Customer Reviews

Solio H1000 Universal Hybrid Charger (Dark Grey)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I bought this before going to summer camp for a week with my son's BSA troop, and honestly, I expected to reap more envy from the other technophiles in the troop than to actually put it to much use (admittedly a shallow motive for buying it). But I was surprised and pleased to actually find it of value.

I charged it from my computer before setting off to camp with the idea that it would be an emergency back-up battery from my mobile phone. By Wednesday evening I'd made a few calls from the remote campsite and had killed the charge on my cellphone. I fully recharged it in short order from the Solio, which was still 60% charged after this.

By Thursday evening, another ASM needed to recharge his phone and I was able to accommodate him with my Solio (which I'd had out in the sun all day and was back at full power).

Finally, on the bus ride home, I was able to loan the fully charged Solio to two scouts to recharge an iPod and another mobile phone. I also recharged my own iPod as well before I had completely discharged the Solio.

Maybe I had better luck than others have had, but I have found that the device recharges more quickly than advertised. I had it out in the sun on my backpack or on my tent all week and it was always ready for use.

And of course, it also paid off in my more mundane expectations and many people admired it, making it a great icebreaker with members of other troops.

I didn't give it five stars only because it still takes a long time to charge it fully and you need to keep your expectations in line. But it does what it says and probably does it a bit better than documented.

I had been looking at this unit for a bit and finally decided to get one. The unit is small and thin and looks pretty cool. In the box you get three adapters (more on that in a minute) and a USB attachment.

The three attachments are for the most common cell phone(s) (nokia) as well as an attachment for blackberry type units and then finally the iPod.

Charging the unit takes some time. It needs DIRECT sunlight. You can tell if its getting good light by a red LED light on the front. It will stay lit up when its getting full on light. The sun light charge was "slow" so I decided to USB charge the unit the next day at work. That took about 2.5 hrs (the unit probably needed a full charge). After that I connected my iPod and began the "charge". It was slow and took a few hours to get the iPod back to a full charge.

Solio has a web site that can get you all the connections you might need. (PSP to Phone/camera etc). I could not find my phone so I emailed them and got a response about 24hrs later. (not too bad). The attachments appear to be about 9.95USD.

If you are looking for "fast" charges I'd say just use your wall outlets/usb's etc. I leave he Solio in my car during the day and get the sunlight..then I'll charge my iPod or my phone (when I get that attachemt) during the ride home.

A cool device and I feel like I am doing the right thing.

I bought this for my daughter who is a Peace Corps volunteer in Togo in a community with no electricity. It was a godsend. She is now able to charge her cell phone and her iPod with no problem, and we worry much less about her not having her cell phone available in case of emergency. The solar charger works perfectly for her; she puts it out to charge during the day and can charge her phone and iPod at night. I believe she can also charge her battery recharger, but am not sure. She is thrilled to have it.

PROs: Nice design, light weight, clip on top with tie-down point on bottom making it ideal for backpacking.

CONS: The internal battery charge rate is FAR lower than the manual would lead you to believe.

In real world use the Solio took about 5 days to charge from 20% to 100%.

This was a mix of direct and indirect sunlight.
Some problems:

1. Even the slightest whisp of a cloud and the battery would stop charging.

2. Even the slightest obstruction to the panel (example a 1" thick back-pack cord covering a small part of the panel), would stop it from charging.

3. Angle to the sun needed to be perfect. Hanging it vertically off by pack was required during the morning, but once noon hit the panel needed to be moved to the top of the pack to charge. It needs to be angled to the sun at all times.

The total power capacity is about equal to 4 low mAh AA batteries.

Overall it's a lot of work, a lot of time and hassle for a very small amount of power.

Another annoyance is these little adapters you need to carry in order to use the Solio. The proprietary power output cable attaches nicely to the Solio, but there is no room to leave and adapter connected. So even if you only use on adapter (like me with the USB), you need to carry it separately.

Also, for serious backpacking future versions need to be built tougher and be water resistant.

