Powertraveller Powermonkey Explorer Solar Portable Charger, Grey

The power monkey itself is fine, worthy of four stars. It could be improved by pass-through capability (i.e., charge a device directly from the solar panel, rather than solar-charging the battery, then charging the device from the battery) but otherwise it's great. It's powered my phones and iPod through lots of travel.Unfortunately, the adapters are a little flimsy. The iPod adapter fell apart after about a year of constant use. I could repair it with a little glue and solder, so no big deal so far.When I finally joined the herd and bought an iPhone, I needed a new adapter (partial blame to Apple here for failing to maintain compatibility between iPod and iPhone adapters. How hard would it have been, guys?). So I ordered two (one for spare, knowing the adapter durability problems), waited the requisite few weeks for the shipment to the US, and then opened it to find they'd shipped the wrong adapters. The shipping label says iPhone adapters, the actual parts are iPod adapters. OK, mistakes happen, so no big deal. The return/exchange policy says I need to email them for exchange paperwork. Email sent, no reply.

All I can think of is because this product is manufactured by a UK company none of the adapters fit phones, cameras, etc. E-mailed the company and they never responded. I have done Google searches to no avail. Bottom line: It is a good idea, but if none of the adapters fit all you can use it for is a paperweight.

I've had this for what is approaching five years now, and I bought it because I wanted something to allow me to take my phone and MP3 charges off the household electricity supply.Admittedly I use my phone (Only a basic Nokia text-call phone - not a smart phone) with moderately (three to four calls a week, and two or three dozen texts per week), which means it only needs charging every couple of weeks or so, but my MP3 player (Creative Zen Vision M) gets a lot of use.You have to get into the rhythms of the seasons to get the most out of it, as obviously there's more daylight hours, and stronger sunlight in mid-summer than in winter, and as such, you'll get more charges in Summer.In midsummer, two days in the sun will charge it completely (A real corker of a day will even do this in one go), which is enough to charge both the MP3, and my phone fully. This will lengthen to about one whole charge every week and a-half in the deep midwinter, and even longer if there are no sunny days, so it should not be thought of as a definitive solution for regular year round charging, but a way to clip a portion of the charges off your yearly total... I'm charging from mains less than a third of the time I used to without it, and over the five years, has probably paid for itself in this way.As it sits on the window sill (Not it's intended use), the panels need wiping regularly to keep the dust off, and so maximise their exposure to the sun - keeping windows clean, and minding nets and curtains are also a consideration -It is capable of charging direct from the panels, but this can only work in full direct sunlight (uninterrupted, as a passing cloud will cause it to stop charging), so accumulating the charge in the battery is the practical solution.One very odd downside of this is that the rubberised casing of both panels and charger have been bleached white, hardened, and cracked (like they've petrified in the sunshine) which is a very strange choice of material to use on something designed expressly to be exposed to the sun.For what it is, I'd say it's a five star product of it's kind, and where you have a reasonable expectation of what it can do, in terms of charging, and removing those charges from your household electricity bill, but it loses a star for me by virtue of the barmy choice of material for the casing (accepted it's there to make it resilient and robust - which it is).Comes with the nice woven zip up case, and a range of adapters which I have been able to charge various phones of friends and family with, including a Samsung model, and a couple of iPhone models, as well as an ipod.But larger devices such as portable DVD players and tablets have struggled to get anything from it when I tried, and anything larger than than requires something more (Power Gorilla).But overall does, and has done what I require of it, constantly, and consistently.(I may one day have an army of these lined up like soldiers on the window sill - but only when they make them from a better casing material)

Bought this a while ago and waited to see what the performance was like before posting a review.Positive: The charger is good value for the power rating and the set of adapters means it will connect to most devices.Negative: The solar panel does not generate enough power to be of much use. I think I probably expected this but hoped it would at least top up thecharger. In full sun I estimate that the solar panel would take 5 hours to give the charger a 10% charge! The cable from the panel is way too short BUT I suspect if it were longer the power loss would mean the panel was no good at all. Also it is nearly impossible to have the panel connected and try to walk along, on a hike say... so the title PowerTraveller Explorer is way too optimistic.I tested this fully at Glastonbury Festival. As an example while watching a number of bands over 3 hours (when there was some sun!) I left the panel on the charger, flat in full and partial sun and did not move it! The charger showed it was charging even in partial sun and some power was delivered. So it did work in very easy conditions but even then the amount of power delivered was small.Conclusion: Forget the solar panel and consider buying for the charger and adapters alone

When I'd first had this charger it worked well albeit charging from the solar panels to a (average) smartphone was quite slow but OK if you needed a few bars. I like the multiple accessories to fit a range of devices but find them a bit redundant now as most of them are out of date.A big downside is that the rubberised coating on both the solar charger and battery pack have started degrading over time, which means they are both really sticky (it comes off on your fingers) and could get on your devices that you want to charge with it. If you Google it many people have had similar issues. I've written to the company about the fault.

Not worth the money or the extra weight in your backpack! It takes all day under clear sky with stron sun... to charge only 3 of the 5 (or 6) bars of its capacity. When it is fully charged (from mains as not yet been able to charge it fully from the solar pannel!) it will only charge 65% of a Blackberry Q5, so if you have an android or I-Phone i guess even less than that.I guess if you only want to use a phone in emergencies and keep it off the rest of the time then it might be of use, but then you would have to carry a camera and a GPS tool etc...I was not expecting bags of power to be stored but if left all day (8 hours) facing the sun I thought it could be fully charged and perhaps starting a second charge.The only positive is that it charges quickly your device: 65% of charge with switched off phone in less than 2 hours.

I ordered a Powermonkey for a recent trip to Nepal. It arrived quickly and was well packaged. The charger was fully charged which was great as we were about to set off and it was one less thing to do. The Powermonkey kept my Garmin power hungry watch fully charged throughout our trek as well as various mobile phones and cameras. Re-charging it was a bit slow when it was perched on my backpack while we trekked but when I could leave it in the Himalayan sun it re-charged in no time. All in our experience was very good.We were in Nepal during the first earthquake and trekking in the Manaslu region at the time. We were airlifted back to Kathmandu after 6 days. I donated my Powermonkey to the village of Brabal in Langtang National Park. The villagers had lost everything and communications were very difficult. There was no power in the village (which remains the case today) and to conserve their phone power they left phones switched off until needed which meant making contact was almost impossible.The Powermonkey has been very helpful to the villagers and continues to keep the variety of phones in Brabal charged and operative. Little did I know when I bought it how useful the variety of attachments would be. I have only good things to say about this product and am delighted that it continues to help the villagers of Brabal in a really practical way.