Devotec's portable Solar Charger is minuscule, pretty cheap

We know, it's tiresome scouring the streets for an AC outlet when you've got oodles of sunshine surrounding you. That's where Devotec Industries' Solar Charger comes in. The smallest (and freshest) addition to the company's line weighs in at under 80-grams and measures just 95- x 43- x 10-millimeters, and packed within you'll find an 1800mAh battery. Of note, users can also juice up the device via USB or AC for when cloudy days swoop in, and it comes bundled with a slew of tips to handle the most popular handsets out there. Yeah, it does take a full day of sun (12-hours, to be precise) to get this thing fully charged (or 4-hours by AC / USB), but then again, it'll only set you back £19.99 ($40).

[gabe @ May 1st 2008 10:58AM]

now i can get that budge in my pants i always wanted!

[Anthony @ May 1st 2008 11:23AM]

& you can say to all the gals you meet, "I've got the power of the sun in my shorts..."

[Dan Davis @ May 1st 2008 12:20PM]

Points deducted for spelling error, otherwise very funny post.

[OneLove @ May 1st 2008 10:58AM]

If you are under the saint lucia sun (in the caribbean) it takes 15 minutes!

[poulan @ May 1st 2008 11:09AM]

yeah, but also it will take a full week of work to be able to afford it.

[Dan Davis @ May 1st 2008 12:24PM]

ZING!

[OneLove @ May 1st 2008 3:17PM]

@poulan: your ignorance is showing. wanker.

[darkstar @ May 1st 2008 11:05AM]

are solar cells really expensive to make?
they should make one for the car trunk/roof!!! easily juice up all your electronics right there while you're parked in the office!

[Jandalf @ May 1st 2008 11:12AM]

Or they could use them to charge the car itself, once we finally start seeing electric cars on the roads...

[Paul @ May 1st 2008 11:13AM]

What a terrible idea!
They already sell car chargers for use when you're driving.
Keeping your gadgets with their batteries in a car on a sunny day so you can charge it destroys battery life.

[nikola @ May 1st 2008 11:26AM]

Actually not a terrible idea. Like someone said, when electric cars start getting rolled out your gonna see solar roofs/hoods become very popular.

And have you ever heard of a glove compartment? who leaves their electronics on their car seat anyway?

[Lars @ May 1st 2008 1:13PM]

@Paul

My car battery seems fine despite the fact that it's in an even hotter place than the cab.

[Michael @ May 1st 2008 11:10AM]

I have had one of these (or at least something that looks criminally similar purchased from ebay) for a few months, and it worked fairly well with my Razr, but didn't charge my iPod at all (though it said it would) nor will it charge my iPhone. Cheap though.

[darkstar @ May 1st 2008 11:47AM]

did you get this?
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=206229850
its 30 bux after rebate now from buy.com
i might get one!

[Darwin @ May 1st 2008 11:21PM]

I got one of these things in China a few months back. I hope they improved on the design, because the on/off switch only shuts off the solar charging ability and if you leave anything plugged in, it will continue to dump power until it's drained, at which point you have to plug it into the wall if you want the solar charge function to work again.

[dj spinz @ May 1st 2008 11:27AM]

no iphone...damn

[ingus @ May 1st 2008 11:45AM]

good for GPS's on camping/hiking trips. aside from that, not really practical, and just another battery waiting to explode in your pants...:S

[Tim Brown @ May 1st 2008 11:52AM]

Ok, this is a device made in the UK. We currently are enjoying weather in which the sun features for about 0.00000000000000000006 trillionths of a nano second every 100 years! If we are lucky! So why the solar panel? It may as well just be a battery since it will never charge off the sun!

[BigD145 @ May 1st 2008 2:30PM]

Having cloud cover does not mean you get no sunlight. If there was no sunlight, it would be night 24/7.

[james @ May 1st 2008 11:57AM]

I wonder if they plan on selling this device in seattle. would be ok in the summer, but we dont see the sun for a good 5 months through the winter/spring.

[Dan Davis @ May 1st 2008 12:27PM]

Yup... I'm up in Everett, and was looking into solar panels for the house. The contractors I've talked to said it will take about 20 years to get any return on the investment.

