Voltaic Systems Switch Solar Bag
We’ve known the people over at Voltaic Systems since about 2009 and have been lucky enough to meet with the team a few times. What a great bunch of folks. They have the consummate New York City startup story. Shayne McQuade was dreaming on the beach in Spain when he realized his phone was dead. He had a solar panel with him that was clunky to set up and didn’t work that great, and whammo! he has a vision of a solar panel attached to his backpack. The rest, as they say, is history and Voltaic Systems was born. But they took the concept a step further and thought about how they could make the product more environmentally friendly, as that’s a good thing to do, so they worked with their suppliers to develop a fabric for the bags which was made from recycled PET plastic. And it worked! Not only that but it also happens to be very durable and water resistant to boot.
They have come a long way since their humble beginnings in the early 2000’s and we’ve used several of their products over the years, but by far and away our favorite thus far is one of their newer bags: the Voltaic Systems Switch Solar Bag.
What’s so great about it? It was designed with the iPad in mind, so the inside of the bag has a padded sleeve dedicated to hold a tablet, with a pass through grommet hole where you can pass a charging cable to the Voltaic battery and charge on the go. There is another grommet on the side of the bag leading to the outside, so if you have an optional phone pouch (as we do) attached to the straps on the side of the bag you can put power there as well without having to bury the phone in the bag.
The Switch sports a 6W solar panel on the front which when coupled with the included V15 battery gives you a pretty decent backup system for your phone or tablet. The V15 battery is 4,000mah so you’re only going to charge up an iPad about 1/3 of the way. That’s why we opted to upgrade to their V44 battery which adds a second USB port and a full charge to a tablet. The panel is mostly there to charge the battery, at least that’s the way we use it, although you could plug a connector directly into it and charge naked!
The little details really stand out too – there is a mesh pocket on the inside of the bag which is meant to hold your water bottle upright and accessible. The hooks where the strap connects are made of a thick and unbreakable steel. The main part of the bag is big enough to hold a book, as well as lunch, a wallet, your phone, and then some. There’s an extra handle on the top to grab the bag quickly without using the strap. The little rubber ends on the zippers with the Voltaic logo on it. There’s a map pouch on the back which makes it easy to stash small items. All makes for a great little bag that will get people’s attention!
