Here’s my story, review and over-all appreciation of their existence!

You see,

I’m self-employed and can’t afford to stop working even during vacations.  When my eleven year old approached me with his grand idea of a father son adventure, so he could impress me with his newly learned cub scout skills… I thought it might be a once in a lifetime chance for us to have our first important bonding of sorts.

I just couldn’t say no to him and decided to dust off the old tent and have a go at a real-live, weeklong camping fest! The only problem is that like it or not, I have to drag along my lap top, my cell phone, digital camera and of course my i-pod..to mention a few electronic devices I’m addicted to! But how was I going to stay plugged-in to the World if I was to be thrown into the wild?

I knew the first challenge would be to find a spot at or near the campground with wi-fi capabilities. That’s actually not too difficult these days. A bigger problem, however, was keeping all of my gadgets charged throughout the week without being able to plug them into the car-charger. So I did a little homework and discovered that there are solar battery chargers out there for all kinds of gadgets and devices, some of which I didn’t even know existed!

Did you know…


…A tiny fraction of the energy emitted by the sun is enough to power your needs many times over.

That’s right. Only a small amount of power is needed to power your favorite electronic devices from cell phones to iPods to GPS systems.

When chosing a Solar Battery Charger, I was looking for the following features:

I was looking for one that provides an emergency power source when away from power outlets.

One that would work with multiple gadgets, including mobile phones, Bluetooth headsets, smartphones/PDAs, MP3 players, portable gaming devices, digital cameras, GPS and more.

It had to be convenient compact and lightweight. It’s design had to be perfect for travel or emergency use.

Being made from reusable and recyclable materials would be a plus. Greens the thing!

So I took my requirments and I did a good bit of research on the subject at hand. What I came up with was an unbelievable amount of info. Almost an overwhelmong amount!

I was on a quest to get my answers and find the best product for my wants and needs.

What I found was the Solio Portable Solar Charger…


Here’s how it works:

Solio uses photovoltaic cells (PVs). PVs convert sunlight into electricity that can be used immediately. The process is clean, fast, noiseless, and—thanks to Solio—easily portable.

Learn more on how it works here:

You may be wondering how efficienct these are.

First thing I found was that it takes Solio’s internal battery around 8-10 hours of direct sunlight to fully charge but using the included wall adapter, solio will fully charged it in approximately 4 hours.
Something to note: A fully charged Solio will completely charge an average cell phone at least twice.

Something else that’s COOL to note: Solio can store energy for up to one year!

We tried charging a cell phone directly from the sun, 60 minutes later it provided approximately 25 minutes of talk time and ten hours of standby time.

My iPod, charged directly from the sun was charged in one hour with enough sunlight to provide about one hour of play time.

For my purposes, I was excited to find a nifty little product on the Internet called the Solio. For hand-held electronics, it’s the mother of all solar battery chargers. It can provide a charge for everything in my briefcase: my cell phone, iPod, PDA –- even the GPS unit that’s going to keep us from getting lost as we explore Rocky mountains on our camping trip.

Solar battery chargers aren’t just limited to small electronics

Recharging batteries of all shapes and sizes, like AA, AAA, C, D, 9V, and even the tiny ones for hearing aids is a snap!

There’s even a charger available for the lithium-ion batteries that are widely used in digital cameras. This will be great because we plan on taking about a million pictures while we’re out there and didn’twant to lug around extra batteries.

Of course they even make solar battery chargers for cars and RVs, as well as weatherproof, collapsible marine panels for boats, which I’m sure will come in handy for lots of folks out there.

I’ll look into these and report back on what I discover in a later issue on The Home and Garden Guide Online.

I plan to invest in solar power option every chance I get from now on. Battery chargers for all of my hand-helds and for the car as well are on my “to-do” list and now I have a GREAT source for the best ones I could find for the money.

In Summary,

purchasing my Solar Battery Chargers was the answer I was looking for. Doing so truly helped make my vacation worry-free, since I knew I’d be able to stay connected and keep pace with the demands of my business no matter how far off the beaten path we traveled!

We absolutely fell in love with the portable yet powerful Solio Solar Charger. Why wouldn’t we use the always available renewable resource of the sun to power our electronic devices?

Plus, it’s said that Solio Solar Chargers are the most convenient and eco-conscious charger on the market. And remember, they also use the free and clean power of the sun, making them a friend to the environment as well as a friend to all of us at www.homeandgardenguideonline.com

Thank you for reading and please let us know if this was helpful info.

The Editor