Revolve Electronics xeMini USB Charger and Battery Backup for iPod, iPhone, and Other Mobile Devices

This "solar charger" really is little more than a battery that you need to plug into the wall to charge with a solar panel on the front of itself. It touts itself as being more environmentally friendly because of its construction and its solar charging capabilities.I can't speak to its construction or its materials, but I can say that its solar charging function is a joke. The batter arrived dead and so I figured it would be a good test to see how long it took to charge it via the sun. 10 hours later (of fun in the sun), the battery was still dead. Charged it overnight on a wall outlet and used it to power my iPhone while on a four hour ruck march of doom (the panel was exposed to the sun during the march). The battery dropped to about 30% in this time (only the first light on the battery check lit up), which is actually pretty good given that I was using my iPhone to listen to an audio book (The Drunkards Walk...alternatively titled "Stuff happens and there isn't much you can do about it") and running Motion GPX app to track my route and pace. Left it in the sun for the entirety of the next day (south facing window in my home) and found that it charged one more light (assuming each light represents 33% this put it somewhere between 33 and 66%). Charged it up at an AC outlet and concluded that my enviromental footprint wasn't shrinking all that much.A word about heat. I don't see this in the product description, but the manual contains a warning not to operate this in extreme heat. Extreme heat being anything over 100F. That's a hot car on a sunny day around here, or a summer hike along a beach.

I find the Revolve xeMini to be very handy. I have a non-Apple phone and an iPod, and now I don't have to take two separate chargers around with me when I travel. The fact that it doubles as an emergency backup battery makes this infinitely more convenient than just bringing a charger along... Just keeping this thing charged and with me means my devices won't ever die at inconvenient times. The solar charging feature is a little added peace of mind for situations when plugging in isn't an option, or I just want to be a little "greener." I've seen some of the other reviews bashing the solar side of this, but I think they may have missed the point--solar charging is not the primary function, it is simply an added perk to be used along with wall charging as a little green boost. Considering the amount of energy it takes to charge a smartphone these days, you can't really expect a little solar panel to be the only source of power here.The construction seems very solid to me... The review that said it warped in the car at 85 degrees probably didn't take into account the fact that the interior of a car heats up to a much higher temperature than the outside, meaning the temperature in the car was likely well above 100 degrees (the instruction manual specifies to avoid temperatures above 104).I love the look of the unit, and appreciate that the packaging is made from recycled/recyclable materials (plus the company donates a portion of its profits to green causes every year). It's nice to see a company that actually seems to care about being as environmentally responsible as possible.

I recently purchased this solar charger and was not sure if I made the right choice with all the different solar charging units on the market now-a-days (yes some are cheaper).Wow! This little gem was a lifesaver!I'm staying with some friends here in Oregon and they live in a wooded area on a mountainside. I went for a hike alone to the top last week and was using a "GPS tracking" on my smartphone to guide me back (there was no trail). As I started hiking I was in dense fog because of an inversion cloud layer. Many miles later, as I got to the top the sun was shining and the cloud layer was beneath me. It was getting late in the day and I knew I had no time to get lost or I would be hiking in strange woods in the dark!Yikes! To my horror I looked down to see my smartphone battery was just about dead (we've all seen that before). Without my phone to guide me I would never find their house in the fog. As a double whammy, I pulled out my Revolve XeMini and to my chagrin it had barely a charge from the last time I used it! =o(I was starting to panic!I took a gamble and placed it in the bright sun for an hour or so, connected to my phone. Needless to say I moved pretty quick through the woods holding my phone and the XeMini still attached!Walla! I had enough charge to make it back to where I started. =o)Thank you Revolve and the XeMini. You are worth every penny!

I bought this item to take to Bonnaroo with me this year. I was excited at the possibility of actually keeping my phone charged throughout the festival this year, especially with the Bonnaroo app on my phone. I don't like to sit with my car running just to charge my phone like most people do. Charged it up in the wall and drained it several times. Like I said, this item is GREAT as an external battery. I could charge my phone about 1 1/2 times from a full wall charge.The trouble started when I tried to rely solely on the solar function. I put the item on top of my car in the direct sunlight from the time I woke up (about 7am) until the time my group headed into the festival to see shows (about 5pm) and still only 1 of the 3 dots was lit up to indicate the amount of charge it had. And, after I put the item in my backpack and tried to use it later, it had no charge at all as the little it had didn't hold.I really liked the idea of reducing my carbon footprint, but I will be switching to some sort of external battery pack. Someone else in my group had one and had no problems with her phone all weekend.