The Power Monkey Explorer Solar Charger is a portable device that claims to be a handy method of charging your your electronic devices while on the go. It comes with a "solar slave" which is a detachable solar panel that can be used to recharge the power monkey's internal lithium battery. The kit also comes with an AC and usb adapter so that you can recharge its battery when the sun is not shining. The whole kit retails for over $100 which is quite a bit of chump change for a charger so is it worth the money? Read further for a more indepth analysis.

Opening the Power Monkey box reveals a lot of included extras. Not only do you get the battery unit and solar panel but also an AC and USB adapter, various tips for most newer cell phones and electronic devices (including the ever elusive ipod adapter), 3 international outlet adapters, a small storage pouch, and a larger case to store everything.

The battery unit is well designed with covers for both the input and output jacks as well as a sturdy rubberized exterior case. The battery unit also features an LCD display to show the amount of battery life left as well as charging and discharging LEDs.

The solar charger is equally well designed. The case is also rubberized and the actual solar panels are encased to prevent damage.

Both units are water resistant and they look like they will be able to handle outdoor use and mild abuse. The overall construction is high quality especially when compared to other solar chargers from different makers.

The battery pack comes precharged with about a 60% charge. I used the initial charge to top off the charge of a cell phone, mp3 player, and a bluetooth headset.

Once the battery on the Power monkey is depleted a 3 bar icon on its lcd display begins to flash letting you know that it is time to recharge. I attached the power monkey battery to the solar panel and placed it under table lamp. The solar panel has a green LED light that lights up to let you know it is receiving light. The battery pack began flashing its bars which to me indicated that the battery pack was charging.

I let the solar panel charge for about 4 hours under the table lamp and then I placed it near a window the following day. After about 5 hours I was horrified to find that the battery pack was now totally depleted!!! Despite the solar panel indicating it was receiving light, and the battery pack flashing its bar indicators to indicate charging, the battery had died.

I charged the battery pack using the wall adapter and after a bit of troubleshooting I realized that the battery is charging only when the red LED lights up on the battery pack. Once I came to this realization I connected the solar panel to the battery pack and this time turned off the LCD on the battery pack (this is done by a button on the battery pack). Now the red LED was glowing and I knew that the battery was charging using the free energy of the sun.

A bit of warning about charging using the solar panels... it really takes a long time! The manual states that it will take 6 hours to charge the battery by one third. If you get 6 hours of sunlight in a day it could take you 3 days to fully charge the battery!!

Also keep in mind that this is under ideal conditions in which it is under direct sunlight. I don't know about you but I feel kind of uneasy about leaving a $100 dollar item outside to charge.

I also realized that certain types of glass can affect solar charging. We recently upgraded our house windows to dual pane low e glass. This means that less UV light and solar energy is entering so this increases the time it takes to charge the battery pack. Most automotive glass also is the low e type so it will increase the charging time as well.

The owners manual states that it should take about 3.5 hours to charge a completely drained battery pack using the ac adapter, and about 6 hours using the USB cable. In my experience, a completely drained battery pack took about 5.5 hours to charge. Complete solar charging took about 3 days behind a window on partly cloudy days with about 8-9 hours of sunlight.

Keep in mind that the battery pack is over 2000mah so that is part of the reason for the longish charging times.

Once the battery was fully charged, I was able to charge a totally dead Samsung Sync cell phone (with 900 mah battery) in about 3 hours (the same time it takes when plugged into a wall outlet). The Power Monkey battery pack still had 4 out of 7 bars which means I could probably charge this phone twice before having to recharge the Power Monkey's battery pack.

Another important point to mentions is that the solar panel can be used independently to charge electronic items. The charging will be very slow considering its modest output, but nevertheless it is handy in emergency situations. Also, keep in mind that most solar panels have a very long lifespan (anywhere from 5-20 years) wheras the lithium batteries typically last 1-2 years. This means that the Power monkey leads to less waste since the lithium battery pack can be replaced and used with the existing solar panel.

Overall the Power Monkey Explorer Solar Charger is a well designed and rugged battery charger that performs its job very well. Its long battery life and versatile charging make it a good choice as an external battery charger though its high price definitely makes this a luxury good rather than an essential tool.

Pros:

• Rugged Design
• Long battery life
• Comes with adapter tips for many devices
• Multiple charging options (including international adapters)
• Solar panel can be used independently of battery pack

Cons:

• Long charging times using solar panel
• Short cord from solar panel to battery
• LCD displays could show more information
• Moving graph on LCD does not necessarily indicate charging unless red LED is on
• Device tips are not compatible with other chargers

UPDATE AS OF 10/2008:

After about 5 months of use some issues with the PowerMonkey Explorer developed. The first was that I learned it was not wise to leave the explorer in a parked car with the battery pack in the sun. The lithium ion battery pack is sensitive to heat and it may be damaged. I did not experience any problem with damage to the battery pack itself but I noticed that after leaving the pack in a hot car the LCD screen will not display correctly until it cools down. Best bet is to leave the solar slave in the sun and put the attached battery pack in the shade while charging.

Another thing I noticed is that both the solar slave and battery pack started developing a sticky residue. I am not sure if this is actually a problem with the unit but it would not wash off very easily. I tried to rinse the sticky residue off the battery pack but once I did this, the battery pack refused to charge. It appears that the battery pack is not as water resistant as I thought.

I spoke to customer service and they informed me that the unit is splash resistant but it should not be submerged in water so perhaps that was the problem. Nonetheless Powertraveller agree to send me a replacement once I ship my unit back to them. Only problem is that I have to incur the shipping charges to send the unit to the U.K. and wait until they receive it before they will send me a replacement. I will update this hub once I receive my replacement.

 It took a while and some regular emails to customer support at PowerTraveller but I finally got my replacement.  PowerTravellor sent me an entire new unit including the case and adapter tips, a very nice gesture.  The new unit works flawlessly and actually charges a lot more quickly than my previous unit leading me to believe that my previous unit was faulty from the start.

Another plus is that the replacement unit seems to charge more readily from through my dual pane low-e windows.  It used to take several days but now it seems that 1 to 2 good days of sunshine is all it takes!  I will update my review further as I am able to test the unit more.