I am designing a solar back pack and need to know what is already on
the market worldwide.  Therefore, to what extent are solar energy back
packs for sale or otherwise available?  Obviously, you can throw solar
equipment into any back pack and call it a portable solar system.
However, in my concept, a solar back pack is described as an 
apparatus designed **specifically** to carry a portable solar energy
system (i.e., a photovoltaic solar panel, battery, and charge
controller) by a human being to be able to power electrical appliances
(i.e., a laptop or GPS) where normal electrical outlets are not
available. For example, the Solardyne solar power pack
(www.solardyne.com) is advertised as the world's first personal
utility that you can take anywhere.  Are there other such portable
solar back packs available on the market? Thanks.

solar-ga,

Thanks for the question and the link. I'm very interested in PV
solutions, have a friend who is one of the legitimate PV engineers
kicking around, and we've talked about similar ideas ourselves. The
Solardyne pack you point out is interesting, but at 20W maximum
charging capacity, it looks like it would require more than a day to
fully charge the battery for an hour of 300W draw. The Solardyne unit
appears to be the only true all-in-one "backpack" system marketed, but
there are many portable systems that come close.

Alpine Survival sells the EN-R-PAK portable power center, which even
includes wind and water turbine options. Despite the name and the
claim, looking at their website, I don't see fitting it into a
backpack.

http://www.alpinesurvival.com/1-ENRPAK200.htm

Solarsense.com offers the Nomad line of portable PV units, including
an all-in-one battery, inverter, charge controller unit and a separate
21W panel. Since their panel isn't hinged, it's a bit awkward for a
backpack, but it certainly comes close.

http://www.solarsense.com/Products/1-Complete_Systems/1-NOMAD_300/NOMAD_300.html

A nearly identical system (looks like the same pack) is positioned as
a solution for resellers by the Advanced Energy Group at:

http://www.solar4power.com/solar-power-devices.html

Outfitter Electronics offers a fascinating little portable kit, which
offers direct recharging of devices (i.e. no battery and probably no
real regulation on charging, just depends on a continuing draw). I'm
including it even though it's not direct competition because their
packaging may interest you.

http://www.outfittersatellite.com/solar.htm

And a similar package by PowerQuest:

http://www.powerexperts.com/Products/Sun_Catcher_Mobile_Power/sun_catcher_mobile_power.htm

The Event Horizons pack is similar to the Nomad line, but appears to
be of a different manufacture.

http://www.eventhorizons.net/devices.html

Lotus Energy sells a number of portable systems, none of which are
quite ready to be packaged in a single back-pack, but all of which are
designed for being humped into rugged areas:

http://www.lotusenergy.com/Products/portsys.htm

If you go ahead with the project and need help with the design, or if
you get to the point of needing independent confirmation of
performance for advertising or fund-raising reasons, I can suggest New
Energy Options. The owner, James Bing, is a professional engineer (PE)
and has installed PV systems in some pretty remote places.

http://www.newenergyoptions.com

Hope you aren't disappointed by the lack of competition.

You confirmed what I have already discovered through my own internet
searches, but did it in much less time and also added a follow-up
suggestion for a contact that could be helpful in the development of
my project.  thanks