Sun Jar Full Review
Posted: 10 February 2008 by Adam Vaughan
By day, it looks like a mundane pot for storing your organic rice or Montezuma's chocolates. Come night, however, and this little jar turns into a beautiful, green-powered mood light that we've loved having around our home.
As the name suggests, the Sun Jar traps the power of the sun, using a tiny solar PV panel and rechargeable battery under the lid. These in turn power a highly efficient LED light when darkness falls. If you're thinking 'okay, it looks lovely but do I really need another mood light?' then you're absolutely right.
We like the Sun Jar's gentle glow -- though in real life it's not this bright
Sure, you're powering one bulb without a fossil fuel burning power station, but if you're serious about cutting the carbon footprint of your lighting, switch your electricity tariff to a green alternative (we like ones from Ecotricity, Good Energy and British Gas' Zero Carbon) and fit energy-saving bulbs everywhere.
The Sun Jar, though, is basically gift fodder. And as gifts go, it's a decent one. The light it produces is a gentle, orangey glow that fits well with a soundtrack of Portishead but isn't so suitable for reading by. Mercifully, considering the British climate, the LED light doesn't need much sun to power it. Spending an October day on a desk by a north-facing window, the jar produced about two hours' light, while sticking it outside in full sun in autumn (it's waterproof) stored up just over four hours'.
We're yet to achieve the claimed five hours' light, but that's probably down to it being autumn. To save energy, the jar has a light sensor which powers up the LED only when it's dark -- flick on the main lights in a room and it will go off.
Much as we like the Sun Jar, we have a few niggles. First, the power button isn't labelled, so you'll always be trying to guess whether it's on standby or fully off. Second, it marks quite easily, attracting scratches and dirt. More seriously for a 'green gift', the ethics don't appear to have been thought through -- the jar is understandably made in China but there's no information in the public domain on whether the factory workers who made it got paid properly, enjoyed decent working conditions and have the right to, say, join a union. We're hoping to get more detail from designers SUCK UK.
To really ensure the workers get a good deal, you could always make your own. Instructables has a great guide to making a DIY one. And customise-crazy modders note -- the rechargeable battery is a standard AA, so you can easily replace the existing one when it dies or even boost the battery life with a longer-lasting one.
Quality
Value
Ethics
Green
