Solio Magnesium Edition Universal Solar Hybrid Charger
March 16th, 2010 | 
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- Collect and store power from the Sun or from wall outlets for charging your electronic devices any time day and night
- Compatible with the Universal iGo tip system for use with hundreds of different portable electronics
- High-capacity internal battery stores energy for up to a year
- Durable and weather-resistant to meet the demands of the serious adventurer
- One hour of Sun can provide 20 minutes of talk time or 50 minutes of MP3 music
Product Description
Solio Magnesium hybrid charger is the world¿s most advanced hybrid charger. Engineered to meet the demands of the serious adventurer, Solio Mg edition combines efficient solar panels and a high capacity battery to colle… More >>
Solio Magnesium Edition Universal Solar Hybrid Charger
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I bought this for the sole purpose of charging my iphone in case where I am away from a computer or outlet. However, I used it once or twice and it was a total disappointment. I had previously charged the Solio internal battery using the outlet to a full charge. I plugged the iphone into the Solio, yet it cannot keep an active charge rate. Even if I plugged the Solio into an outlet and also plug my iphone into the Solio; my iphone still loses power. I tried turning my battery off and then plug the iphone into the Solio, the battery indicator stayed the same or there was a slight lost of power within a 15-20 minutes interval. Maybe I didn’t give it enough time to charge? The point being, there seem to be a “passive” charge going on but not enough where you can actually charge and use. In order to actually charge, you probably need to leave your cell phone off, and give it a good 4 hours or more.
Rating: 2 / 5
Charged this up first time with the wall socket. That was relatively quick. Used that charge to charge up a Motorola phone and had a bit of juice left to top up an iPod. The iPod cleaned out the unit (red light indicating no charge).
Today was a nice sunny day here in the Arizona high desert at 4600 feet, the sky was blue and there were no clouds. If you stood in the sun for a few minutes with a pair of black jeans on you could feel the heat. Using the Post that you should now find pictures of above (with notes on the parts), the unit was attached to a Tripod with a tilting head. Put it outside facing the sun at around 9:30 am. There were no obstructions between the unit and the sun.
Adjusted the angle and rotated the unit to face the sun about five or seven times as the earth rotated and the day passed (about once an hour seemed to be sufficient). Left it out there until twilight (just past 6:15 pm today). The charge now reads as full (five green flashes).
Seems like that is generally consistent with the informational material from the manufacturer.
Check out the post thing in the pictures. This is a bit more useful than the pencil and for about three dollars you can not go wrong. Sooner or later something like that is going to come out from a third party manufacturer for at least ten bucks (ok maybe 9.99).
Rating: 5 / 5
The solio magnesium charger is one of those products that I probably won’t use until the power goes out and I need to charge my phone, but now that I have it I am kind of looking forward to a power outage. Included in the box are, a pencil to angle the solio towards the sun, assorted charger tips , an ac wall charger for filling it up without the sun, and a neat hemp bag to carry the solio and all of the charger tips. The only thing I am concerned about is if it would actually hold up to a camping trip as it doesn’t seem to be very durable.
Pro’s
Always good to have a backup for small devices, just in case.
Decent amount of charging tips included, many more available for purchase.
AC charger for charging w/o the sun.
Con’s
Somewhat questionable durability, front solar panel is exposed. They really should include a cover.
Takes almost a whole day to charge in 100% sunshine.
Rating: 3 / 5
Great product – flexible since the Solio can be charged through an outlet or via sunlight. Big complaint is that there isn’t a cover for the bottom solar panel – you can’t see this in the product pics. Solio should really design a clip-on cover (or something) to protect that panel, and then this product would be perfect.
Rating: 4 / 5
I would have to say they only thing I thought that was a bit odd was the word “Magnesium” in the title. I mean I thought I was buying a tuff Magnesium device. This is not made of solid Magnesium but rather a thin Magnesium coat.
The unit works great and is pretty light.
I would recommend it. A top product and looking forward for more things like this to come out.
Casey Schultheis
Rating: 4 / 5