Universal Freeloader Portable Solar Charger Silver

Had my charger for just over a year now and have to say that I was very disappointed with the lack of juice this thing pumps out. Reading the product description make me laugh. There is no way it will power any of the stated gadgets for the amount of time quoted, unless you charge it via your computer.

Which leads me to my second gripe: why does this so called environmentally friendly device only work effectively when charged through the computer?!? This surely makes the whole product redundant. It's going to use more electricity to charge the Freeloader, then charge the deisred gadget, than charging the gadget directly through the mains!

I also found that the contacts didn't always connect properly, which means it took even longer to charge.

On a more positive note it comes with plenty of connections and is well designed to be stored away safely.

Maybe if they made the solar panels slightly bigger and somehow improved the internal battery then this would indeed be an excellent device.

Four stars for effort but one star deducted for performance.

bought this for my m8 who recently went traveling, bangkok and thailand for 4months, in his 1st week he said the freeloader saved his life, attaches to most phones, and its charging his ipod nicely, you can charge it from a computer so you keep it as a spare battery or use it there and then as a solar charger, so if you ever wanted to watch season 2 of eastenders on the beach up in bangkok this is the gadget to charge your fun fueled day!

Received this on Friday and so far I am impressed, its not been the best weather to charge it up on, but it has charged itself, I can even charge it (albeit slowly) under artificial lights.
You can also connect in to the pc and charge your electronics direct from that, so I have cleared my office drawer of about 3 chargers!!
It is also very light! It is about the same weight as a medium sized mobile phone and about the same size as a first gen iPod classic.
The only issue I have and the reason I gave this only 4 stars is that it doesn't have an iPod connector, so I still have to keep my iPod cable at work, but you can plug in your iPod cable in to the charger so it can still charge it.

So over all I am happy with this and having shopped around for a little while to get a good bargain I really do think that I found it (it is listed as being up to £35 on some other sites)!

Very upsetting charger. Does not work as described. Waste of your money.

I got this given to me as a gift at my own request.
Do alot of travelling with work, and often to hot and sunny places.
Was getting a bit annoyed with the amount of chargers I had to take with me so was looking for a solution to stop my bag getting heavier and heavier.
The fact that this can be plugged into a USB port on your PC and it'll charge from there is a real plus.
The selection of connectors is large, and my PSP, mobile and MP3 player all happily fit.
It does take quite a while to fully charge using the solar panels, but it can always be topped up with the USB connector.
Even if it gives an extra 15mins of power rather than using the mains, that has to be worth it.