Item Details
Price: $19.99
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Scosche SolBAT II Solar Powered Backup Battery and Charger
Price: $19.99
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Usually ships in 24 hours
Technical Details
- Use your existing USB cable to charge most devices, including iPod, iPhone, MP3, Blackberry and more.
- Internal 1500mAh Lithium-Ion battery stores power for whenever you need it and recharges from the sun or the included USB cable.
- Includes windshield mount cradle & universal carbineer mount.
- Output: 5VDC 500mA.
Product Details
Product Weight: 0.35 pounds
Shipping Weight: 0.35 pounds
Model: SolBAT2
Manufacturer: Scosche
Customer Reviews
Doesn't work for Motorola Droid,
by Kevin Reese, 2010-07-29
This seems like a really cool idea and I was really excited to try it, but it doesn't work for the Motorola Droids(I have the original motorola droid and I tried it on a coworkers Motorola Droid X). I tried it on a coworkers HTC droid and it worked fine. Make one for the Motorola droids please!
Excellent Battery for Price,
by Matthew J. Woerly, 2010-07-20
I was looking for something that would give my iPod some backup power and hopefully something that could charge with solar power. I looked at a few things, but they tended to be more expensive and/or didn't seem like they would work. I ended up deciding on this one, and I'm very glad that I did.
Usability: It's very simple, coming with a USB cord to charge it (the likes of which I've never seen, so you'll not want to lose it unless you want to buy another), and accepting any standard USB cord to power your devices. It lets you know when power is coming in and when it is going out. And that's it. Even though the product image doesn't show it and other buyers didn't have it, the item I got from Amazon DOES have an indicator for how much battery power is left (look at the item on the Scosche site). You press a button and up to four little lights indicate how much charge is left. It's not accurate while something is plugged in (shows less than there actually is), but otherwise it is.
Usefulness: It can charge from ambient light rather than direct sunlight. I can leave it in a window even on an overcast day and just the ambient light from outside is enough to charge it. It doesn't charge very quickly in those conditions, but it does charge. They advertise 4 to 5 days of solar for a full charge. I think if kept in direct sun, it might be able to charge a day or 2 faster than that. But considering that a full charge is twice the iPod touch 3G's capacity, that's still pretty good. The USB option is also nice for when I need a fast charge.
Build: It's pretty small and light, easily carried in a pocket. The suction cup mount is very handy for attaching it to a window for charging. It's also pretty durable. I've dropped mine a few times and it's barely scratched and still works great.
I took it on a road trip this summer, and it performed very well. I started the day with four lights of charge. I hooked it up to my iPod touch 3G and tried to keep it in direct sunlight all day. Even with some clouds in the morning, it ran the iPod playing music all day (probably 10 hours) and was still at four lights of charge. I even kept waking the iPod up to skip songs and did some things with WiFi at lunch.
I also ran the iPod while playing some intensive games on it, like Rock Band or driving games. It drained the battery a lot faster, of course, but I still had enough for music all day, maybe a couple hours of games. The SolBat was dead but the iPod still had full charge.
The only drawback besides solar charging being slowing than I'd like is the battery capacity. It has a lot, but not as much as some other chargers.
I think the iPod touch 3G battery is 750mAh [...], while this device has a 1500mAh battery. That means that it should be able to charge the iPod about twice, maybe less accounting for the energy lost charging the battery and running the iPod during that time. I would say I probably got less than that out of it, but it still worked great.
Though other products are available for more money that have larger capacities or faster solar charge times, I think this product has great value. For a backup battery that has 1500mAh capacity that can charge from solar or USB, the price is great and it's a very useful little device to have for your USB powered devices.
Does exactly what I wanted,
by Nic Takemoto, 2010-07-11
Backstory: I wanted something that was cheap and could extend my iPhone's battery life when I go camping during long weekends. This one won out due to the nifty cradle it came with for my car which is fantastic.
Charging: It took about 5 days in cloudy weather to charge this bugger's battery to full. This is fine, I do not camp every weekend but do not expect to be charging anything for at least five days if you want to just use solar power. If you use the wall charger it is meer hours and you have a battery full of delicious energy. The LED charge indicators are very nice as is the LED indicators for when it is soaking up sunlight and when it is dealing out some energy.
Battery: It charged my iPhone 3gs from 0% to about 35% which is good enough for me and charged at a similar rate to plugging my phone into a wall socket or computer
Durability: I take this camping with me and so far it has held up nicely. I have not dropped it but the build is good enough that if you did I cannot imagine it breaking immediately. It does scratch easily.
Conclusion: If you want a robust full featured solar solution for your gadgetry this is not for you. You will have to spend much much more. This product is for occasional use to give you an extra boost in battery life for whatever you can connect into the USB plug.
JUNK,
by Gregory A. Fournier, 2010-07-11
Item does not come close to doing what it says it will do. Went camping with it and was sitting in the direct sun and had phone plugged into it. After 5 minutes it stops charging.
Does not charge my Motorola Karma,
by M. Smith, 2010-06-30
I had the same problem as a previous reviewer: this solar battery charger will not charge my Motorola Karma. I didn't test it with any other devices because I bought it primarily to charge my Karma so I could use my Trimble Outdoors app on a week-long backpacking trip. Hopefully I'll be able to find another device that can charge my phone so we don't get lost in the woods! Other than that, the device appears to have solid construction and would probably do a fine job of charging things that aren't my cell phone based on other reviews.