PowerMonkey-eXplorer Full Review
Posted: 17 March 2008 by Mark Harris
Despite its comic name, the PowerMonkey-eXplorer feels like the most serious and solidly-built charger we've tested. It's a two-part device, which can be used separately or together.The PowerMonkey is a fat, water-resistant, tubular unit that holds a rechargeable battery (at 2200mAh, the best we've tested) and its solar component is the 'solar slave', a small, fold-up solar unit.
The PowerMonkey can connect to a variety of power output jacks, covering the usual spread of mobile phones -- two types of Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and LG. It can also connect to a Sony PSP, Apple iPod and the increasingly popular 'general' fittings, USB and mini-USB, although the fit on some is a bit wobbly. If your gadget isn't covered, the Powertraveller website has a comprehensive list of extra power tips, covering a wide range of devices, costing a reasonable £2.50 each.
For input power, the PowerMonkey can connect via USB to your computer or via a transformer to wall sockets. It ships with clip-on plugs for UK, US, European and Australian outlets, but can also link directly to the 'solar slave' for power from the sun. This fold-out unit weighs the same as the PowerMonkey (a portable 83g) and has a similarly rubberised heft to it -- and can also connect directly to your gadgets. For such a compact device (it folds up to 11 by 7cm) the solar slave can generate a good amount of power -- at 200mA it's behind only the Scotty Pro in our testing.
Once topped up by the solar panel in the day, you can use the Powermonkey to charge gadgets by night
In use, the solar slave has a green LED that indicates whether it's generating power -- the brighter the light, the stronger the sun. The PowerMonkey has a similar light to show whether it's charging up (red) or fully charged (green), and when it's connected to a gadget, the LCD screen shows a battery meter. The PowerMonkey takes 3.5 hours to charge via mains power, six hours via USB, and a sluggish 18 hours via solar panel. When the two are used together, the solar slave soaks up the sun's rays to charge up the PowerMonkey's battery, which can then charge your gadget whenever you need to charge it -- at night, when it's raining, whenever.
We've unfortunately had to mark the PowerMonkey's ethics points right down as we didn't hear anything back about worker conditions from its maker, Powertraveller. To the best of our knowledge, however, its business doesn't invest in anything unethical and is solely concentrated on making small consumer electronics and travel accessories.
The PowerMonkey does have one key functional drawback -- it can't charge another gadget while it's being charged itself. So if you've been on the road for a while and everything is run down, you might have to juggle sockets and cables to recharge all your kit. Overall, though, this is still the best-performing solar charger we've tested.
Quality
Value
Ethics
Green
