Solio Magnesium Edition Product Review
Solio Magnesium Edition Product Review
A product review of the Solio Magnesium Edition - solar iPod, and mobile phone charger
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In our article Solio Solar Charger we looked at the original Solio - now rebranded as Solio Classic. Solio Mg (Solio Magnesium) is an improved and restyled version of this solar-powered universal charger.
Differences between Solio Mg and Classic Solio
The first and most obvious difference between Solio Magnesium and the Solio Classic is the magnesium alloy shell which looks great and is also very robust, and lightweight. It has an elegant matt finish which means it still looks great even when covered with sticky fingerprints (from suncream etc), and hides the inevitable scrapes and scratches (on this not very scratchproof material).The inbuilt rechargeable lithium ion battery has been boosted from 3.6V 1,600mAh to 3.8V 1,800mAh a stored power increase of 15%. The battery will hold its charge for one year.
The specification for the solar panel output of Solio Mg is 0.85 Watts (150mA at 5.5V) which is a little less than the 0.93 Watt power output of Solio Classic.
Solio Mg is also 15% heavier than Solio Classic, but still weighs in at under 190g, and is also a tiny bit bigger.
As with Solio Classic, Solio Mg is supplied with a 6V 420mAh global travel adapter with US, UK, EU, Australia and NZ adapters. A hemp drawstring bag is provided for carrying the device and its accessories, and a Solio-branded pencil is included too (shown in action in the photo a few paragraphs above).
Charging Solio
Put simply, Solio is a solar panel with a built-in battery. You can charge the battery all day in the sunshine, and then use that stored energy to power an iPod later. Outside in direct sunlight, the internal battery can be fully recharged from flat on one day. However, if the device is left indoors on a window ledge, or in intermittently cloudly conditions, it can take a couple of days to charge up. For fast charging, the mains adapter provided will fill the battery in around 6 hours - perfect for overnight charging before going out for the day.
An LED indicator is fitted into the start button, and offers some very useful functions. First of all, it is used to indicate the level of charge of the batteries. Press the button once and a green LED will flash 1 to 5 times, 1 = 20% charged, 2 = 40% charged..., 5 = 100% charged. In addition, when the Solio Mg is under the sun, or plugged into the mains, the indicator LED goes from red (charging) to green (fully charged) so you know what is going on.
Powering Your Devices
Classic Solio is supplied in a package with either a selection of common mobile phone connectors, or iPod connectors included. Solio Mg is supplied just with a standard female USB cable for connection to iPods and other large MP3 players.For non-USB powered devices - e.g. mobile phones, hand held computers/PDAs, small media players, digital cameras, and game players, etc - a power tip is required. This plugs onto the end of the supplied iGo tip system charging cable, and is then plugged into the device to be charged.
If you want to use Solio Mg with multiple different devices, you would need to purchase multiple power tips for between £5 and £9 each. Pictured above is the A30 power tip for use with BlackBerry which retails at under £7.00.
Click here for more information and pricing for the comprehensive range of : iGo Power Tips.
To get Solio Magnesium to charge/power a device, you connect everything up as explained above and press the start button. The LED indicator will flash green to indicate the current level of charge and then go to a solid green while charging takes place. When Solio Mg has finished recharging the battery of an attached device - e.g. a mobile phone - it automatically switches off the LED to indicate that charging is complete (or that it has itself run out of power).
Solio Magnesium
Solio Magnesium Edition is a beautiful, well designed, and well built device. Costing around or just over £100 plus the cost of the iGo tips it is certainly not cheap, and being made in China from a magnesium alloy it has a fairly huge carbon footprint . However, Solio Mg should last many years (as long as its internal battery can be replaced after 3-5 years), will greatly reduce the number of disposable batteries thrown into landfill, and is a wonderfully simple to use solar powered charger which does the job expected of it very effectively.Buy Solio Magnesium Edition in the UK
Solio Mg is best priced in the UK at £99.95 at Ethical Superstore. Click here to purchase Solio Magnesium now.
If you would prefer to purchase Solio Classic (for £49.95) click here for purchase details: Solio Classic.
More Solio Information
The Solio range of chargers are produced by Better Energy Systems. Click here to visit the official Solio website.
Article Last Modified: 10:26, 31st Mar 2009Comment on this Article
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