Product Description: The world's most advanced hybrid charger. Engineered to meet the demands of the serious adventurer, Solio Mg edition combines efficient solar panels and a high capacity battery to collect and store power. With expanded compatibility and a strong yet elegant magnesium alloy shell, this is the most powerful and versatile hybrid charger ever made.
Amazon.com: The family of Solio the Universal "Hybrid" Chargers, Solio Mono, Solio Classic, Solio Hybrid-1000, the Solio Magnesium, are powerful enough to charge all handheld electronic devices at home or on the move, anything, anytime, anywhere. It is a Hybrid because it can accept power from either the sun, a computer, or the wall storing this energy within Solio's internal rechargeable battery.
Solio uses this energy to power gadgets at the same rate as wall adaptors and will hold its charge for up to a year and is the only solar charger of its kind that has a long-lasting internal, high-capacity battery which may be removed at the end of it’s life-cycle – returned to Better Energy Systems for responsible disposal, and replacement.
Solio limits the need to purchase and carry around multiple chargers and is a one-stop charging solution for all hand-held electronic products from cell phones and iPods, iPhones, to digital cameras, game players, and GPS, and charges these products from a Solio, at the same rate as plugging them into the wall.
About Solio The sun’s energy is so powerful that in just one hour the amount of energy that falls on the earth equals the amount used by he world’s population in one year’. This realization with the increased demand for portable power, inspired the leadership of Better Energy Systems to design the Solio – a hybrid solar charger for most small, portable, electronic gadgets. It was introduced at San Francisco’s MacWorld in 2005 where it won ‘Best of Show’.
Solio quickly caught the consumer’s imagination and interest because it combined convenience, easy to use renewable energy, with cutting-edge, award-winning design and engineering. Efficient solar cells, a high capacity, integrated lithium-ion battery, easy to remove and replace from its durable recyclable shell, and a sophisticated internal circuitry, with a variety of interchangeable tips, enables compatibility with current and future portable electronic devices including mobile phones, iPods, Iphones, PDA’s music players, digital cameras, GPS systems, etc.
With this combined value and appeal, the company continues to receive prestigious awards and acknowledgements for its family of four Solio models, and has now sold more solar systems than any other company in the world.
Amazon.com Product Description: The Solio Magnesium Edition is an advanced hybrid charger engineered to meet the demands of the serious adventurer. The device combines efficient solar panels and a high-capacity battery to collect and store power. With expanded compatibility and a strong, elegant magnesium alloy shell, this is an extremely powerful and versatile hybrid charger.
Universal Charger Solio limits your need to purchase and carry around multiple chargers for all of your gadgets. It's your one-stop charging solution for all of your products, from cell phones, iPods, and MP3 players to digital cameras, game players, and GPS. Now compatible with the Universal iGo tip system for use with hundreds of different portable electronics. Includes Adapter Tip system cable and USB tip for iPod, digital cameras, and other compatible devices.
Hybrid Charger Solio is a hybrid because it can accept power from either a wall socket or the Sun, storing this energy within Solio's internal rechargeable battery. Solio then uses this energy to power your gadgets at the same rate as if they were plugged into the wall.
Stores Power Charge your devices anytime, day or night. Internal rechargeable battery stores power for up to one year. A full Solio Magnesium Edition will charge a typical mobile phone more than twice or give 20-plus hours of MP3 music. One hour of sunshine is converted into about 20 minutes talk time or 50 minutes of MP3 music.
How Solio Works Solio features a fan-blade design that allows it to achieve maximum solar area when in use. Just spread out the blades, expose them to direct sunlight either out of doors or affixed to a window, and get ready to take your power on the road.
One hour of sun will give you enough juice to play your iPod for about an hour or provide up to 25 minutes of additional talk time on most cell phones.*
Provides an emergency power source when away from power outlets.
Adapter tips allow you to power multiple gadgets with a single charger; tips for most products included in pack.
Works with multiple gadgets, including mobile phones, iPhone, Bluetooth headsets, smartphones/PDAs, MP3 players, portable gaming devices, digital cameras, GPS, and much more.
