So we've been playing with the Devotec Industries
Solar Sound Bluetooth speaker system for a couple days now, and we've got to say we're pretty impressed -- we just wish it could run directly (and indefinitely) off the solar panel, instead of requiring an internal battery that takes 12-24 hours to charge from the sun or four hours to charge off USB. That said, you will get eight hours of decent audio when the battery is full, and it's actually relatively loud -- you'll be more than fine indoors and in quieter spots, although cranking things up all the way results in some audible distortion. Of course, it's A2DP, so setup is a breeze with most Bluetooth devices, including 3.0 iPhones, and you can hook most everything else up with the included 3.5mm headphone cable. (Just keep in mind that Apple doesn't properly support AVRCP, so the forward and back control buttons don't work correctly over Bluetooth.) Not bad for $79 -- and you won't have to burn through endless AAs to take your tunes on those summer picnics and beach trips.
posted July 23rd 2009 11:27AM
Any possibility of elaborating on "some" audible distortion. I mean if I took this thing to the beach am I doomed? Also, I'd like to suggest the following: please allow me to hook up my cellphone (via mini usb) to the unit so that I can also slow charge my phone. Not only is the standard 8 hours (without solar) enough for typical use, that solar could be put to good use charging my phone.
Are there any recommendations for a similar product? I've seen plenty online (nothing with solar though) ranging from affordable to ridiculous.
Its like any portable speakers... at the very top volume they start to distort a little. Usually all you do is turn it down a notch and its fine.
These look sweeet for my backpacking next month. Just made my order now :-)
Reminds me of my parrot boombox, all be it lower watts, no subwoofer or tweeters, and solar powered, but streaming audio via bluetooth is a breeze and great alternative to using cables all the time, especially for constant laptop users.
albeit...
Jesus.
At least it doesn't have an "i" in the name.
xD (i) could not agree more!
kinda want.
The price is right, too.
What do you mean by not allowing forward and back controls? FF and RW?
I think it means that you can FF and RR on your iPhone, but the touch-screen buttons on the device itself can't tell the iPhone to FF and RR becuase Apple doesn't properly support the bluetooth profile.
Looks awesome though. and tiny. Want!
I bet the psp go does
Already ordered mine.
Cannot wait to use it on the beach or on my desk with my G1.
Its a shame that my eeePC doesn't have BT though.
wires are for losers
Summer holidays here we come!!! Anybody know the delivery time on this?
Where is a good site to order these in the US? Getting one now.
cool...
but use depletes the battery faster than the solar panel can replenish?
where the hell am I gonna get 12-24 hours of sun? Sweden?
I want to know how the quality is in the car too as a speakerphone. Is the Mic any good? Can people on the other end hear you or is there a lot of distortion? Etc....
I've always had somewhat spotty issues with my two stereo bluetooth headphones. Songs at the same bitrate sound fine or sound thin, never too clear. And of course when I run, it makes the problem worse. As it is, I'm not a big fan of Bluetooth for audio quality, but it's a little easier. Especially for those of us locked into the taking-the-world-by-storm movement that is 2.5mm audio jacks.
This speaker pod has nothing that your average cellphone doesn't already.
it has a solar panel.
Do you all really need more than 8 hours continuous use? When I go to the beach for the day I think... it would be nice to have a few hours music, not I must stay there all day and all night and have music playing every single minute.
Are you new to this whole gadget thing?
8 hours manufacturer claim = ~4 hours real use after a few months
Would you rather have slightly more battery life than you need, or slightly less?
jeez , I never thought I'd see someone complain about a product having TOO LONG of battery life.
Is the battery removable? Can I swap it out?
For marginal quality sound, Bluetooth is OK. Why suffer through awful sound and be stuck with wires.
Anyone know how well this device will charge using fluorescent lighting as a source? I want to use indoors in an office and recharging with natural light will be a pain in the ass.
It would be nice if it was waterproof or water resistant too, since you need to be in the sun to charge it.
looks like a great accessory for the psp go
You can only order from their website: http://www.DevotecIndustries.com
having recently been trying out a brand new ipodtouch and tried my A2DP headset, the poor/missing AVRCP in the ipod is quite disappointing. hopefully Apple will get their act together and fix it in firmware 3.1, though I find it strange that a company that size can be so backward in supporting what is a well understood and tried/tested protocol!
Just saying...but 1500mAH is tiny.
Looks nice out of the box, did they actually design the solar panel to look like that? It kind of ties in with the graphics...
The shape reminds me a little bit of a Dell XPS Desktop, why not try making one in the same size? Now THAT would be a beastly speaker...
Any full size bad boys on the cards, Devotec Corp?
Cool, I could use this on my balcony and it looks kind of splash proof with the solar panel covering the entire top. Might be ok in a bit of rain?
Most mobile phones go loud these days, but they lack one thing (and will always lack): Bass! Even if the bass isn't going to be pumping on this size of speaker, the low-end is vital to make music sound full, so these kind of speakers will always be much better sounding than a mobile phone! I have some similar ones, so I know. They are rated at a a few watts too, but still have enough power to sound nice.
Some more details on the sound quality / drive units would be helpful, although they are cheap so I guess not too much of a risky purchase.
Hmmm, any downsides before I hit buy? Has anyone bought these yet?
This device is just Ok.
Biggest problem I have with it so far is the audible low battery indicator. Someone at Devotec thought it'd be a great idea to use a music-interrupting beep to alert a low battery, rather than using a battery power indicator.
Seriously, the thing beeps every 30-60 seconds. And it's not a gentle background beep, it drops out the music and BOOOOP drops an audio crap in the middle of your song.
Whoever thought that'd be a good design decision is an idiot. The fact that no one realized it was a bad decision before they released this product tells me that they didn't thoroughly test it, since I don't see who wouldn't be completely irritated by this.
The product would be worth $100 if it weren't for this flaw. Unfortunately, it effectively cuts the battery life by an hour or two, since no one's going to leave the thing on while it is beeping over the last two hours of battery life.
You can buy these in the US at Amazon or http://www.pvpower.com. Pretty nice portable speaker solution. Just had some issues with a bad USB cord.