Goal Zero G10AK Update – Lemon Kit

Quick update on the Goal Zero Guide 10 Adventure Kit under extensive review here at RC. It turns out that the original kit that RC received was plagued with defects. Goal Zero has since replaced all the hardware in that kit, free of charge. They have been wonderful to work with, and their customer service is stellar. Unfortunately, because the original kit was a lemon, none of the data collected so far is valid.  Now that we have received a kit verified by GZ to be in working order, tests will be repeated in order to get good data points. To read about the plague that consumed the original kit, click past the jump.

The lemon kit arrived over a month ago. The kit was missing a solar cable and the Guide 10 battery pack was defective. GZ sent out a new solar cable, and the Guide 10 was sent in (on my own dollar) for testing. After determining that the original Guide 10 was indeed defective, a week later they sent back a new Guide 10.

The new Guide 10 seemed to be working properly until it took over 8 hours to charge cells via the Nomad 7 in ideal conditions. Granted, the cells were purposely depleted before charging began. According to Goal Zero “real-world” specs, it should take 1.5 hours to charge cells, but there is no mention as to the amount of charge they should have before charging.

In addition to the out of spec charge times, I was having more problems with the new Guide 10’s status indicator, depending on how I was charging the cells.

I got in touch with GZ again, and they said the solar panel was defective, and that it was the culprit causing all these issues. This time, they paid for shipping, which was nice, and they shipped a new one to me after they received a receipt of my return Nomad 7 being shipped.

So far, Goal Zero’s customer service has been very helpful, and have been breaking their backs trying to fix all these issues. I am trying to give GZ the benefit of the doubt, assuming that the original kit was just a lemon package, but we will see what happens in the coming weeks of review with the new equipment.