- Average user rating: 2.5 stars out of 10 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
-
3 out of 4 people found this review helpful
1.0 stars
"Really, really not ready for prime time"
Pros: I got my money back. It worked (sort of) with my iPod.
Cons: Fried my phone, would not charge in the sun
Summary: This product is a great idea, but it's not ready for primetime on a technology level. In hindsight, I should have been forewarned by the name 'universal charger'. Not only is it trying to be a solar power generator and high-tech battery, but it's also trying to interface with dozens of different phones and electronic devices, made by different manufacturers, most with different plugs and non-standard input voltages. Universal? No wonder it fried my phone. In hindsight, had it not fried my phone, I would have been surprised.
On a positive note, I (eventually) got it to work with my iPod, probably because the iPod uses a standard USB interface that is well known to engineers and uses a standard voltage. Unfortunately, it took a lot of tinkering and jiggling of the poorly designed cables and plugs that come with the unit. In trying to be all things to all devices, Solio came up with a smorgasbord of cheap adapter plugs and cables, none of which snap together well, and must be laid out and jiggled just right to make connections properly. I was able to charge the iPod only after much tinkering. But, read on...
After three days of putting the Solio out on the deck and running out every hour or two to re-orient it toward sun, the result: nada. zilch. no charge at all. I had to plug it into the wall to charge it up (which worked fine). I tested it in December so the sun is at its lowest point on the horizon (assuming that matters), but I'm also in NC, not exactly in the nether Arctic regions. Maybe this thing works near the equator, but it sure didn't here in the sunny South.
Finally, the documentation is terrible. The weird collection of cables, plugs, and adapters (necessary to try to be a 'universal' charger) was NOT self-explanatory. Even using the USB adapter took some fiddling around, and (Solio engineers take note) the adapters and plugs DO NOT FIT TOGETHER PROPERLY. You have to push and cajole and jiggle until they finally make contact and complete the circuit. Thus, you may actually have things hooked up right, but the charger doesn't work because there's a short circuit somewhere.
I eventually got my money back, but it took days to get an RMA, then weeks to finally get the charge off my credit card.
At least the people I talked to on the phone were nice.
