Solio Solio Hybrid 1000 Charger - 2007 BCS

Its like having an extra battery, charging under the sun takes to long so you gotta keep it fully loaded when leaving home. It will charge you cell phone or similar product once. A small bonus is that it looks cool hanging on your backpack and people will come and ask you about it. With a little luck, girls might even too :)

I tried to use this to keep juice in my phone on my Appalachian Trail thru-hike, and never once got a charge. The only way it will get a charge is if it sits in the sun, without moving, all day. I clipped it to my pack, rigged it so that it would sit on top, and tried 5 other positions to get it to charge while hiking, but I was just ducking under trees too much for the sun to actually hit it enough to charge. Left it on my pack for 2 weeks before I sent it home, and never more than 20% charged. It was a shame, I really wanted it to work.

However, if you go camping, you can just leave it at your campsite to charge while you venture through the woods or mountains so you have power when you get back.

This is a very cool device. If you are tech savvy when hiking then you will want one of these. It seems essential for any tech-hiking nut. However, you might want to leave it home if you are going to where you will not be getting cell phone signal and want to save weight.

I have only used this on one weekend camping trip but it did the job. I brought it out with a full charge from my laptop and used it to recharge my blackberry (which we were also using for music). Worked like a charm. Then the next day I recharged it in the sun. The only annoying thing about it is you have to chase the sun in order to get a decent charge. A little bit of shade and it won't recharge well. I guess if you are in an open area this wouldn't be a problem but if you are in the middle of the woods it is.

I got to try this as a tester last year. It is great with the built in biner, and it comes in handy when you need some power for the ipod or cell phone. It will clip from your pack and you can charge as you are hiking. For those weight counters out there, this is one of the lightest and best options out there. Not only charges from the sun, but stores it until you need it.

I went camping last week and completely depleted my ipod...what a drag!! But a friend of mine let me use his solio H1000 and I could hardly believe it but it did the trick...I was completely charged up and ready to go in about 1 hour.
This product has won me over.
Happy hiking.