Powermonkey Explorer - Emergency Charger For All Your: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

Product Description

Make sure your Powermonkey-eXplorers got full power at all times by charging it with the handy Solarmonkey, which can be attached to a rucksack, hung from a window, left in a car or taken anywhere the sun shines (make sure the powermonkey-eXplorer unit is turned OFF when re-charging from the solar slave in order to reduce charging time). You can even use the Solarmonkey to recharge your device directly - so you have back up power at all times.

Ultra compact, tough and powerful, the Powermonkey-eXplorer is water resistant and made from rubberised casing so can take whatever life throws at it, yet it remains the lightest, most versatile charger available today.
Featuring an LCD screen that displays battery capacity and the level of charge, the Powermonkey-eXplorer also has short-circuit protection, over-charging protection and over-discharging protection. The included mains charger has interchangeable heads for UK, Europe, US and Australia - so you can use it in over 150 countries around the world!

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Customer Reviews

17 Reviews

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

3.9 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great product, if you can get one that works, 6 Nov 2007

By	I. Rawlings - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Well, it looks like eventually this will be a good product, when I get one that works. I got one that had been double-checked by powertraveller after getting two apparently non-functioning units.

I'd recommend one, they're very good, now that the quality control issues appear to be over. The solar recharging appears to be actually practical, in the west of England on a cloudy Autumn day, it appears to have recharged about 25% despite being behind glass (which makes a surprising difference) in a west-facing window rather than south-facing (so only gets direct sun for a few hours).

The leads that come with it are very good indeed and all use the same jack plug for input, so I've since gone back and ordered lots of extras because you can use the power monkey to recharge one device, on a sunny day you can plug the panel into another device (I charged my mobile directly from the solar panel), use the USB lead to recharge a third if you have a USB port handy, and even recharge a fourth using the mains charger. The extra leads are reasonably priced and there's a very extensive range.

I'll just quickly side-track off to talk about the leads a little more;

Once you have a few of the USB retractable leads you start realising that you can replace all your multitude of phone/PDA/ipod chargers with one USB hub, and just carry USB leads around with you because you can use ports at work, at friends houses, buy a hub in another country if travelling etc. My ipod PSU with a four-port hub can now charge my ipod, phone and PDA. I have one of the leads hanging off the back of a Nintendo Wii in standby mode which is now the downstairs recharger for an ipod, a Nokia N770, another spare mobile phone, a Nintendo Gameboy Advance, a Nintendo DS and even a 4 AA battery charger. That's six mains rechargers I no longer need to use, 8 if you include my PDA and main mobile.

I think the leads are worthy of being a product in their own right, they're easily the best I've come across so far and have the most extensive range of tips. You get a good selection with the powermonkey with many more tips available from powertraveller, it's worth thinking about the potential of the leads on their own, don't just think about using them with the powermonkey. If you travel a lot, using these leads with a car cigarette lighter to USB converter (readily available), a mains USB converter (ditto), a USB hub, or a computer, you can recharge just about anywhere you're likely to want to. One of the powermonkey USB leads and a selection of tips is all you'd need, although a few extra of the USB leads will allow simultaneous recharging of several devices from a hub. You can buy the leads separately from powertraveller, on their web page go to the powermonkey classic and select "monkey nuts" and order "extra" tips and at least one USB retractable lead.

Right, back to the powermonkey;

One gripe (other than quality control) is that the powermonkey won't charge a device while the powermonkey itself is being charged, as soon as it detects a charge coming into the charging port it shuts off the output current. This means you can't plug it into your phone/ipod/whatever and then connect it to the charger to charge them both overnight. This is a real shame and something they could easily do; charge the power monkey then once charged, pass all power through to the attached device. It doesn't do that however.

It comes with a useful velcro bag and a zippered semi-rigid box that are worth having, and the whole package seems well put together. Only the inability to recharge while attached to a charger, and of course my issues with getting a working unit, stop it from being a five-star buy. The excellent leads almost make up for the issues I've had.

I also have a freeloader. It's rubbish, total rubbish (see my review for it), so if you are thinking of spending the extra money (3x the price) then this unit is worth the extra provided you get one that works. The freeloader's leads aren't anywhere near as flexible as the powermonkey's leads so don't help to make up for the unit's weaknesses.

