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We had to build our own. Four. It began to grow dark, and the hard forest rain began to fall on us. the battery was dead. As I pressed the little button on the back, I could see the green flashes.
There is, understandably, no cellphone service out there, and the nearest people were in a campground 40 miles away. We were all out of food and fresh water, and my two friends, my two uncles, my grandpa, and I were all getting ready to leave. Stone dead. Just as I began to doubt it would work, another flash of green came out. It's so remote that there isn't even a road for miles.
For that Solio, it was a full charge. One. Using the 12v car plug adapter and some old bailing wire, we were able to fix a link to the cars battery. We couldn't even trigger the electric lock in the car doors.
It looked like one of us would have to walk to the campground to get help. All of a sudden the car's interior lights came on. My grandfather owns a remote cabin in the middle of a Californian National Forest. Two. Three. Then came the horrible pause. I remembered my Solio that I had charged the day before. My uncle turned the key, and after two times the car began to purr like a kitten.
We turned the key and. Solio saved us that day, and I was so impressed that I got Solios for all of my friends and Family for Christmas, and I will keep spreading the word to everyone I meet. As my uncle left, I got an idea. Everyone was hesitant at first, even me, but with no other options I recruited the help of one of my friends. I held it there for as long as I could. I hope that one day, everyone can plug into the sun.
Got a bit wet one night (since behind glass charging was very slow) I left it outside. 2 full days in the tropics and still not more than 75% charged. Useful only as a backup via internal lithium battery. Broke. Steer clear of this.
I reviewed this elsewhere and basically said it didn't work for either of our cell phones, even though we did have the correct tips. I tried charging a Nokia and an Audiovox Smartphone. Both went dead instead of being recharged. I so wanted it to work, but not no avail.
My charger arrived on time and in great condition. The attachment for the Nokia is a little loose on my phone but fits great on my wife's. You really must give it a full charge first or it will start to drain your device. It took over five hours to charge via my laptop and longer in direct sunlight though it was slightly overcast that day (I live in Kenya so the equatorial sunlight is strong).
The solio comes with many useless parts (such as a host of foreign adapters) and a silly suction cup for attaching the solio to a window even though the directions state that charging through a window isn't very effective.You have to charge with about 8 hours of direct sunlight---and they do mean direct. You need to move the solio as the sun moves.All that being said, it failed to charge my samsung phone and in fact, has ruined the phone. It will not charge conventionally now, either.
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