Portable Solar Charger

VanMan2007

I'm looking for a good portable solar charger for phones, mp3 player, camera, laptop, etc. Something durable for travelling.

Can anyone recommend one please.

Bowling_4_Gold

I've used a Free Loader for the past 2 years while camping, and has been brilliant - leave it ontop of the tent in the day for it to soak up the sun and plug it into your device in the evening, and transfer the juice it has collected.

Cost around £30 iirc, but would happily pay that again if I needed to.

Has lots of connectors to fit a vast array of gadgetry.

This is the version which I have been using, and it collapses into a little shell thing, which seems well protected from light bumps/drops/scuffs. I understand they have brought newer (maybe better?) models out.

Cardew

These things are fine if you really are away from civilisation(and power) and camping(preferably in the Sahara desert where there is a lot of sunshine!)

However they really produce tiny amounts of power(even when the sun is shining) and never make Money Saving sense.

Even the £70 version takes 8 hours of bright sunshine to charge a battery that has less capacity than an AA battery.

Carry a pack of AA batteries costing a couple of pounds.

iamcornholio

Don't bother unless you live on the equator

All the small gadget charger types are all crap - I've tried the Solio, !!!!!!!!!! and power monkey and several generic cheapies.

I had the Solio on my window cill from January to mid-march last year and it still was not full. They need to be in full sun for 10-12 hours to charge - thats not full sun from daybreak to dusk either, but more like full "hot sun" like between the hours of 11-3 from June to August. So wont charge in even one cloudless summer day in the UK. Waste of time and money the lot of them

One type which looks interesting is a new flexible type of cell from swissbatteries . Click on the " solarcard " link

If you want a portable power pack then I do recommend the one from portablepowersupplies . They are the size of a moble phone but are 3400mah - which is more capacity than any other similar ones you can get. They charge via usb or mains and come with various connectors. I take out a couple of these instead of poxy solar chargers

Edit :

Why was "free loader" blocked out with !!!!!!!!!!!! ? LOL

VanMan2007

Thanks for the replies guys.

Have been thinking of two:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Powerpod-Charger-Nintendo-players-handhelds/dp/B002DZ68GU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1279794612&sr=1-1
This has 25 generally positive reviews an is quite cheap, at £28.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/PowerTraveller-Solar-Gorilla-Power-Device/dp/B001Q2H482/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1279794612&sr=1-8
This one is more expensive, but reviews differ on compatibility. From reviews and youtube clips it seems to perform well, but is £114.

Does anyone own one of these, or have any comments on these in particular?

Thanks again.