Are you looking for a way to be a little greener in your life? Or do you find yourself wishing you had a way to charge your mobile phone in the middle of nowhere? Well, I might have the product you’re looking for. I recently received a Monaco Solar Charger from our friends at WirelessGround. As the name implies the Monaco charger uses sunlight to power up your devices, but it doesn’t mean it needs the sun to work. The charger has an internal battery that when charged allows you to plug in your mobile phone without sun or another power supply.
I’ve been using the device for about two weeks and I can honestly say that it is a product I would recommend to my readers. I found it to be extremely useful in a recent road trip where I left my car charger in another vehicle and had no way of charging a dying iPhone. With the Monaco solar charger I was able to charge the iPhone using the Apple Dock Connector to USB Cable that plugged in to the unit’s USB port. Since it was a 5 hour drive I was able to place the Monaco Solar Charger on the dashboard, revive the iPhone and charge my iPad as well. So far this charger has proven to be a life saver for me and as you will see in the images below it also portable and easy to use.
With the Monaco charger you will be able to power up over 100 mobile phones (listed at the end of the review), GPS devices (I was able to power a Magellan Roadmate GPS), Bluetooth headsets, and anything with a small power draw that uses a USB connector.
The solar charger has 3 charging modes:
Via AC Power – This will allow you to charge the solar powered chargers internal battery using the supplied AC adapter (charge time is about 6hrs).
Via Computer’s USB Port – You can charge the adapter using your computer’s USB port with the supplied USB cable (charge time is about 6hrs).
Via Solar Exposure – When the solar charger is exposed to the sun the internal battery should charge in about 8hrs.
Overall the build quality of the charger appears to be good, it has a good weight to it and feels solid. All of the cables and adapters that I received appear to be of good quality although I wish the USB cable could be longer. One of the things that stand out while using this charger is that there is no indicator light while using it to power other devices to determine battery levels. It’s not a deal killer, but it would really make sense for an accessory like this.
Let’s look at dimensions and some pictures.
Battery Capacity: 1800mAh
Weight: 93.5 grams / 3.3 oz
Physical Dimensions: 55.5 x 105.8 x 14.5mm / 2.19 x 4.17 x .57 inches
Monaco Solar Charger ships with the following accessories:
- Monaco Solar Charger
- Micro USB Adapter which plugs into USB adapter cable (pictured above)
- Mini USB Adapter which plugs into USB adapter cable (pictured above)
- USB Adapter Cable to be used with adapters.
- USB to Mini USB Cable (not pictured above)
- AC Adapter with USB input
Micro USB Adapter and Mini USB Adapter (pictured above). The Micro USB adapter can be used with HTC phones like the Nexus One and the Palm Pre/Pixi. The Mini Adapter can be used with Motorolla, Samsung, and other compatible phones. Phone list at the end of the article.
View of Mini USB port (left port) that allows you to charge the internal battery in the Monaco Solar Charger. The second port to the right is used to power devices plugged in. The port uses a standard sized USB connector and can connect to the supplied cables or other cables like the iPhone’s Apple Dock Connector.
Side-by-side view of the Nexus One and Monaco Solar Charger. You will notice that the Monaco Solar Charger isn’t much bigger than the Nexus One and makes for an ideal accessory to carry on your travels.
Side-by-side view of the Nexus One and Monaco Solar Charger from another angle.
Google Nexus One plugged into the Monaco Solar Charger. During use, I have found that the solar charger takes about the same time to charge a mobile phone as you would encounter while charging the phone via USB on a computer.
iPhone 4 plugged into the Monaco Solar Charger. Like the Nexus One, the iPhone seemed to charge at the same pace it would had it been plugged into the computer.
If you are interested in purchasing the Monaco Solar Charger make sure you follow this link.
Phone Compatibility List
BlackBerry Mini-USB
BlackBerry 6210, 6220, 6230, 6280, 6510, 7100g, 7100i, 7100r, 7100t, 7100v, 7100x, 7105t, 7130c, 7130e, 7210, 7230, 7250, 7270, 7280, 7290, 7510, 7520, 8100 Pearl, 8110 Pearl, 8120 Pearl, 8130 Pearl, 8300 Curve, 8310 Curve, 8320 Curve, 8330 Curve, 8350i Curve, 8700c, 8700f, 8700g, 8703e, 8800, 8820, 8830 and Bold 9000 phone models.
BlackBerry Micro-USB
Kickstart 8220, Pearl Flip 8220, Pearl Flip 8230, Curve 8520, Curve 8530, Curve 8900, Pearl 3G (9100), Thunder 9500, Storm 9530, Storm 2 9550, Tour 9630 and Bold 9700 phone models.
