Who hasn’t been traveling somewhere or been some place where their cell phone or MP3 player dies and you don’t have the immediate ability to recharge your device? When this happens, you always seem to be hours from real electricity, like a wall socket for instance, and it sucks! Well, we’ve found a great travelling buddy for your gadgets.
A product landed on my desk from a company named BetterEnergySystems out of Berkeley, California that might just help us out with the “out of battery cell phone or dead MP3 player” syndrome. The product they sent me is called the SOLIO Classic and it is a hybrid solar charger that you can take with you anywhere you go to charge your electronic devices.
BetterEnergySystems seems like one of those Environmentally Friendly, eco-type companies, as they have a significant number of pages on their website dedicated to providing content on being environmentally friendly. Even the box that the SOLIO arrived in is made from recycled materials. The SOLIO Classic also comes in four trendy colours and is one of two siblings in the SOLIO family. The larger SOLIO 1000 is a larger capacity version that is due out this month and can hold a charge for up to a year.
On the box there is a sticker that reads, “The C02 produced by the manufacture of the actual Solio unit has been made Carbon Neutral by the planting of sustainable bio-diverse forestry.” Check out FutureForests for more information.
What exactly does the SOLIO do?
As per the marketing bits on the box, a SOLIO will do 3 things for you:
Universal Charger – The SOLIO can replace most or all your AC Adaptors with just this one device. All you need to do is make sure you have the right tip for your device and swap out the charging tips for the device you want to charge. This thing claims to work with a huge range of mobile phones and MP3 players…and yes it will work with no problems with the Ipod for you all you Ipod freaks.
Stores Power – The SOLIO enables you to be portable with power as you can take this handy gadget with you anywhere you go. You can pretty much charge the SOLIO and when you are ready to use the power stored within it, as long as you have the correct tips, you can draw the stored power. The SOLIO claims that it can store power in its high capacity battery for up to a year.
Hybrid Charger – The SOLIO draws its power from both the sun via its built in solar panels and standard wall AC 120v-240v electrical outlets. You will never be without power having a SOLIO around!
Technical Details
For those that want to know…
- Rated Output 1.5 to 5.5 Watts
- Solar Panel Max Output 0.85 Watts
- Rechargeable 3.7v 1650mAh Lithium Ion Batteries
About the only thing that isn’t environmentally friendly are the Lithium Ion Batteries, but they do warn to dispose of them properly.