IF you have a cigarette lighter adapter for it, it'll charge.

Buy a cigarette adapter that will reduce the voltage from 12 volts to adjustable 3-12 volts. Select the 3 volt setting, run 2 aa batteries in series and charge them at the same time. Do the same thing with the cr123 just match the power output to the voltage of the batteries so not to fry anything

Should be do-able, just hook up the panel to the car battery with the supplied jumper cables. It will charge the car battery as long as you are not using too much power.

It depends on how big your battery is on your laptop. It will be measured in AH or MAH. If my math is right A 26 watt panel will produce 2.15 AH or 215 MAH. If your laptop battery has 500 MAH then it will take just over 2 hours to charge it

From Brunton:"That panel is more than adequate to charge most any battery. The problem arise from connecting the battery to the panel. They come with several different cords. One of which, the 12v adaptor, I've found the most useful. This essentially is the female end of a car cigarette lighter. Any sort of car-charger will function well with this adapter. Your customer mentions AC, but all panels produce DC. If they were to purchase some sort of aftermarket car adapter with a standard AC plug built in, they would be able to use their standard wall charger in conjunction with the panel. Length of time depends on battery size and light conditions. I usually tell folks to give it at least 4 hours. This particular panel would probably be too large to wear on the outside of the pack. The Solaris 12 might work better for that. All of them come with metal grommets for tying-down or attaching the panels. Elevations should not affect the performance. Indeed, higher elevations will probably see better performance. I might recommend using the panel in conjunction with some sort of storage device (battery). Our Solo line (the 7.5 would be good for him) really makes the whole process a breeze. It's only 2 pounds....despite what our website says."

Yes, it does - The flats don't but on the Solaris, it's built in.

Can't say specifically since I wasn't there, but you could assume that a year on the Amazon is a tough life for any product. If the solar panel was ever stored while damp, stored with the solar panels facing outward, or folded/creased through the solar panels themselves then the product's performance will indeed suffer. I can't imagine spending a year in the jungle and having this item never get wet. According to Brunton's online manual, this item is water resistant, but it also stresses that it should/must be stored dry. Hope this helps!