Solar Charger Review

Full Disclosure and Disclaimer: I purchased this product with my own money and have not/will not receive any kind of monetary or other kind of kick back, for this review. I own no stock in this company and I do not know anyone that I am aware of that works for this company. My testing on this product is NOT scientific and my results are only from my use of it. The outcome of my usage may differ from yours.

Solio Rocsta-i

 

The other week I was at “The Shack” (Radio Shack) looking for a solar charger for my cell phone in case of a short term emergency. I happened to see the Solio Rocsta-i on sale for $20 (normally priced at $59.99) so I picked it up. The packaging claims that it “is your perfect companion when your lifestyle takes you to far off horizons....power your gadgets while being attached to a backpack, belt loop, or bicycle.” I thought perfect!! Just what I am looking for. As it turns out, while not exactly what I was hoping for, I am very happy with it for how and when I planned to use it.

When I got home, I took it out of the package, and saw where the instructions said that the charger needed direct sunlight and that it doesn't work as well if the charger is behind glass. In other words, it needed to be outside in order to best charge. Since where I live at, it is winter time, and it snows here, I placed it in a southern window that receives direct sunlight to charge. A week later, it still had only a 20% charge.

I then took it outside and placed it in the same window as what it was in when I had it inside, and four hours later, I had a 40% percent charge. There is a handy-dandy red light on the charger that will light up while it is charging, and the light went off after 3 hours. So it appears to me, that even a few degrees off from direct sunlight will cause the charger to stop charging.

I then brought it into the house and charged it using the USB on my computer. Charge time to charge the remaining 60% was two hours.

After fully charging it, I then tried to charge my cell phone. I then found out in order to charge anything off of the device, I needed a “iGo adapter. (Sold separately of course.) Back to the Shack I went and purchased what I needed for another $8. One size doesn't fit all, so if I wanted to charge something other than my cell, I would need to buy yet another adapter.

I came home, attached the adapter to the device and the cell phone, which is little energy usage cell phone and NOT a smart phone, and pushed the start button located on the back of the charger. The charger fully charged my phone and shut itself off when the phone was charged. There was still a little more charge left in the charger which easily would had been enough to charge my phone in order I could make an emergency phone call.

I then thought that I would try charging the device from a wall socket. Which also needed yet another adapter which I found out that was sold separately too. Back to Radio Shack I went and spent even more money. However, it was worth it because the charge time from the wall socket was only 1 ½ hours long till it was fully charged. Not bad at all.

Handy-Dandy clip to attach charger to your backpack, belt loop or another place for easy carry.

Pros for this product:

• Easy to use
• Portable and very light weight
• Free electricity
• Can use on 3, 200 different gadgets (just not all of them at once of course <lol>)
• Charges phone fast and you can use phone while it is charging

Cons for this product:

• I-Go tips (an absolute must to have) and wall socket adapter are sold separately.
• If cloudy, snowy, or hazy day and you do not have access to electricity in order to charge the device, you are outta luck

Summery:

I have been very satisfied with my use of this product. Since Solio claims that this device will stay charged for a year, one could easily have it charged and put it back for an emergency. I don't think though that it would work well for hiking in the woods for several days, or if you were trying to charge it while riding a bike, but over all it is a good product to have on hand, just-in-case. And in an emergency, it could save a person's life. Well worth the investment.

Thanks for reading and visiting my blog. :-)