HTC/UTStarcom Mini-USB
AT&T Tilt 8925, AT&T SMT5700, Cingular 8525, Cingular 8125, Cingular 2125, HTC Hero (GSM), HTC Hero (Sprint), Alltel HTC Touch, Sprint HTC Touch, HTC Touch Diamond, Sprint HTC Touch Pro, HTC Touch Pro, HTC Touch Pro 2 (GSM), HTC Touch Pro 2, HTC Touch Pro 2 (T-Mobile), HTC Touch Pro2 (Sprint), HTC Touch Pro2 (Verizon Wireless), AT&T HTC Tilt 2, AT&T HTC Pure, HTC Imagio (Verizon Wireless), HTC Touch Diamond 2, HTC Touch HD, Sprint HTC Snap, HTC Snap S511, HTC Snap S522, HTC Cavalier, HTC Fuze, HTC Ozone, HTC G2, HTC S743, Sprint Mogul, Sprint XV6700, T-Mobile Dash, T-Mobile Dash 3G, T-Mobile G1, T-Mobile MyTouch 3G, T-Mobile Shadow, T-Mobile Shadow 2009, T-Mobile Tap, T-Mobile Wing, T-Mobile MDA, T-Mobile SDA, Verizon Wireless HTC Touch Diamond, Verizon Wireless HTC Touch Pro, Verizon Wireless SMT5800, Verizon Wireless XV6700, Verizon Wireless XV6800, Verizon Wireless XV6900 and HTC Droid Eris phone models.
HTC Micro-USB
Nexus One, HTC Desire, HTC EVO 4G, HTC HD2 (T-Mobile), HTC Droid Incredible, T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide and HTC Aria phone models.
LG Micro-USB
AX155, Banter AX265, AX300, AX310, Swift AX500, Rhythm AX585, Glimmer AX830, Tritan AX840, CF360, Secret CF750, Incite CT810, Imprint, dLite GD570, Shine II GD710, Xenon GR500, Vu Plus GR700, GS170, Sentio GS505, Arena GT950, eXpo GW820, Rumor2 LX265, LG Rumor Touch, LX290, LX370, LX400, Lotus LX600, Lotus Elite LX610, Remarq, Lyric MT375, Wine II UN430, Mystique UN610, UX220, Wine UX280, UX300, UX310, Bliss UX700, UX830, UX840, Cosmos VN250, Ally VS740, Fathom VS750, VX5500, Accolade VX5600, Glance VX7100, VX8360, Chocolate 3 VX8560, Chocolate Touch VX8575, VX8610, enV2 VX9100, enV3 VX9200, Versa VX9600, Dare VX9700 and enV Touch VX11000 phone models.
Motorola Mini-USB
Motorola V3, V3a, V3c, V3i, V3m, V3t, V3r, V3xx, RAZR Maxx Ve, Q, Q9c, Q9m, C290, SLVR L7c, SLVR L7, SLVR L6, SLVR L2, PEBL U6, i290, i425, i335, ic402, ic502, ic602, ic902, i876, i890, V190, V195, V235, V325, V360, V365, V323, V323i, W315, W230a, W370, W385, Active W450, W490, MOTO W755, RIZR Z3, Tundra VA76r, MOTO VU204, MOTORIZR Z6tv, ROKR Z6m, KRZR K1, KRZR K1M, Surf A3100, T-Mobile Sidekick 2008, Sidekick LX, T-Mobile Sidekick LX 2009 and Sidekick Slide phone models.
Motorola Micro-USB
Motorola Droid X, Backflip, CLIQ, CLIQ XT, Rival A455, Clutch i465, Droid, Devour, Karma QA1, Hint QA30, QA4 Evoke, Q 9h, MOTO Z6c, MOTO Z6cx, Adventure V750, RAZR2 V8, RAZR2 V9 (GSM), RAZR2 V9m, RAZR2 V9x, RAZR VE20, Renegade V950, Krave ZN4, Rapture VU30, MOTO Z9, ROKR E8, Zine ZN5, i1, i9, U9, i296, i576, Brute i680, i776, Debut i856, Entice W766, Crush W835, Quantico W845, VE440, Barrage V860 and i410 phone models.
Nokia Micro-USB
1006, 1606, 2605 Mirage, 2705 Shade, 3606, 6205, 6350, 6500 Classic, Mural 6750, 7205, Twist 7705, 8800 Arte, 8600 Luna, E72, N85, N97 and N97 Mini phone models.
Palm/Treo Micro-USB
Treo Pro and 800w phone models.
Sanyo Micro-USB
SCP-2700, Katana LX SCP-3800, SCP-3810, Incognito SCP-6760, Katana Eclipse SCP-6750, S1, Pro-200 and Pro-700 phone models
Samsung Micro-USB
Strive A687, Flight A797, Rugby 2 A847, Mythic A897, Code i220, Exec i225, Intrepid i350, Captivate i897, Omnia 2 i920, M220, M240, M320, M330, Seek M350, Rant M540, Exclaim M550, Reclaim M560, Restore M570, Highnote M630, Moment M900, Intercept M910, Stunt R100, Stride R330, reeform R350, Freeform R351, MyShot II R460, TwoStep R470, Messager II R560, Messager Touch R630, Caliber R850, Acclaim R880, Instinct HD S50, Smiley T359, Gravity 3 T479, Gravity T T669, Behold 2 T939, Vibrant T959 and Reality U820 phone models.
Miscellaneous Mini-USB
Cricket CAPTR, Cricket EZ, Cricket A100, T-Mobile Tap, Huawei M750, Garmin Garminfone and Garmin Nuvifone G60 phone models.
Miscellaneous Micro-USB
Cricket MSGM8, HP iPAQ Glisten, Huawei M228, Kin One, Kin Two, Pantech CDM8635, Pantech Ease P2020, Pantech Jest and Sharp FX phone models.
List of compatible phones from WirelessGround.com