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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars (2.5 stars) battery is ok but solar panel is useless, 22 May 2008

By	qaz "00264167" (kent, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

the main battery is ok and comes with lots of adapters but the solar panel is so low powered its useless, kept on the back of my rucksack all day on a typical sun/ clouds may day (uk) it only charged the battery to charge my gps for 15 minutes. it wont fully charge the battery either ive only ever got it to 5 bars (out of 7) with the solar panel. there seems to be some propaganda and sponsored reviews out there for this product but in the uk you cant get enough energy from it to use it indefinately away from mains electricity, perhaps in other countries where there is full sun all day its a different matter but even then it only provides 200 milliamps at best. the battery also wont deliver a full charge to my pda unless it is fully charged up, at 5 bars on the display it will only charge my pda to 80 percent. some devices just turn off at a partial charge because the battery or panel isnt delivering enough power to charge them.
another drawback is that if you leave the battery and solar panel connected at night to catch the early morning sun it wont start charging unless you plug it in in the presence of sun, over night it switches itself off and doesnt come back on again when the sun comes up.

both units are rubberised but some connectors arent too good, the mini usb one keeps coming apart by unclipping itself. the cable in to each unit is fixed and not that strong (it should have been a jack and seperate cable)eventually i can see it getting a bad connection at the cable and the whole thing will then be useless.

it comes with a semi rigid carry case which hasnt been thought out because its massive, designed to hold all the different mains plugs and adaptors as a presentation type box which you'ld never need to carry so the case is pretty much useless unless you dont mind carrying something that size around with you.
if only a bit more thought had gone in to this product to make it properly durable (eg for expedition use, as it is you could never rely on it) and it had a much bigger foldable solar panel, then i wouldnt mind paying more. it is good to see that theyre sponsoring wildlife charity.

i have kept the item but is use it with a larger sunlinq 12watt (15v, 800 milliamp) solar panel which seems to work in the uk sun ok and provides about 4 times more milliamps than the supplied solar panel.

some useful info from the manual:
battery input/output interface dc 3.5x1.1mm
input voltage 5v 600ma
output: 4.5-5.5v 700ma max
capacity: 2200mah

solar panel:
same output interface
output:5v 200ma max (only in full sun)

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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PowerMonkey Explorer... Explore This., 20 Oct 2007

By	Mr. S. Atkiss "One Life To Live..." (Derbyshire, England) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

what an awsome bit of kit, well made and stylish. I have succesfully charged the power cell from the mains, USB and solar unit.

It has charged my phone (k800i) it works beautifully.

I first tried the FreeLoader which turned out to be returned it and got one of these. Unlike with the Freeloader I have total confidence with this product and am happy it's on my kit list for travelling Spain.

An excellent product and highly recommended. 5 Big ones from me.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars The chunky lil' Power Monkey
I did a little bit of scouting around, looking at physical products in stores and checking out online reviews before settling on the Power Monkey 'Explorer' kit. Read more

Published 16 days ago by G. Ward

4.0 out of 5 stars What about the DS?
Travel extensively on business & holiday with family. Found the powermonkey simple to use and selection of mains chargers that come with the package reduces requirement to carry... Read more

Published 3 months ago by Fiona Beagrie

4.0 out of 5 stars Great idea if it works
I brought one of these for the same reasons as everyone else, compact, eco friendly, portable, etc. But I was unfortunate to receive a power monkey that didn't work. Read more

Published 3 months ago by O. Frayman

4.0 out of 5 stars Very useful and environmentally friendly too!
I bought this as a present for my husband and we are both quite impressed. The Solar Slave, with it's large solar panels, does an excellent job of catching all available light... Read more

Published 4 months ago by L. Streets

4.0 out of 5 stars It works!
I have previously owned a single panel solar charger and it was garbage, the only think it would charge were my Bluetooth headphones. Read more

Published 8 months ago by Brit HorrorHound

4.0 out of 5 stars No more dead batteries!
If, like me, you carry a lot of power-hungry devices, you're probably familiar with either or both of the following two problems:

1. Read more

Published 8 months ago by tsl04

2.0 out of 5 stars Adaptor for DS not included
Despite showing a Nintendo DS lite on the packaging of this item (and in the Amazon pages related to it) this does NOT include the relevant adaptor for the DS or DS lite - you... Read more

Published 10 months ago by J. Pendleton

3.0 out of 5 stars Works as stated but won't save the planet!!
The Powermonkey has a 1W solar panel and a 2200mAh battery which is slightly better specced than the Solio which has a 0. Read more

Published 11 months ago by ogle1bogey

1.0 out of 5 stars rubbish
I purchased this item, not from Amazon that's true but I don't think it make any difference while is about the same product, last week. Read more

Published 12 months ago by Stefan Zanoaga

5.0 out of 5 stars Cool
I was orignally looking at the Freeloader, but after reading the poor reviews, I decided to pay the extra for the Power Monkey.

It's great... Read more

Published 12 months ago by S. Craig

› See all 17 customer reviews...

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