The FreeLoader Portable Solar Charger is a superb little gismo which provides you with energy for your pocket-sized devices while you're on the go, or when you otherwise don't have access to a power socket. It is versatile though, and can even be used without sun, as long as you have a computer.

* Powers its internal battery from the sun (as is evident from the name)
* Powers its internal battery from a computer via a USB link
* Charge your portable devices without wait time either by solar power or USB if you plug them in when it's charging.

First, there's a kind of slow charge time if you're using the solar option. It took about eight and a half hours for me to power-up my FreeLoader Portable Solar Charger immediately after I received it on a mostly sunny day in Los Angeles. Still, that's no problem, because if you want a prompter charge time you can just plug it into a USB port (3 hours, more or less) or charge the device directly by hooking it in while FreeLoader charges.

The only claim I don't trust from their advertising rhetoric is that it will charge "any hand held device." There are two plugins on the device itself, and a further twenty two adapter tips that arrive with it. That is a lot, no fault, but I'm not sure it's enough to warrant the "any hand held device" label.

Still, these are pretty much the only flaws with this good charging gismo. If you have a few portable devices that need powering on a regular basis, its many adapters are good. If you spend a great deal of time outdoors away from power sockets, it's great for that too.

Definitely worth checking out!