Reusable--use it again and again.
Compact lightweight design--convenient for travel or emergency use.
*Performance figures vary among device, intensity of sunlight, and ambient temperatures.
What's in the Box Solio S224-C41U Magnesium Edition Hybrid Charger, Charging Cable for iGo tip system, Female USB Cable (powers iPhone, iPod, MP3s), iGo Motorola Razor tip, iGo LG Chocolate tip, iGo Nokia tip, iGo Samsung tip, iGo Blackberry tip, Pencil, Solio Draw String Hemp Pouch, Universal Wall Adapter
It works ^ Charged this up first time with the wall socket. That was relatively quick. Used that charge to charge up a Motorola phone and had a bit of juice left to top up an iPod. The iPod cleaned out the unit (red light indicating no charge).
Today was a nice sunny day here in the Arizona high desert at 4600 feet, the sky was blue and there were no clouds. If you stood in the sun for a few minutes with a pair of black jeans on you could feel the heat. Using the Post that you should now find pictures of above (with notes on the parts), the unit was attached to a Tripod with a tilting head. Put it outside facing the sun at around 9:30 am. There were no obstructions between the unit and the sun.
Adjusted the angle and rotated the unit to face the sun about five or seven times as the earth rotated and the day passed (about once an hour seemed to be sufficient). Left it out there until twilight (just past 6:15 pm today). The charge now reads as full (five green flashes).
Seems like that is generally consistent with the informational material from the manufacturer.
Check out the post thing in the pictures. This is a bit more useful than the pencil and for about three dollars you can not go wrong. Sooner or later something like that is going to come out from a third party manufacturer for at least ten bucks (ok maybe 9.99).
Great idea, ok execution. ^ The solio magnesium charger is one of those products that I probably won't use until the power goes out and I need to charge my phone, but now that I have it I am kind of looking forward to a power outage. Included in the box are, a pencil to angle the solio towards the sun, assorted charger tips , an ac wall charger for filling it up without the sun, and a neat hemp bag to carry the solio and all of the charger tips. The only thing I am concerned about is if it would actually hold up to a camping trip as it doesn't seem to be very durable.
Pro's
Always good to have a backup for small devices, just in case. Decent amount of charging tips included, many more available for purchase. AC charger for charging w/o the sun.
Con's
Somewhat questionable durability, front solar panel is exposed. They really should include a cover. Takes almost a whole day to charge in 100% sunshine.
Easy to use, small to carry, almost perfect ^ Great product - flexible since the Solio can be charged through an outlet or via sunlight. Big complaint is that there isn't a cover for the bottom solar panel - you can't see this in the product pics. Solio should really design a clip-on cover (or something) to protect that panel, and then this product would be perfect.
Works and cool ^ I would have to say they only thing I thought that was a bit odd was the word "Magnesium" in the title. I mean I thought I was buying a tuff Magnesium device. This is not made of solid Magnesium but rather a thin Magnesium coat.
The unit works great and is pretty light.
I would recommend it. A top product and looking forward for more things like this to come out.
Casey Schultheis
I attached mine to a mini tripod so I could easily swivel it to point at the sun ^ I use the Solio to charge my iPhone 3G. I had to buy the special iGo charging tip, but it works fine.
I was a little disappointed that the Solio takes quite awhile to charge, however. In one afternoon on a typical day here in New England, I found it charged only about 20%.
Then I figured I might be able to get a better charge if I kept it aimed at the sun a little better. The only mechanism they give you to do this is a pencil! But I have a mini tripod I don't use very often, so I attached it to a railing and then jerry-rigged the Solio to the tripod using a heavy duty elastic. (See Customer Photos above.) Whenever I go in or out, I just swivel the Solio a little to point it at the sun.
I don't have enough data to say how much faster it charges (the system of "flashes" is not very accurate), but it's a fun and handy way to position the Solio. If I were to redesign the product, I would definitely add a tripod mount!
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
