Regen's ReNu solar panel system in the flesh

While great in concept, solar powered gadgets just never seem to be very practical at the end of the day. Regen's tweak on the formula might help a little, by stuffing a battery into the solar panel itself, meaning you don't have to keep your iPod plugged in for a painfully long trickle charge or juggle multiple elements to make it work (there's a USB plug on the side). ReNu also has batteries in its various docking accessories as well, all of which can be charged by the ReNu panel or by AC power. It's not going to turn the emerging market on its head, and at $199 for the ReNu unit by itself it's not cheap either, but it seems like a logical direction for sun-fueled devices -- and looks pretty cool doing it.

Regen's ReNu solar panel system in the flesh

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 12th 2009 3:49AM]

comments?????

[Duke Posted Nov 12th 2009 10:01AM]

Seems to me that the only tweak needed to make them more practical is the pricing - it's the price involved in solar power that makes in hard to jump in on.

[Duke Posted Nov 12th 2009 10:03AM]

Damn, I didn't meant that to be a reply to the first post. Oops!

[ndrwme Posted Nov 12th 2009 5:45PM]

Still only 8 comments more than 12 hours later.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 12th 2009 5:55AM]

"solar powered gadgets just never seem to be very practical at the end of the day". That's right: it's much more practical at mid-day.

[ndrwme Posted Nov 12th 2009 5:47PM]

Since when were high ranks able to hop up towards the top?

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 12th 2009 3:57AM]

does not exist.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 12th 2009 4:35AM]

Ironic.... 'regen' means 'rain' in Dutch :D

[cashclientel Posted Nov 12th 2009 4:50AM]

scrap the regen logo on that and get 5% extra power

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 12th 2009 7:29AM]

Ironic ... in German too :):)

[Spencer Posted Nov 12th 2009 8:20PM]

I use one of those powermonkey explorer thingies pretty regularly. Solar really works, even in the UK in winter believe it or not!

Could do with a bigger panel and this thing would probably have been on my window sill 6 months ago if it was out then. Much bigger panels than the powermonkey but not as portable... hmmm

I still want solar on every windowsill in my home, and when I buy, on my roof.