I bought a Juice Bar solar charger from ThinkGeek. Of the choices available, this model was moderately priced at $39.99.

I mentioned my purchase on Twitter and several people asked for my opinion.  My first impression based on the device having to charge initially for 6 hours via USB or 15 hours via light source was that this is not a “solar charger”. It’s actually a rechargeable battery.  That is not a problem but calling it a solar charger is a little misleading.  I saw direct solar charge options when considering this device but those were a little more costly.

The Juice Bar battery charges a variety of gadgets as it came with 12 connectors. Of the connectors that I mainly use three of them: USB Type A, USB Mini-B and iPod/iPhone. I’ve also started carrying the PSP connector as that one works with several gadgets I have. I’ve used the device to charge my iPhone, iPod, and Motorola RAZR which I have recently started carrying again. It has about an hour and a half of charge which works for all of the above devices. I’ve recently resurrected the RAZR and have not located its charger and the Juice Bar is the only thing I have that delivers enough power to charge it.

I tried the Juice Bar at work but the first real test was at a conference I attended in Orlando a few weeks ago. Being that my iPhone doesn’t have the best battery life, having this charger comes in handy. I charged the Juice Bar at night and would bring it out when the iPhone battery starting dying. On the last day, I had forgotten to charge the JB so I tried to grab whatever energy I could from the flourescent lights. Being that I was catching the plane, I decided to use it to keep my iPod alive instead of my iPhone.

For the most part I am happy with the Juice Bar. The one complaint I do have is that the iPod/iPhone connector is kind of loose so movement disconnects it. I have used the USB connector with an iPhone cable to avoid this.  That said, it is a convenient item to carry around.

Bonus: I decided to keep the other connectors around even though I don’t use them. One day my friend got into my car with her dead Blackberry asking if I had anything that would charge it. I handed her a standard USB cable because last time I used a Blackberry that’s what they needed to charge. It didn’t fit. She had a connector that I was not familiar with. So I went in the trunk and got my Juice Bar connectors and sure enough one of them fit. She was able to get enough charge while we were at a restaurant to make a few calls.  Now she and our waitress want one.

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