Customer Reviews

Solio Solar-Powered Charger and Battery for iPod

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

$100 bucks worth of electricity would buy you alot of charges, so you obviously dont buy a device like this for that. But the comfort of an extra power source is kind of nice. It gives you approximatly 7-9 hours of extra power. Most party's should end before your pod does. Otherwise, If you do not need this kind of flexibilty then a $15 car charger should fill all your needs. You can also buy different cords for different devices like cellphones and PDA's. you can even charge it from the wall instead of by solar power if needed.

This is obviously not for everyone. Most people aren't going to need it, and can just use AC or DC power instead. This is primarily for those who need a power source. For example, when I took a week long hike on Isle Royale, there is no electricity to be had. With this, I could charge during the day, and keep my iPod working at night. I can use this for all of my hiking trips, where there is no other option for charging a battery, and it is great. But, if your trips take you to hotel rooms and 12 volt outlets, it's better just to get the charging cord you need.

I took my solio to europe this summer and it was perfect. I could charge both my camera and iPod with out buying an adaperter to fit in international plugs. It also saved me much needed room in my backpack by eliminating the need for several chargers.

I have had my Solio for 6 months. While it has performed adequately, it WILL NOT HOLD A CHARGE for the 6 months suggested on the Solio website. I, at best, get it to hold a charge for 7 days. So, don't count on this as a backup powersource when holding a charge is important. Also, the Solio folks are not very helpful when contacted.

The Solio better energy iPod charger is a fantastic product. On a sunny winter day it charged 50% in a time span of about an hour or so. It will also charge in the closed position (for when you don't want to draw attention to yourself in a public place). With two fanblades open it looks like a cell phone , everyone who has seen the charger with two fanblades open has told me that and it helps in being less conspicious( as people just assume its a new phone). It also comes with a suction cup and I haven't really used it because...
1. The warranty doesn't cover damages caused by the suction cup coming loose and falling to the ground.
2. Putting a pencil through the slot and aiming it towards the sun is much easier.
The button on the charger was also perplexing, but I figured it out from the multilingual packet and this is what it does.
Pushing the button once when its not connected give a battery life estimate ex: 1 flash=25% 2 flashes=50% and so on.
While connected it does not automatically realize its hooked up to the iPod. A push of the button and it will start to charge the iPod.
Overall this is a great product that deserves more attention.

I recently took my Solio charger to the Ecuadorian Amazon, and one full charge (which I could get in about 2.5-3 hours of reeeeaaallly cloudy rainforest light) kept my ipod nano working for several hours. I relied on my solio charger alone, and it didn't fail me. Plus, it was a nifty toy, and everyone on my anthropology expedition was jealous.

I purchased my solio to be able to charge my ipod as well as my digital camera while on extended backpacking trips. The solio worked great allowing me to listen and take as many pictures as I like.No more passing up pictures in hopes of saving battery for the whole trip. My only gripe was finding a carrying case that would hold the solio as well as the extra cables. Ultimately I went with the "tread" case and am very pleased.