Solio Classic Solar Charger

I just came back from a 12 day river trip. I was under direct sunlight all but one afternoon. It took two full days of full sunlight to charge the battery. Something to be aware off if you're in less than direct sunlight. The Solio was very finicky on charging. It did work once to charge my ipod and cell phone. Later in the trip it wouldn't do a thing, even though it had a full charge. I was grateful for the two charges it gave me. I was upset and frustrated when it failed, especially once I relied on it. I'm going to work with it now that I'm home and see if it a defective model or if it's just unreliable. It did work for awhile, but if you're going to depend on it, be careful.

i took this to africa where the sun is out 95% of the time. it took 2 days to charge a sansa mp3 player, and 4 days to fully charge a motorola i975 smartphone. took 1 day fo get 1/2 charge on ipod. there was another person with one at the camp i was at and he was having the same issues. if you want something to charge a macbook, look into a brunton solaris, it does 26w an hour for only $300 (amazon).

I spent three months camping and doing small mammal research in the western Colorado back-country. This little device charged my cell phone and iPod.
If you read the directions, it says it has to be pointed towards the sun to have the greatest charge. All I did was mount it on a stick, and turn it towards the sun every 3 hours or so. I got a full charge every day doing this.
You can't go wrong for the size, especially when weight and space are concerns.

I'm not really sure why there has been a number of negative reviews because I have yet to have a problem with my Solio. It's not going to charge a computer, but what would expect from something so small? It holds a charge very well but you just have to be aware that it's facing the sun when you are trying to recharge it. I cannot really attest to the usefulness of the adapters because I only need the USB and the mini-USB connections. I use my solio to charge my Garmin GPSMap 60CSx, my Blackberry, and the new Energizer duo battery charger which effectively allows my Solio to charge AA and AAA NiMH batteries. Being able to plug it in is also convenient if you want to charge it up quickly.

If you are aren't sure if there is an adapter for your phone, go to www.solio.com

I got this to charge my Garmin Edge GPS for my bike. It barely even added any charge to my gps unit and then wasn't even mildly charged after a day in the sun. I needed to recharge my gps since I was riding in a different country and it failed me.

Sent mine back and think that I'll wait a few years until someone gets it dialed.

For the small size and versatility of this product, I love it. The availability to charge virtually any USB device or cell phone is not rivaled by many products. Charging can take a long time if you are not in strong sunlight yet it still generates an option to charge those devices you need. The price may seem a bit steel but for solar power, clean power, its a great product.

I've had one of these for about 2 years - it still holds a good charge and the integrated batteries charge my cell phone twice when full. This said, it's not very quick to charge if you stick it on a window and is somewhat expensive for the watt output (the solar panels generate just under 1 watt).

This is great to have camping, day hiking, traveling, and in your car. It will hold a charge almost a year, and will charge just about any personal device except a laptop. I love mine and it has come in handy so many times I never leave home without it. Plus, Solar Power is green