Gear Review - GoalZero Yeti 150 and Nomad 27

August 7, 2013
Initial impressions, by Dave Hartman. 

Beep.

That is my first encounter with the Goal Zero Yeti 150.  The box on my porch is beeping and I immediately assume that it is a power supply that is out of power.  My suspicions are confirmed when I open the box up and see the large “charge me” card.  But Big Obstacles and Team 4inOne have other plans so I won’t be charging up the Yeti just yet.  We’re going to use the other item that Goal Zero graciously sent us for evaluation, the Nomad 27 Solar Panel, to charge up the Yeti on 4inOne race day to see how it works.

I unpacked the new green energy tech items for a couple of quick photos and they are most impressive.  More details will follow in a full evaluation article but for now I’ll say that the Yeti 150 magic box is very simple to setup thanks to the color coded ports and is relatively lightweight.  The Nomad 27 has consists of eight individual solar panels that unfold to create a portable solar array.  Both are a bit heavy for backpacking but look great for camping at improved camp sites, parties in the park or for emergency use.

I’m looking forward to charging up the Yeti 150 with the Nomad 27 to see how well it all works and to get rid of that beeping.  Look for live updates during the 4inOne race day here at BigObstacles.com, on our Facebook page and of course our Twitter feed.  



August 10, 2013.
Race day test.

On our extended 4inOne race day, we took the fully discharged Yeti 150 with us and stuck the Nomad 27 panels in the sun, whenever possible, to see how much charge we could get on it. Also along for the ride were a couple smartphones and my completely dead MacBook Pro. I was pulling it out of the box and slapping it together on the fly while we drove. Fortunately, it's well thought out and pretty intuitive to setup and I had it figured out in no time.

Nomad 27 panels folded in half.

Yeti 150, small enough to fit on the floor of a pickup.

The best thing was, as soon as we plugged in the Nomad 27 panels, the cube stopped beeping. It sat for about an hour here and there, while we ran, then for a good 4.5 hour stretch from a little after 11:30 to about 4:00. Mind you none of this was in direct sunlight, but behind the dirty windshield of a pickup truck. We propped it up on the dash, and the Nomad 27 comes with some lightweight, hollow, aluminum rods to flatten the panels out and keep them rigid.

Trying to soak up some rays.

We couldn't manage to get the meter above 20%, but the literature does specify 13-26 hour charge time,  but we just wanted to see how high we could get it while racing around town. So with the 20% charge, I plugged in the MacBook (which wouldn't even turn on at this point) and managed to get it to charge up the Apple to 18% before the green light on the Yeti's AC port went out. Enough for me to get the laptop powered on and check the social media.


Immediately after that I switched to the USB port and plugged in my phone. It started to charge the phone right away, which surprised me, because I figured the Mac had drained it completely. Although it seemed to charge a little slower (but that could just be because I was consciously monitoring it) it had enough juice left to charge up my phone that was only had about 25% on the battery when I hooked it up.

Getting me my Twitter fix.

The Yeti 150 is a solid and robust unit that looks like it can take a beating. The Nomad 27 panels were a little tricky to fold back up, but I think with some stretching via more usage they will be just fine. Overall an impressive setup in a nice compact, sturdy package. Tipping the scale at about 12 pounds, the Yeti 150 is about 70% lighter than the average car battery, and the Nomad 27 panels only add a couple more pounds to that.

Yeti 150 with Nomad 27. Note the rods keeping panels flattened.

Looking forward to getting this thing out on some extended trips. It would be a little tough to lug while backpacking, but I'm think extended ATV, kayak, Jeep trips or even car camping would be just the ticket.



August 22nd, 2013.
AC charge quick test.

Dave plugs the Yeti 150 into the AC outlet at his house and charges her up (yes our Yeti is female). She fully charges a new Lenovo laptop and a Galaxy smart phone, both of which were "dead, dead" and still registers 20% on the meter.



August 7th-8th, 2013.
Camping.

I stuck the Yeti (with a 20% charge on it) on the back seat of the Subaru and ran the Nomad 27 panels out onto the south facing back window while we went for a day hike up to The Castle. Unfortunately, our campsite was surrounded by tall pines and the panels are in the shade by the time we returned.

Trying to anticipate the moving sun while we're gone.

The rest of the afternoon, I chased the late summer sun around the camp in an effort to get the Yeti to a full charge. I managed to get it to a solid 40%, with 60% starting to blink on the meter.

Shot of the front while sucking in some sun power.

This setup worked fairly well in our tree surrounded camp.

When we got home, late Sunday morning, I tossed the panels up on our deck roof, which gets a lot of sun. Before the afternoon rains came, (about 3 hours later), I had the Yeti up to a solid 80% charge.

I wish I could line this whole roof with panels.

It's hard to say exactly how much sun we got to the panels on Saturday, but at least an hour or 2 worth. Combined with a good 3 on Sunday, we went from 20% to 80% in around 4-5 hours. Not bad, considering the difficulties we had chasing the August sun around.

August 12th, 2013.

Home in the rain.

If you saw the news around August 12th, you may be aware of the intense rains we had here in CO. It was damn near impossible to go outside, so I decided to play with the Yeti 150 while doing my social networking thang on my MacBook.

I don't remember what that middle tab was, but I'm sure it was awesome.

I start by running down the MacBook Pro surfing the net, blogging, tweeting etc. I get it down to 16% then plug it into the Yeti, which is still at 80% from the previous weekend. Around 20 minutes later, I plug in my HTC EVO smartphone, as well, for good measure. The phone is at 40% charge.

The Mac and EVO sucking away at the Yeti 150.

I work away, both on my phone and my laptop. I decide to really tax it, and start streaming CrimpVids videos and playing games, and surfing around tabs. I get the MacBook charged up to 59%, while working on it, before the Yeti 150 cuts out the AC output. The USB stays strong and I get a full charge on my phone, with power to spare. 

The experiment lasts about 2 hours. I was able to fully charge the phone and get the laptop up almost 60%, while getting some work done, streaming video and pretending my basement wasn't flooding. All on free power.



July 5th, 2014
Overcast day test.

It's not often we get truly overcast days here in Colorado. It's even more rare that I have the presence of mind to realize an event like this is about to occur and prepare a test for the Yeti. Our 4th of July neighborhood grill party was rained out and through the haze of several home brews, I was able to devise such a plan.

The Yeti was pretty well drained, but I sucked up ever last bit I could without invoking the dreaded dead battery beep, because that thing will haunt you.

Just before sundown on July 4th.

I place the panels on top of the deck in an area that would get pretty continuous sunlight, if it wasn't cloudy outside. To maximize exposure, I set it up after dark on the 4th and let it sit out until dark on the 5th.

The sun only peeked out a few times the day of the test. I noticed bright sunlight only twice and only for a short while at that. I'd be surprised if there was more than an hour of sunlight the whole day. It was cloudy, but not rainy, with only a sprinkle here and there, so a perfect day for this test.

At 4:40pm the battery registered a solid 40% and the 60% block was blinking. By nightfall the 60% was solid.

4:30pm on July 6th during a brief period of sunlight.