I bought this because I wanted something small to keep in my briefcase for when I needed extra power for my BlackBerry Tour or iPod Touch, and also because of this product’s claimed solar recharge ability. The product comes with lots of different tips (though remarkably not one for the Kindle 1, which was a disappointment). I gave it only four stars because of some shortcomings:

1. This product did power my iPod Touch for two hours. But then this product took 3 1/2 hours to recharge in an AC outlet. I have another portable charger (Tekkeon MP-1800) that is a little bulkier, but provides a much longer charge time and has a shorter recharge time. A portable charger should not take a lot longer to recharge than the charge it supplies. And for a long plane or car ride, this unit would quickly “run out of gas.”

2. When this product is charging in an AC outlet, you can simultaneously power a gadget. That is fairly standard with any portable power supply. I was hoping, however, that I might be able to do the same thing with a solar charge after I had sunlight on this unit for a couple of hours. No such luck. Instead this unit powered my iPod Touch for only a short time after being exposed to the sun for a couple of hours and not reaching a full charge. This means that if you go to the beach, for example, and forgot to charge your iPod, and have used up the power on this product, then you will be out of luck for many hours.

3. Any portable power source eventually loses power. However after a few days in my briefcase this unit lost more power than I expected.

4. Most portable power sources require a USB cable to power an iPod gadget. Not this unit, which instead uses a simple adapter. While it is convenient not to have to bring along a USB cable, unless you keep the adapter perfectly straight while attached to this unit and the iPod, you will lose the charge connection. If you are not using the iPod and are just charging it on a flat surface, that is fine. But if you want to put it on your lap and listen to it while charging, this unit requires more effort than when you use a USB cable and just put the portable charger someplace off to the side.

Bottom line: This unit does work, but has a limited power capacity compared to other portable chargers. The trade off is that it is much smaller and more compact than most portable chargers, so if size rather than charging capacity is more important, this unit will do the trick. However since the solar charge takes so long, and since the unit will not power a gadget during a solar charge (as opposed to an AC outlet charge), the solar charge feature has limited usefulness. I guess if you are going camping it would come in handy. But if you are riding in a car, for example, even if the sun is streaming in the window, this unit will still run out of power because it uses power much faster than it can be replenished with a solar charge.

I like to have this unit in my briefcase for an emergency. But I prefer my Tekkeon MP-1800 (which I have reviewed on Amazon) as a portable power source for my gadgets when I travel.
Rating: 4 / 5

Purchased product from vendor and it worked for two charges before failing. I was not able to charge it up again with the solar option. Vendor exchanged device for another one. So far I’ve been able to complete two charges. It takes something to recharge the battery pack with the solar charge.

It’s hit and miss with this one.

Rating: 2 / 5

A solar charger for cellphones and personal electronics is a great idea, but this product falls short of greatness in several important respects.

Putting power in: the solar charging aspect of this is kind of a gimmick. I guess if you knew were going to be out in the desert holding still for hours under a blazing sun you might be able to depend on the little solar panel for some juice, but for most uses you’ll have to plug this thing in somewhere. Unfortunately, that requires using a special cable. So if you forgot or misplaced the only cable in the world that will charge it you won’t be able to charge this battery. If you lose their power-in cable, you’ll have to buy another one from the manufacturer.

Taking power out: you also need a different special cable to get the power out of this thing, since it uses a female mini usb out the likes of which I’ve never seen before. Normal usb to mini usb cables won’t do you any good. If you lose their special power-out cable, you’ll have to buy another one from the manufacturer.

Small design: I like the look of this battery, but that small size is deceiving since you can’t do anything with it unless you have the special cables mentioned above. It’s also slippery to hold on to.

Rapid drain: the battery drains all by itself very quickly, so you can’t just charge it up and depend on it being charged when you need it.

Suggestions for the manufacturer: make this battery work with conventional cables for both input and output; figure out how to make the battery hold a charge better.

Suggestion for consumers: take a look at the Powersource Mobile Mini by Xantrex. It’s not solar, but it holds triple the charge and has a built in mini usb output that’s perfect for recharging RAZR’s, etc, on the go.
Rating: 2 / 5