Reviews of Goal Zero 32201 Boulder 30M Solar Panel

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $299.99
Sale Price: $239.99
Today's Bonus: 20% Off

Pros:

Provides 15 28 watts of power depending on sunlight and cloud cover

Light weight

You can chain Boulder 30s to more B30s or B15s or Nomad 27s, etc.

Durable

Cons:

Edges fade to gold after 8 hours in the sun I have 3 Boulder 30s and all of them did this

Edges are metal is better if the edges are covered with rubber. I bought and installed some rubber weather stripping that does just fine protecting the edges from the concrete or rocks. The Boulder 30 still fits inside the case just fine.

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This is a good panel. Is it going to give you the best cost/Watt ratio? No. Is is going to give you the greatest current/sq inch ratio? No. So why the 4 star rating? Because these panels are part of a larger system, one that is easy to assemble, transport and use. Instead of wires with bare ends, you get a connectorized box with status LEDS. The box on the back makes it easy to daisy chain multiple units for higher charge current. What are you going to charge? Well, I'm using 4 of them to charge an Extreme 350 battery pack. Yes, I could buy a charge controller and glassmat battery and cable it all together, but it wouldn't be as convenient and easy to pack. It's all easy to connect, set up and use. I've assembled solar systems for use in ham radio in the past and while I was able to save some money, there was no way it was as convenient to use. Maybe I'm getting old and lazy, but I'm at the point where I'm willing to pay for a well thought out system.

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I love the style and look of this panel, it works very well under serious use. i use it with the escape 150 and a UPG AGM lead acid battery and i alternate charging each day, i use a standard car invertaer with the battery and have converted to solar from this setup. im very happy with my purchase and i will definatly buy more panels in the future. I would definatly recommend to someone. Goal Zero shouldnt get a bad rap for their solar products. the whole point of them being lower quality or not quite comparing to a photovoltaic solar panel is because its designed to be portable. you always have to expect less from something that is portable. its just the natural compromise for portable solar power. goal zero is one of the best companies ive ever bought from that offers great portable solar power. if your contemplating on buying this panel, its definatly worth every cent

Honest reviews on Goal Zero 32201 Boulder 30M Solar Panel

As of 8/12/2013 Amazon had the older version of the boulder 30. This means that if you are trying to hook it up to a Yeti 150 or any other 8mm Goal Zero product, you may have a problem. Goal Zero does make an 8mm(old) to 8mm(new) adapter, however the service team member at Goal Zero said that they are running out. They didn't charge me for the cable, but did charge a $5.00 shipping fee. Not a big deal, but I wanted to let people know. The panel is working well.

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I own two of these, I connected them together and then plugged into a Yeti 400. I had to utilize the 8mm to 4.7mm connector cable (purchased separately so I could connect to an Escape 150), then use the 4.7mm connector to 8mm converter cable that comes with the Yeti 400 to get things going. Yes, you read that right I had to stick two converter cables in the way so that I could plug this into a Goal Zero product. So, minus one star for poor planning on Goal Zero's part. Seriously? I need a separate converter? Perhaps a universal plug across all compatible product lines? Next star loss is for manufacturing quality boulder clips to hold the panels together great idea, execution poor. The clips aren't included with the panels, but they give you 10 of the buggers when you buy their tripod. They do not fit well, waaaay too tight to slide then in and out easily behind the lip of the frame of the solar panel. Oh and one clip split the actual metal bit just split and the clip came apart.

Performance partly sunny conditions according to the Yeti 400's display input wattage ranged from 8 50 watts from the two solar panels. 8 when a particularly thick cloud blocked the sun and 50 when the sun was nearly free of any cloud interference.

I'm happy with the performance, not happy with the nonsense of the connectors and clips being extra bits one needs to purchase. For this price point you can get a much more powerful solar panel with a standard connector. Also for the price I expect better quality. At least let the damn clips slide easily into the frames.