ALL day long and half the night), and to run a mattress inflator, a fan and a couple of LED lights at night. (Yes, I rough it fairly smoothly!) I also charged a few smart phones for the people in my group. I never had anything drop out due to low voltage and, since the last day of the trip was sunny, I came home with a fully charged battery. I'm impressed with the build quality. Since someone else mentioned an out of square frame in their review, I checked mine. It's square and very solidly built. There are no sloppy solder connections between the cells and the connector box on the back is well sealed. The cables and MC4 connectors are also solidly built. All in all, I'm very happy with the purchase. I used to lug a 70 pound deep cycle out to the woods. Now it's a 22 pound battery and a solar setup that weighs about 19 pounds - stand, cables and controller included. If you're on the fence about whether or not to buy this panel, I'll say stop thinking and go for it!