Hello shoppers!Luckily (or unluckily) I purchased this item 2x. I needed 400 watts of solar to charge my lifepo4 batteries. I thought having them on the ground would make life simpler because if they are mounted flat on the roof of my van they are only optimally positioned for summer. The rest of the year (and depending on my location) mounted flat means diminished production of energy.Now you know why I bought these, and I can give a second review of the product.These panels are ‘ok’ but that’s where my praise ends. Renogy will tell you that when using wire to go between solar panel and mppt controller the wire gauge at minimum should be 8awg. HOWEVER they wire these panels with 12awg wire. In fact when I asked Renogy if they sold any other gauge wire they said “No, but you can make them yourself.”Which means that if you spend $450 on the assembled product you can spend a whole lot more getting a heavier gauge wire. The 12awg is fine so just ignore Renogy’s suggestions.On the back of the panel is the ‘waterproof’ housing for the wire connections. It’s a plastic box that has a tiny rubber gasket that likes to fall out when you open the box to examine the wire. My suggestion…. Pay attention to the gasket if you open!The wire inside is soldered in place and there is NO strain relief measures on the wire. This is a fatal flaw because of the constant connecting and disconnecting at the mc4 connection. In less than a year my mc4 connectors were coming free from the wire and the copper strands were exposed. After replacing the mc4’s 3 times the panel just crapped out and ceased to work.The legs that are attached inside the back of the panel are constantly coming loose. The nuts continually back out and fall to the ground. This is because the legs are positional and the constant set up and take down loosens the bolt. It’s a lousy design.Additionally the legs are useless here in the southwest (Arizona) in the summer. Because of poor design and positioning the panel needs to be set up with its back end lifted fewer than 7”!! If you try to use the legs to achieve this angle the legs will cut the aluminum panel housing. That’s right…. You’ll need to use something to prop it up just off the ground (think 2”x4”). Rocks will scrape the black pain off of the housing.There are no tips and trick’s accompanying the panels so you’re on your own to figure out how to get the most out of the panel.I am having to ship this 35 lb suitcase back to Renogy to find out what failed. I’ve been lugging around a defective suitcase for over a month while Renogy makes me jump through unnecessary hoops!On that subject these panels are kinda heavy. You can get used to the weight but setting up and taking down is aggravating when you’re only stopped somewhere for the night. When you’re camped somewhere for several weeks it’s not bad.The framework of the solar panel surround is about 1 1/8” wide all the way around. It collects mud, muck and debris from whatever you set it on…. I highly suggest you lay out a ground tarp to keep them clean.The panels are shipped in a ‘formed’ zipper bag to protect the solar panels when not in use. Renogy sent me one that has a bad zipper. That means I had to devise a way to force the cover/ case to stay on. I found 1” nylon strap and buckles did the trick but it was another $10-15 investment. When I notified Renogy of the problem they essentially said ‘too bad’ they actually said “we don’t have replacements we can send out”. Well I’d it’s included as part of the whole product and I spent $350+ on it, it should function correctly otherwise why bother shipping them at all?! This leads me to the biggest pain in the behind…. Customer service.Renogy only allows American English speaking people to sell their products and only allows people of other nationalities using thick accents, speaking their countries iteration of English to handle Tech support.When you deal with them (and you will eventually) you’ll discover they know absolutely nothing about the products or their technical aspects. They will repeat everything 3-5 times and not listen to your questions. They tell you that they are hearing your “concerns” but they can’t address them beyond whatever script they are reading. So if things get ‘technical’ be prepared for absurd chatter and repetitious gibberish and disingenuousness concern.Renogy makes an average product serviced by inept phone people. You’re better off buying from one of the other companies with higher rated customer service and tech support.If I knew when I bought this ‘briefcase’ what I know now….. I never would have bought two…. Or even 1!!! I took a chance on this company thinking the other people who have outlined similar failings might have been isolated cases….. I was wrong in doing so.Take it from me, it’s not worth the 🤕 headache!! Install roof top panels on your van etc and put adjustable risers on them to catch the rays you need. It’s simpler and this stuff was not meant to be handled as often as ‘mobile panels’ are. If it was it would have been better built and proper tech support offered in the event something went wrong.👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎Caveat Emptor fellow shoppers.**UPDATE**1 suitcase failed and I sent it back to Renogy. That’s the easy explanation. Truth is I sent it back (at my expense -not cheap) on January 29th 2024 I finally got a replacement about a week and a half ago (today is Easter 2024). After talking to Indian representatives who don’t understand American English and are extremely difficult to understand on the phone (20-30 calls) I was lied to, misinformed, had incorrect items shipped to me, and nearly unable to make the problems understood to them. They never fixed the unit i sent back and when I received the replacement (mid March) they neglected to tell me the panel had been changed in dimension etc.Why does this matter? I mean hey I got a replacement right?! Well look at the pictures I posted above. An additional defect is that because of the legs a decent wind will blow them over. In the desert this means it slams on to rocks and shatters. You’re probably thinking well yeah they broke- you should have been more careful! You’d be right. The fact that a gust of wind came along and blew them over is on me because I didn’t bring them in. BUT….. this was thankfully the old version. Which is about a foot shorter than the new version. Which makes them blow over in even lesser breezes! Now I spent $350ea for my briefcases and a look at current pricing is over 89$ more. If you have money to burn you’re luckier than me.Now I mentioned how in Arizona in the summer the legs on the original briefcase was useless because to catch the rays the briefcase had to be laid nearly flat on the ground. The legs don’t allow for this position so you need to lay them out flat. The newer version being taller means even greater difficulty in lowering the panels to optimal summer position.In short, I hate these panels. The briefcase that crapped out lasted 8 months… I use them daily and rely on them for 100% of my power needs. A breeze blew over the second set and I can’t afford to replace them. The bolts holding things together are constantly backing out and need to be tightened but each time you move the legs they loosen even more.With no way to keep the new panels from blowing over I can add wind to snow, rain & clouds that defeat the panels. On a perfectly sunny day with wind I can’t put them out to charge my batteries. I now need to wait for a perfect sunny day with no air movement.Also and more importantly these panels require huge investment of time to maintain. They have to be cleaned before putting them away, dirt and mud fills the channel on the backside of the panel, bolts need re tightening after every use, and worst of all is the enormous wasted space inside a vehicle to store them. (I had two briefcases so I had double the consumed space).Roof mounted panels may be hard to install but take it from me they’re far cheaper to Mount….. you don’t have to clean mud dirt and ground debris from them after every use….. and wind won’t blow them over to shatter. They are always collecting power wherever and whenever you are -Solar briefcases require that you take them out if you want energy! oh and it’s important to note…. You need to store these panels upright. Otherwise going over bumps, potholes etc might slam a prone panel on the ground and shatter them.Learn from my experiences and permanently Mount panels to your roof. Less work and constantly bringing in energy. Cheaper and oh yeah they weigh less- the briefcases are almost 40lbs each!!!Never say you weren’t warned.I will say this…. On the occasions when I can put them out…. The panels do work well. Sad but true.CAVEAT EMPTOR!!