While it has some usability issues, overall the Solio H1000 charger solidly does what it is supposed to do.

First, the good parts. I've had the battery charger for about 6 months now, and the battery and solar panel both work solidly. Note that the solar panel is only really effective outside (windows filter out non-visible light). In other words, if you hang it on a tree in bright sunlight, you should be able to charge your phone once per camping day. And while this is obviously designed for camping, I find myself charging my phone with it whenever I accidentally let my phone drain.

Ok, the bad part... namely the baggie of easily lost connectors that goes with each unit. The connector for your charger of choice is thin, detached, and is constantly getting lost. The USB plug to charge this unit is similarly thin, detached and constantly getting lost. Furthermore, sometimes things charge automatically when plugged into the unit, sometimes you have to hit a button a few times. The battery charged indicator is a simply unclear series of flashing lights.

On overall reflection, it is still a very useful unit. Sadly, I've failed to use it as often as so simply because the needed plastic dangly bits were nowhere to be found, or the plug-in charge function felt like being finicky that day.

I purchased the Solio charger so I could charge my iphone on the AIDS/LifeCycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The charger was almost useless. Mounted on the back of my bike, only once in 7 days of biking did it charge more than halfway. When it was charged less than half, it would not charge my iphone. Complete waste of money.

I've taken this little unit to many summer music festivals. You can dangle it off your knapsack when hiking or angle it southfacing if resting. I tested it primarily with my iPhone with the only disappointment with maybe an inadequate charge (if I used my iPhone heavily that day). You can compensate somewhat by charging this system up in your hotel room (or some outlet near the stage) at night. Nano textiles will eventually replace the need for separate solar modules but until then this is a reliable (but don't soak it in water) unit.

If you like to help support the development of technologies by being one of those early adopters, I recommend you get your hands on one of these. I use mine during long car trips and camp outs and I couldn't be happier with it's performance and convenience...but then I'm easy to please. I think the price tag was worth the cool factor at Boy Scout Camp. I use it once a month or so to keep the battery from spoiling...and face it, whether that sounds convenient to you or not, it is less draw that I'm making on the energy grid somewhere along the line (though not even remotely enough to offset the manufacture of the device yet, I know. I'm not that naive).

Typical mainstream consumers will be frustrated by the fact that this device requires a full day in the sun (sometimes more) to fully charge. You can't be walking around with it on your pack and expect it to charge up much. You can't expect it to provide that many charges for your iPod or iPhone, etc. You do need to keep the solar panels as clean as possible. It is NOT for casual users that will expect simplicity and more than currently realistic charging from sunlight. The adapters are a pain.

It is for people that may need an emergency charge in remote and isolated locations. It can charge from the sun and it can hold a charge for when you need it.

But the fact that so many people are looking at and trying this device is encouraging. Hopefully the consumer interests will drive the industry to create even better and more efficient solar chargers. When they do, I'll be ready to try them out too.

I took the Solio H1000 on a recent 5 day backpacking trip in the California Sierras and it worked like a charm. I have been using the Kindle app my iPhone to read books for several months and took it on the trip with the Solio charger. It charged my iPhone in about an hour while charging itself. It clipped easily onto the pack and charged whenever it was in the sun. I only went for 5 days so I cannot vouch for it on a longer trip but it worked very well on this short trip.

I got one of these at our local REI store and took it on a 3 day trip to the Grand Canyon. While it states it takes a while to make a full charge...the solar panel is extremely weak and would not charge my iphone with 4 hours of sun. It has to have DIRECT sun exposure...if even a tree twig is in front of the panel it will not charge up. I was very disappointed, as I wanted to use my iphone to listen to music on the way up. The LED light notification system is VERY hard to understand...it looks easy...but in real world situations it is not. If you are even thinking about getting this for emergency back up.....keep looking. I was really hoping for a solid product especially coming from a more established company...but unfortunately the product just didn't work to even my lowest expectations. :( I have since returned it in hopes to find a good solar charger........