Solio portable Solar Charger

[TallTravel]

OK, I have an issue and this product may be the answer. I am going on a very long tour in Asia, trekking in the Himalayas, the Trans Siberia Railway, etc, etc. Lots of places will have very odd power plugs, and I don't want to take 5 pounds of converters around the world. Many times I can imagine being on a long, multi day hike and simply not have enough battery power to support days of picture taking.

This product is made in the UK and distributed both there and in the USA.

Does anyone have any specific personal experience with this product? I am not really looking for theoretical discussions about whether it " ought " to be useful, only personal experience with it. My primary interest is in powering a small " pocketable " digital camera via the USB cable. It also is compatible with iPod, PDA's, cell phones, GPS, game players, etc.

Anyone use this product? Comments?

http://www.solio.com/v2/explore-soli...-is-solio.html

[flanzig1]

Looks like the ideal product for the world traveler. A bit pricey, but to eliminate adapters/power supplies/ extra batteries it would seem to be worth it.

[TallTravel]

Originally Posted by flanzig1 Looks like the ideal product for the world traveler. A bit pricey, but to eliminate adapters/power supplies/ extra batteries it would seem to be worth it.

Well, from a world traveler, it is easy to justify the price if you try to figure out how to power a digital camera on a 10 day trek with nothing but air, dirt, and rocks surrounding you for days. Combine that with being in the remote places across Greenland, Siberia, changing counties every week, each with their own power converters, etc.

A friend who just returned from Asia marveled at it, saying " if I had one of those I would not have had to keep buying power converters in each country I visited, then throwing them away when I left the area because I had no room in my backback ".

So the cost is actually very low compared to what the total cost would be to power the camera across the globe. It also works with my GPS, which is a very good thing too.

I'd love to hear from someone who has actually used it.

[TallTravel]

OK, I found a rather comprehensive reviiew:

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/perip...iew-033494.php