his laptop bag uses solar panels to soak up sun, which it stores in an on-board battery. While solar-powered bags have been around for years, this is the first to generate enough power to charge a laptop (up to 17 watts), using only a day's worth of sunlight. Like previous, less-powerful models, the bag can also charge gadgets such as phones and MP3 players via the included adapters, USB port or integrated 12-volt car charger. The bag holds notebooks up to 17 in., and its fabric is made entirely from recycled soda bottles. It's pricey, but the Voltaic finally gives us the ability to work in a park or on the road indefinitely, without charging our laptop.
Design The Voltaic Generator Laptop Bag doesn’t look like your typical messenger-style notebook case and isn’t going to win any style awards (even if going green is hip). Measuring 17.0 x 12.0 x 3.5 inches (large enough to hold the 16-inch Gateway MC Series), one side of the bag is covered with nine octagonal solar panels accented in silver. Customers can order the bag with orange, green, black, and white accents. The rest of the bag is a water-resistant black fabric made from recycled materials.
We liked the exterior design of Voltaic Generator, but it does suffer from poor ergonomics. While the strap was comfortable on our shoulder, the solar panels added too much weight to one side; when we set it down, the bag kept tipping over on the paneled side. Two small metal clasps on the bottom of the Generator fold out to help prop the bag up, but they didn’t work at all times. Having to pick up the side-heavy bag off the floor while traveling got tedious. We could also wear the bag as a backpack by stringing the shoulder strap through the top of the bag, but this was even more uncomfortable and looked ridiculous.
Battery Pack Inside
Inside the Voltaic Generator is a removable 9-ounce, four-cell lithium ion battery pack that measures 4.3 x 2.8 x 1.3 inches. It can be recharged via the included AC adapter or by connecting it to the bag’s solar panels via a cord inside the bag. Five hours of sunlight is supposed to recharge the four-cell battery completely. A small indicator light on its handle shows when the Generator is getting juice from the sun, and a charge indicator light on the pack shows the levels of charging; it turns red when charging and green when it’s full.
