Customer Reviews

Portable Hybrid Solar Charger for Blackberry, Kindle 2/Dx, PDA, cellular phone, etc

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I recently purchased this and so far of the two items I really wanted to charge, it does charge my iPod Mini, but does not charge my Nokia 6102.

I sit it in the sun for 10 hours and it charges my blackberry for about 15 minutes. The battery meter didn't register any change. It won't charge my Ipod Touch.

Short and Sweet: When attached to my iPhone (1st gen) and the panel is in direct California sun, it will not keep the battery from draining when using the iPhone. It will charge it, though (no, i don't have charge times.) I usually just put the phone down and the charger in the sun in a safe place in the sun. I also use it to charge my BlueTooth Hands-Free unit in my car when the car is parked, usually when I'm at work...this is better than charging the BTHF unit while driving.

The instructions are a joke, but you can figure it out on your own. Put under sunlight (or any light, really) and the green LED comes on - should mean it is charging - plug a cable and the red LED comes on, even if the other end of the cable is not connected to anything.

This unit fails to charge the iPhone. The phone will beep and it appears it is being charged, but look more carefully and you will see that the battery icon changes it back to normal state instead of displaying the little bolt that indicates is being charged. This is because the solar panel has an internal battery that accumulates charge from solar power, then it gets transferred to the device you wish to charge, but the battery does not put out enough amperage to charge anything meaningful.

The only successful device I was able to charge is a portable little speaker, nothing else. So, good idea, but lousy product.

I bought this unit the same time I bought the Solar battery / charger (i101) - 1250mAh rechargeable polymer solar battery (charger) for cell-phone, mp3 player, media player. With 6 USB adapters. I wanted a reliable unit to send to my son who is studying in India and seems to have problems keeping his Blackberry charged.

This unit is larger than the other one, and has twice as much solar area. It seems cheaply made, though, and the instruction manual is pathetic - poorly translated Chinese, and very little of it. You better be able to figure out the device.

It does charge my Blackberry ok. I charged it off my USB port (it has no separate mains charger, while the other one has a mains charger with a USB cable so you can use either mains or USB) and it worked fine, and I left it on my dashboard and it charged up fine.

Still, I will send the other unit as it seems better made and is slightly smaller.

Left it in car facing the sun for a total of about 24hrs but couldn't get it to charge anything. Under direct sunlight its green light turned on but still no measurable voltage was put out. It might have been defective. This seems to be made for a Asian market judging by the box and the poorly translated instructions were very unclear.

the solar charger is really amazing!!
I used it in an aircraft travel through caribbean, from USA to Brazil, in a Cessna Caravan.
during the trip it recharged two Nokia N95, my Bluetooth GPS and my other Cellphone.
it worked really well charging directly from the sun or charging it's internal battery during flight and charging the Phone at night.
I really recommend this product, as it's sturdy, light, very responsive to light (it worked even in the light of a light bulb) and comes with a lot of connectors.

While it did charge the iphone it was a trickle at best. The solar charger was allowed to be in the sun for over 4 hours but the charge was only enough to check e mail and a few other things before it was dead again. Im glad to have it because it DID charge but I was anticipating a full charge and not just one bar for 8-10 minutes of use. Def. worth the low price but dont look for a full charge in a short time (like plugging in to a wall outlet).

The only thing this is useful for is a paperweight. It holds virtually no charge. I can set this in direct sunlight all day, and get at most 10 minutes of charge time for my iPhone, if I'm lucky. Save your money.

I received this quite some time ago and have been trying to use it with several electronics and for a long time, with no success.
I originally purchased it to charge an iPhone - but, it was not even close!! The iPhone displays an 'incompatibility' error message and never charges.
I then tried it with a Vado HD camcorder - the result was a frozen Vado that would not even restart unless i took the battery out.

So, ok, i thought it was not properly charged, so i left in the sun for a whole day - same results.
Then i plugged it in using a wall charger and left it charging overnight - no change.
The iPhone (a 3GS) sometimes shows the little plug symbol (i.e. that it is connected with a power source) but it never really charges, and soon it beeps and rejects the accessory as incompatible.

Note: i did get it to charge an older nokia phone - i believe that any low tech device or in general devices that use small batteries (in terms of amp drainage) should work. Any high-tech devices, esp. ones that you value, i would not try charging them with this.

I have to admit, as an idea, it is a great one, but this implementation is practically useless in my opinion and personal experience.
Just my 2 cents,
A.