Solio Mono by Solio

Now I can't wait for the next hurricane to put it to the ultimate test-- so far it has kept a full solar charge for a week and completely charged my cell and most of another cell before needing to be recharged. The fact that it comes with an ac/dc wall adapter, as well as an assortment of usb adapters not only for phones, but DS, Kindle, laptop, etc. is a real plus. I wish I had had one of these years ago-- they would be great for camping and travelling. I keep 1 in the car, and 1 at home and now I'll never worry about my smart phone's dumb 5 minute battery life...

I'd have to say that I'm satisfied with this product.However, I do believe that if anyone is looking for a charger that will have its battery fully charged and ready to power your devices within a couple hours should look elsewhere. My main use for this thing is to have an extra charge for my cell phone, GPS, or MP3 player on hand if I want/need it. So, it works fine in that capacity since I just charge it from a wall before I take it out with me.As far as the ability to charge from the sun, it took about 6 hours to fully charge strapped to my pack over a day of hiking, and one charge is enough to fill my Droid2. So if you need something that you can use to get a phone or something limping along when you're desperate, I guess this would work, but maybe not as well as you'd like.The only real "problem" I have with this charger is the single hole at the top for securing it to things. Some way of keeping it from flipping over (keeping it from charging) while hanging off my pack would have been nice, but I took care of that with some super glue and a chunk of PVC pipe I had lying around.Overall, if you keep in mind that this thing is small enough to fit into the palm of your hand, and doesn't have the surface area of some other solar chargers, you should be happy with it.

This worked great when we first got it. Charged my phone up no problem. Great to have as a reserve.So, I decided to keep it on the dash of my vehicle so it could charge in the sun and I could grab it when I needed a charge or before leaving for the day, going out on the boat, etc.Didn't use it for about 2 months and then plugged in my phone and it charged for about 5 - 10 minutes. Took my phone from 5% to 12% and then it stopped working. Hasn't worked since. Highly disappointed.

I saw this at the Sprint store, I thought it would be really cool considering it would charge by the sun and also has a battery to charge and run your device. I couldn't find it on Sprint's website so I came to Amazon.Well it arrived today and when I opened it I was a bit shocked. I haven't used it yet, however I was really disappointed with the adaptors that came with the unit. The cable that you plug into the charger is about 22" long and then you plug the adaptor into the end of the cable and then to your phone. When I looked at the adaptor that plugs into the end of a cable it is basically half of a standard USB. They could have had the end of the cable a female USB, but they changed it to where it would be proprietary. Or at least thats the only reason I can see for them doing that. The unit will become completely useless if you loose the adaptor you need. Although there is a second chance with the adaptor which has a female USB when used with the USB cable that came with your phone or device. Most phones come with a USB cable now anyhow.I am seriously considering returning the unit. I gave it two stars because I thought the concept was cool. The adaptors were what seriously disappointed me. The manufacturer is making another unit with the USB plug in and I will consider that one over this one. Just wait for that model if you are considering buying this. Yes I have made up my mind, I am returning it and waiting for the newer one. I hope this helps.

Works as well as can be expected. Service was good. Everything works great. Would do business with them again.

WONDERFUL!!!!!

It is very versatile product, but seems like it is always on the charger. I would recommend it to anyone

I received my Solio Mono as a promotion from my local public radio station. My box came with everything listed here, but is bright red instead of black. (My carabiner is dark metallic blue, if you care.) The device is lightweight but I'm worried that the solar collector would get scratched up if I were to attach it to the outside of a backpack or something.The micro-USB tip attaches directly to my phone, and I use the USB female tip to charge my iPod Touch via its USB cable. You can use it to charge anything that has a USB charging cable, so that's really handy. My AC adapter came with interchangeable prongs for the USA, Australia/NZ, UK/Europe, and those round prongs possibly used in Asia, which is really neat. I have a trip to NZ planned, and I'll take the Solio instead of my devices' respective charging paraphernalia. While this means I can charge only one device at a time, I can charge one device overnight while the device is plugged in (and charging itself too), then charge the other device during the day while it and the Solio are stowed in my backpack!Note: you can't charge a laptop or any heavy power usage items with the Solio. It's designed for "personal electronics" like cellphones and MP3 players. It will work with digital cameras that can charge via USB, they say on their website.The thing that loses Solio points is solar charging. I've owned it for 4 days and it charges very slowly using just the sun. I've had it outdoors on my sunny porch for a couple of days and it's only gotten one "tick" of charge. Now, I live in the Northeast US, and that spot gets direct sunlight only in the afternoon. Both days have been partially cloudy, but this seems sad. At this point I'm ready to ask for some sort of protective cover for the solar cell and just use it as a charger/spare battery! Solio claims it takes 20 hours to get a full charge, but unless you're under ideal conditions it's going to take much longer. So can't recommend that anyone count on it for seriously charging a device using only the sun. If that's your need, you should go for  Solio Universal Hybrid Solar Charger , which is heavier but has 3 collectors instead of just 1.So I like it as a travel charger and emergency battery. I don't think you can expect to reduce your energy use and count on getting any significant charging from the sun, unless you live in a sunnier clime and can keep it in stronger sunlight more of the day. You might get enough charge for an emergency call, or to keep a device topped off, so it's better than not having a solar collector, I guess. But if you have multiple devices that you travel with, and you'd like to have some spare charge and not carry all those different charge plugs, then this might be useful for you.