Salt Lake City, UT – We’ve tested a number of solar-powered recharging solutions over the past year or two, and the Powermonkey-eXplorer from the British company Powertraveller is quickly becoming one of our favorites.
Whether on a multi-day ski tour or a summer spent traversing the Appalachian Trail, there’s a need to repower portable devices including cell phones, cameras, GPS units and the like, and depending on the length of time spent in the backcountry, carrying sufficient replacement batteries can at best be burdensome, or even downright impractical. That’s where solutions like the Powermonkey-eXplorer ($129.95) come in.
 
The Powermonkey-eXplorer from Powertraveller offers a lightweight, convenient and durable backcountry charging solution. |
The eXplorer uses a pair of 100 mA solar panels to provide power. Early solar chargers lacked a built-in power storage solution, but like many of the newer generation of devices the eXplorer has an internal 2200 mAh battery to save the juice for when you need to charge your device in camp at night. What sets the eXplorer apart from its competitors, however, is that the solar panels and the battery are separate units, so instead of having to leave the unit in the sun in a base camp you can lash the solar panels to the top of your pack via the included hook-and-loop strap and slip the battery inside a pocket, connected by a thin cable. With the eXplorer you’re no longer tied to a base camp and can recharge the batteries while on the move. The whole package weighs in at 553 g (19.5 oz.) and is both durable and water-resistant.
We tested the Powermonkey-eXplorer this summer and found the solar panels able to recharge the internal battery by about one-third after roughly six hours in direct sunlight. Of course, the charging rate depends on the intensity of the sun’s rays. However, the battery can also be recharged via a wall outlet or a computer’s USB port via included adapters, or from a car’s cigarette lighter by purchasing separately a simple USB converter, so it’s easy to start a trip in the backcountry with the device’s internal battery topped off.
With 2200 mAh, the battery is capable of delivering 96 hours to typical mobile phones, taking another 1600 pictures with a common digital camera, or restoring 48 hours of life to most PDAs. A backlit LCD display on the battery provides a charge status, and a nifty indicator light indicates the relative strength of the solar charge being delivered to the battery, allowing for precise positioning of the panels to gain maximum advantage.
Maximum output current is 700 mA, which should recharge all but the most power-hungry smartphones. A number of device-specific charging tips are included for Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Siemens and Sony-Ericsson phones, iPods, and devices which use miniUSB or microUSB ports. Tips for many other devices may be purchased separately. The wall charger includes international adaptors to fit not only U.S. outlets, but also those in the UK, Australia and Europe.
The Powermonkey-eXplorer is available at outdoor retailers nationwide, or directly from the manufacturer via online sales.