Shine portable wind turbine review: a smart, compact way to harness off-grid power

Outdoor enthusiasts in the UK seem to be developing a bit of an obsession with solar power. We use it to top up our portable power stations, it's on our motorhomes and our boats, and many of us even harvest energy for our houses.

But when it comes to portable power, we can quickly be scuppered by a lack of sunshine. And while the summer of 2025 brought us plenty of sunny days, winter has been quite drab, by comparison.

However, we do get a lot of windy days. And wind power is all the rage in some commercial applications, so why shouldn't we embrace it for our portable power solutions?

One of the few companies taking this idea by the horns is Shine, which makes a super compact portable wind turbine you can take with you on camping and outdoor adventures.

It folds up into a neat capsule when you're not using it, but if you set it up and let it flow, it'll top up its internal battery.

Think of it, then, like a meaty USB power pack that you can recharge on any breezy day.

Cleverly, the stand integrates into the unit itself, and simply pops out of a hole in the end. It's a very simple affair, a single pole that drives into the ground a bit, supported by some sturdy ropes.

The blades fold out from the capsule unit, and you've got a rotating turbine that passively tracks the wind, using the rotating blades to charge up its 12,000mAh battery.

And, when you want to harvest the energy you've stored, you just hook up a USB cable, and lap up the free electricity.

If it sounds like the perfect gadget, I'm afraid it's not. It comes close, but there are a few flaws.

While it's surprisingly lightweight, and fully water-resistant, it can be a bit of a pig to set up. The single-pole stand-and-rope system isn't easy to peg down tightly, and it's nigh-on impossible on hard surfaces. A more sturdy tripod design would have been better, but that wouldn't have been so compact, and you couldn't have stored it in the capsule itself.

Also, while it can top its own battery up at up to 40 watts, the USB-A output puts out just 13 watts. Five years ago, perhaps, that might have been a reasonable output, but we're in an era of PD charging, and 100 watt outputs and beyond are quite common from battery banks. Let’s remember, that even fairly small solar panels can generate 100 watts nowadays.

That said, 13 watts isn't bad for topping up a smartphone, and it's a regulated output, but it will take you a long time to charge up a laptop or tablet, let alone a portable power station.

The other slight issue is that you need a strong wind to generate a decent amount of power, it's something like a 28mph wind to reach that full 40 watts. And that's actually quite a stiff breeze. It will charge up in lighter winds, but only slowly.

It would also be nice to have a more accurate picture of how much power is being achieved, and what sort of battery level it's got in it.

I gather all this is being addressed in a new Shine 2.0 version that's currently in a Kickstarter phase, but given the Shine 1.0 is currently £250 (on special offer) I'm slightly nervous about what Shine 2.0 will cost when it hits the market.

However, Shine needs to be applauded for being among the first to create a genuinely viable, genuinely portable wind turbine.

Yes, it has some flaws, but in the right conditions, it works brilliantly, and it's so neat and cleverly designed, you can't help but like it.

It's at its best in a windy spot, gradually trickling power into your devices, with you happy to sit back and just let it harvest its energy, knowing you can just pack it up into a neat bag at the end of the day and take it to your next stop-off.

If you'll pardon the expression, I'm already a big fan. And I can't wait to see how Shine 2.0 turns out.