ReviewsAccessories

Sunnybag ICONIC 7 Watt solar backpack review

The Sunnybag ICONIC is a pretty sleek looking backpack with a solar array built in to let you charge your devices. Unlike others I’ve played with, the Sunnybag ICONIC doesn’t come with a battery.

Sunnybag ICONIC

You can decide whether the batterylessness of the thing is a good idea or a bad idea on your own. On the one hand it doesn’t require costly manufacturer-supplied replacements, on the other hand you’re probably another $30 in for a good battery to plug it into.

At 7.5 Watts you might be thinking that you could just plug your phone in and charge it and you’d be somewhat right. You will get a positive charge in direct sunlight, you’ll get reduced charge in shade or turning, and you’ll get a ton of noise from your phone as the charge goes up and down, the screen wakes to tell you the charge is low, negating the past 30 seconds of charging.

I would suggest you use a battery.

Like any solar panel setup it works best when pointed at the sun and not angled. This means the most effective use of this has you walking west in the morning and east in the afternoon. Or just plunk it down somewhere. This isn’t a diss on the Sunnybag, but 7.5 Watt capacity in something you walk with isn’t work changing.

Sunnybag ICONIC

But if you can slap it down somewhere in direct sunlight, it’s about the best you can hope for. If I did the conversion correctly 7 Watts at 5 volts should be about 1400mA at 5v / 0.5 at 12v in an ideal scenario. So not quite to 2.1amp we see in everything with a battery these days.

One interesting thing the ICONIC boasts is wireless charging on the Amazon page. A closer look notes that you have to have a power bank with wireless charging and it has a pocket for it. This seemed to be mostly miss for me with my case on.

Which is why charging a good battery is probably the best way to go. Get it charged, no wakeup notifications about slow charging, then fast charge your phone when needed.

Sunnybag ICONIC

The insides I attempted to photograph, the photos didn’t turn out particularly well so I’m going to have to direct you to all stock photos.

The Sunnybag ICONIC is what I’d consider a good $30-40 backpack with a decent $30 solar panel built in, which makes it about $30-40 higher than I’d expect for something that doesn’t have side solar panels.

Mine showed with a tear in the interior fabric, and I discussed with the PR firm that I didn’t need a replacement but I was going to mention that it would be replaced under warranty.

As a backpack, it’s ok, but I never noticed how much I use exterior pockets on backpacks until this one. The interior pockets are deep. Good for hauling a notebook around, not particularly great if you’re trying to bring clothes, shoes, etc.

Overall – good solar conversion but you’re not going to be blown away, good backpack but you’re similarly not going to be blown away, decent price but probably should be about $20-30 less expensive as it doesn’t include a battery, and it’s really not quite suited for camping.

The Sunnybag ICONIC is available from Amazon for $99

Pocketables does not accept targeted advertising, phony guest posts, paid reviews, etc. Help us keep this way with support on Patreon!
Become a patron at Patreon!

Paul E King

Paul King started with GoodAndEVO in 2011, which merged with Pocketables, and as of 2018 he's evidently the owner. He lives in Nashville, works at a film production company, is married with two kids. Facebook | Twitter | Donate | More posts by Paul | Subscribe to Paul's posts

Avatar of Paul E King