Sad.

[tekdroid @ May 1st 2008 12:03PM]

Most city people would be better served with a pre-charged spare battery.

A stroke of sanity that most manufacturers are allowing you to actually replace said batteries easily in their phones.

In fact, it's a travesty that most audio players selling now seem to think spare batteries are some sort of ancient ritual.

I'm all for solar where it makes sense: charging up where there are no alternatives to be found for some time (like on a trip in the remote tundra), but what can beat the small size and convenience of popping a spare in?

[601210 @ May 1st 2008 12:05PM]

I can see it being useful in situations when you need a quick charge for one phone call, or something.

[BlowURmindBowel @ May 1st 2008 12:16PM]

Gonna buy one too keep my phone charged during my summer music festival schedule...

I may not get this one tho, I have seen better ones (larger photovoltaic, higher capacity batter, of course for more $$$, but I still need to determine how much muscle I need and what I am willing to pay. I have an AT&T Tilt after all its no lightweight on the juice so this little one probably won't cut it.

[Zeek @ May 1st 2008 12:28PM]

At first I thought the operation LED at the bottom was a small flashlight.
Almost put my order in right there.

[Icelander @ May 2nd 2008 9:31AM]

The one improvement that would be great for almost every gadget would be a high-powered white LED for use as a flashlight. And yet no cell phone or MP3 player has one, and I can't understand why.

[m-p{3} @ May 1st 2008 1:06PM]

They should create a cellphone battery with a solar charger stuck to it. This way you would get a cellphone that can be charged from anywhere without plugging anything to it.

[bloopy @ May 1st 2008 1:50PM]

The FAQ on their website has more details about what will and won't charge. Make sure to read it before buying because there are some common devices that won't work with it.

"unfortunately our products do not work with the second generation iPod Nano, Touch or the iPhone"

[Alex @ May 1st 2008 1:51PM]

Hi There,
I work for Devotec, so a few quick points:
- Yes there are devices pretty similar to ours on ebay, BUT: they are all 1350mAh, not 1800mAh, they come with half the connectors that we supply, there is no pouch, and thats not going into return policies...

-The idea of the Charger is that you can EITHER use the Solar cell when you have access to sunlight, OR use the supplied USB cable/AC adapter when your not in a sunny area. So it works as a hi-capacity second battery, with the benefits of Solar when you can use that.

-For Ipod/Iphone compatibility, we do have a full posting on our FAQ section.

-Lastly, we would love Engadget to do a review of our Solar Charger (hint hint :-) )

Hope that helps!

[bloopy @ May 2nd 2008 5:10PM]

I did some looking around for devices like this one that can charge an iPhone. Check out Solio.com. They have 2 models (but they are pricier than this one at 79.95 and 199) that support the iPhone and ALL iPod models. The are pricier but they do look nicer and sturdier than this devotec one. Also there are some good reviews on this and other similar devices on Treehugger.com. I think I might get one after a little more research.

Although I wish Devotech did support the iPhone because it is a bit cheaper than others i've seen and appears to be of good quality.

[Blaktornado @ May 1st 2008 1:59PM]

Hmm nice. Might get one :D

[Greg Baz @ May 1st 2008 3:20PM]

I posted some pictures of the unit sitting on my desk at work. I have had this for about 4 months.
http://s278.photobucket.com/albums/kk99/gbasralian/Fun%20Gadgets/

[Alex @ May 1st 2008 4:16PM]

Those pics are almost the same, but they are of the different adapter set and plug than the Devotec one- i.e. missing Ipod tip etc, and the pouch.

[BlowURmindBowel @ May 1st 2008 4:45PM]

Speaking of which, hey Engadget: You wana save me a week of research and do a roundup of solar portable device chargers? I'd be your best friend!

[bloopy @ May 1st 2008 1:26PM]

I second that. There are a bunch of these types of devices out there but almost all of them have very mixed reviews. I want to grab one for emergencies and camping but havn't seen any reviews telling me if they work well enough to bother. Also will this badboy work on an iPhone? Their website doesn't specify iPod types that work.

