The Real Deal – Does it work?
I first charged the SOLIO with electrical current from a standard 120v wall outlet. When the SOLIO is charging the red light stays on, when the SOLIO is done charging the light goes green. The instruction manual mentions it takes approximately 6 hours via electrical current to fully charge the internal battery of the SOLIO. I just left it over night and unplugged the SOLIO in the morning.
The first electronic device I charged was my Samsung MP3 player. This was a pretty straight forward process as the Samsung MP3 player utilizes a mini USB connection. You pretty much just pick the correct tip, plugged it onto the charging cable and then plugged the tip into your electronic device. In this case it was my Samsung Mp3 player and like magic, my MP3 player was charging.
It is tough to say how long it exactly takes to charge a device, as it depends obviously on a number of factors (Temperature, how much charge is in your device to start with, how long it typically takes your device to charge etc). The instruction manual says anywhere from 6-10 hours. The Samsung MP3 player I was charging had absolutely no power in it to start and wouldn’t even turn on. I wasn’t going to stand around and watch the time go by, so I plugged the Solio onto my Samsung MP3 player and came back the next morning where I found it fully charged and ready to go.
Next I tried to charge the SOLIO via solar power. This was pretty straight forward as well. I fanned opened the SOLIO unit, found a pen/pencil and stuck it through the middle and left if in my car while I was at work for the day. Again charging time varies from 8-48 hours for full charge in the SOLIO by solar power.
When I’m driving, I would use the suction cup mount. The SOLIO stayed in the car window for a couple days until it was fully charged.
You can gauge how much power is in the SOLIO by pressing the button. If the green light flashes once, it is 25% full, twice = about 50% full, three flashes = 75% capacity and four flashes is 100% full.