This is the Preppi Solar Laptop + Phone Charger, as the name suggests it’s a iPad-sized, fold-out solar array that can be used to charge your devices in the field, including phones, laptops, GPS units, and more.
Portable solar arrays like this have been skyrocketing in popularity in recent years due to the fact that they’re affordable, lightweight, and they’re easy to fold up and pack away when not in use.
Portable solar arrays like this have been skyrocketing in popularity in recent years due to the fact that they’re affordable, lightweight, and they’re easy to fold up and pack away when not in use.
History Speedrun: Preppi
Preppi was founded in 2014 in Los Angeles with goal to bring 21st century industrial design and styling into the emergency preparedness market. Essentially, the idea was to bring Apple-like polish and design into a segment of the market largely populated with fly-by-night operators with oftentimes dubious standards.
Preppi was established by Ryan Kuhlman and Lauren Tafuri, who saw a significant gap between traditional survival gear and the needs of modern urban and suburban households.
At the time, most emergency kits skewed toward utilitarian or even militaristic aesthetics, often discouraging everyday consumers from engaging with emergency preparedness at all.
Preppi’s approach centered on curated, modular kits designed to live in plain sight rather than be tucked away in closets, sheds, or garages. Their early products were focused on earthquake readiness, this was mostly due to both the company’s Southern California roots and the founders’ past personal experience with major seismic events.
Rather than positioning itself as a hardcore survival brand, Preppi was careful to emphasize usability, clear instructions, high quality, and a long shelf life.
The panels are made with a tough ETFE (ethylene tetrafluoroethylene) outer layer, a material commonly used on solar panels for its resistance to abrasion, heat, and long-term environmental degradation.
The brand picked up most of its early attention through word-of-mouth, direct-to-consumer sales, and placement with design-oriented retailers rather than traditional outdoor or tactical suppliers.
Over time, the company expanded its catalog to include add-ons like solar chargers and lighting, while keeping its core emphasis on accessibility, a modern, approachable design language, and genuinely practical preparedness.
Preppi Solar Laptop + Phone Charger
The Preppi Solar Laptop + Phone Charger is a compact, lightweight, foldable solar panel intended for emergency and supplemental off-grid charging. When folded, it’s roughly iPad/tablet-sized, making it easy to store inside a backpack, preparedness kit, or your camping gear. The solar panel unit also has an integrated kickstand on the back that allows it to be angled toward the sun for improved exposure and power generation.
The panels are made with a tough ETFE (ethylene tetrafluoroethylene) outer layer, a material commonly used on solar panels for its resistance to abrasion, heat, and long-term environmental degradation.
The ETFE film is sourced from Japan and paired with optical coatings intended to improve light transmission – as the panel is designed to use a broad portion of the light spectrum for improved power production.
The charger provides both USB-A and USB-C outputs, allowing two devices to be connected simultaneously but it’s worth noting that performance will depend on heavily sunlight conditions.
The solar panel unit also has an integrated kickstand on the back that allows it to be angled toward the sun for improved exposure and power generation.
It’s ideal for charging phones, small electronics, camping lanterns, GPS units, and laptop battery top-ups when you’re out in the wilderness a long way from the nearest power outlet.
The Preppi Solar Laptop + Phone Charger can be bought here direct from the official Preppi store, and for a limited time the MSRP has been lowered from $175 USD to $125 USD.
Images courtesy of Preppi
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Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