[Michael @ May 1st 2008 1:59PM]

Agreed. A round-up would be great. A quick mention of iphone comapatibility would be indispensable.

[Matthew C @ May 1st 2008 9:31PM]

Stick it on the dash all day, then put it in your pack and you're good to go.

No if only it were under $20

[adam dworak @ May 1st 2008 11:03PM]

Less than $20 shipped?

Try $17 shipped. Booya: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.11682~r.94248500

[Alex @ May 2nd 2008 10:27AM]

@Adam:

Again, thats just not the same product. Its like buying the cheapo Chinese versions of the Iphone. Its cheaper than ours, but there a pretty good reason for it. Also, Dealextreme, as awsome as they are, take about 2weeks to ship on average.
:-)

[I like it. @ May 4th 2008 7:31AM]

This is obviously a niche product and it has great potential for its niche. For example, on vacation by the pool? Or the beach? Or out sailing? Or at a picnic?

There are products that don't have replaceable batteries... Too bad this doesn't connect to my iPod yet...

[shamasis @ May 5th 2008 4:02PM]

I have bought it's elder brother (2500 mAh) for less than $20! Nevertheless, the piece is utter useless. The solar part charges the internal battery which in turn charges the phone.But the catch is... even if you have bright sunlight, you cannot use it until its own battery is charged!
Catch 2: When charging larger and more powerful Nokia phones like the N-Series one (my own Nokia 7710) only manages to show a prompt "NOT CHARGING"!!! Sony Ericcson phones seemed to be easily recharged.

[SUM @ May 11th 2008 5:46AM]

Hi sir
pls chech in kskingstar.en.alibaba.com for more products info.
to be honest, premium quality,high in price.
usually the performance of solar charger depends on three primary components( solar panel,battery,PCB board).
the resaon why your solar charger can't charge your Nokia 7710 cellphone maybe PCB board in the solar charger don't have suitable voytage output.

[SUM @ May 11th 2008 5:45AM]

well. we are manufacturer of the specificed items..of cousre their are more models for your choice..
For the showed solar chargers,if you buy 100pcs from us.the average cost to you maybe 13USD...(FOB shenzhen china 8.2usd with rohs,ce)

[Steve Clarkson @ Jun 17th 2008 7:02AM]

Hi,

I bought one of these from Devotec Industries a few months back and contacted them about it not holding its charge even when it had been plugged into the mains for over 4 hours. The person at the other end of a few e-mails said that they knew of a few issues with the first batch and that I could return it to them and they would send me out a replacement when new stock arrived. Well to cut a long story short it has been over a month now and still no news. I sent them an e-mail yesterday asking them for an update which came back "Delivery Failure Report" There is no telephone number on their website and I posted the device to a different address from that on their website when I contacted [e-mail]. So I guess I am going to be £23 out of pocket.

[judysolar @ Jul 5th 2008 1:06AM]

Well, my partner had produced mono-crystalline silicon solar panel for this solar charger. And one factory in ShenZhen, China, is just producing this type of solar charger. I had one sample, but the charging effect was not ideal: the mobile can run out quickly after being recharged through it; meanwhile, it takes much longer time to recharge the battery inside under sunshine. It can only works for emergency situation. Furthermore, the price ex-works is far lower than expected! ----judysolar.spaces.live.cn

[sallychoy @ Jul 24th 2008 11:30PM]

Dear Sir/Madame,

How do you do?Hope you are doing well today.

Pls allow us take a minute to introude ourselves here,our company called Xinji Industrial Co.,Ltd.which was founded in 2003 in Shenzhen,China.
We are the manufacturer and the exporter of the solar chargers for mobile phone and MP3,and for other digital products.Also, we export the Air purifier with top quality.

We do hope we can have the chance to co-operate with each other,and looking forward to your earlier reply.

Many thanks.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yours Sincerely,
Sallychoy

Shenzhen Xinji(New Space) Industrial Co.,Ltd.
Tel:[phone]
Fax:[phone]
Mobile:[phone]
Website:http://www.xinji.com.hk