Goal Zero 39002 Silver/Black Large Extreme 350 Adventure Kit

Power Outages happen. Usually at the worst time.

If you remember the images of people trying to recover after Hurricane Sandy, you understand the difference a power source can make by allowing for re-charging of cell phones and other electronic devices.

More than that, I liked the idea of having a power source that could get re-charged by the power of the sun, rather than using a loud (and often unreliable) generator that required a supply of fossil fuel.

While you could put together a kit yourself (the "DIY" way) by using a solar panel, charge controller, deep cycle battery and inverter, I was intrigued by the seemingly complete Goal Zero Large Extreme 350 Adventure Kit.

A 30 Watt Solar panel would be sufficient to charge the battery in the power pack during a normal, sunny day. The Extreme 350 power pack was supposed to store 350 Watt of power and the different available outlets on the unit or the inverter offered flexibility to connect and re-charge devices via the USB port (iPhone), 12V DC port (Laptop with 12V power supply) and even 110V AC devices like a pump etc. Just what I was looking for.

Before I made the purchase, I checked with the folks at Goal Zero to make sure the unit was protected against over-charging and reverse charging (rather important features) and proceeded once I had confirmation.

When the unit arrived, I unpacked it right away and wanted to get it charged up.

A sunny day provided direct sunlight, the Boulder 30 panel was adjusted to just the right angle as per the instructions, both the blue power LED and green charging LED lit up and the LCD display started blinking the "20" symbol. That was it. The display didn't change for 2 days, but went blank when I unplugged it.

So I contacted customer service and was told the power pack was probably in a state of hibernation and to reset it by pulling the fuses out for a few minuted.

Not what I had hoped to hear, but I followed the instructions. Instead of the solar panels, I used the 110V power adapter this time to try to charge the pack and indeed, that seemed to work. Multiple symbols started to blink on the LCD display, indicating it was charging, and after a few hours, it looked like the unit was fully charged.

And indeed, the USB port now provided power to charge an iPhone, the 12V DC port was able to power my Laptop and the Inverter produced enough AC to power a 110V AC light fixture.

At the same time I had bought the Extreme 350, I bought a Goal Zero LED lamp, so I tested the unit to make sure it would power the light at least through the night.

So I connected the light (Goal Zero proprietary DC connector) and left it on all night.

By the next morning, the light was off and the LCD display empty, so I took it that the battery had completely discharged again.

Like before, having the solar panel connected all day long didn't get the battery charged up again, even though I tried the "pull the fuses" trick once more.

So the next night, I plugged the unit into the AC power supply again and let it charge all night. Apparently a really bad idea!

By the next morning, the unit was spreading the scent of rotten eggs, was very hot to the touch and some sort of liquid had escaped the case. The inverter was dead as well.

Not really the reliable performance I would have expected from a device that I had purchased for emergencies and needed to trust to work in such a situation.

Unfortunately I only discovered that Amazon has a policy of not accepting returns on this product, due to the HazMat nature of the battery pack, after this fiasco.

That's when it got interesting: I tried contacting Goal Zero for help with their broken product.

Sent an email early on Monday. No response.

Called on Tuesday and was on hold for more than 20 minutes before my call was terminated in a voice mailbox, where I left my contact details and phone number. Nothing though, nobody called me back.

Tried calling again on Wednesday and left my information. Again, nothing.

Finally, 3 days after that, I got a response to my original email. Answered the questions from their customer service rep. and waited.

5 days later a response from yet a different staff member with the same questions I had already answered.

After 2 weeks finally the statement "we'll send you a replacement".

Another week later, still nothing, so I gave up on goal Zero.

I have never seen anything as chaotic as this in my life. They must not have any structure or CRM in the customer service dept. at Goal Zero.

Ball dropped constantly. Left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing. Nobody ever called me back at the number I left and in all that time, they didn't manage to address my problem and replace their defective product. Customers must not be important to them. Or they are overwhelmed with warranty issues, I can't tell.

If it hadn't been for a friendly soul in Amazon customer service that understood the nature of the problem and replaced the unit for me, I would have been stuck with a piece of junk that had cost me a lot of money, with no real support by the manufacturer.

So thank you Amazon, your customer service is first class!

As far as Goal Zero and the Extreme 350 product, I hope my experience is an exception and not many more customers have to go through what I went through.

Problems with products happen. It's how a manufacturer stands by the product when problems happen and how they make it right with customers that experience problems.

And that's exactly where Goal Zero dropped the ball for me.

I have several Goal Zero products and I am thoroughly pleased with all of them. I use the Goal Zero 350 power pack to charge many portable devices and power my Traeger grill (requires power to operate). It takes a good while to charge this power pack with one solar panel. The solar panel that comes in the package is 30 watts and the power pack is 350 watt hours, so some simple math says that in perfect conditions it's going to take at least 12 hours of full sun to accomplish 0-100% charge cycle. I have several Goal Zero panels and string them all together (very easy to do with their products) and my power pack charges in 6-8 hours (winter sun angles and partly cloudy). VERY GOOD PRODUCTS. You have to understand the limits of a battery... You aren't going to be able to run really power hungry devices, but for what this is designed to do, it does it VERY WELL and is EASY to use. I wish they were less expensive, I'd be able to buy more and chain the batteries together.

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I like this product and got it for use around the house to charge things like laptops cell phones and other portable electronics and as an emergency power source. I had considered the Xantrex Xpower Powerpack 600HD Portable Power Source which is a lot cheaper than the Goal Zero Extreme 350 and also more versatile but I wanted to try the 350 for myself. I like the overall design although the inverter could use some work. The inverter is annoyingly loud and when I received it it was cracked open, not broken just dislodged, I was able to snap it back in place but it's very cheaply made. I wish the extreme 350 had built in usb ports or all the ports were built in without having to attached the inverter and a quieter less annoying fan with maybe a heat sink to limit the fans usage. The 350 appears to be reliable and lasts as long as it is rated for based on continuous usage. I tested it with a device that uses 90 watts continuously and the 350 ran for about 3.5 hrs which isn't bad at all.

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I purchased the Goal Zero Extreme 350 Adventure Kit. It is awesome. I totally recommend it. I teach Food Storage and Emergency Preparedness Classes. It is easy to set up. It is easy to use. It works great!!!! I have also purchased Goal Zero's Solar flash lights. They work great. i never need batteries again. They are crank & solar run. I have 4 of the lights. One light will light up your living room. You might need two if the room is large. Goal Zero is the best!!!

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No instructions, manuals, or any connecting cable came with this unit. Solar panel has no connector, power invertor has no cable, unit is useless to me. Trying to contact amazon is worse than contacting the Pres. Even GoalZero has ignored my plee. Amazon, if you even read these, how bout contacting me or at least complete my order. Ps. Retuning item is difficult. Amazon has it listed as hazardous material. UPS delivered it.

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Virtual Reality Sound Labs Bluetooth Speaker Car Kit

Got this unit as a Christmas gift. Here are some pros & cons in the event you're thinking of purchasing it:

PROS:

IT WORKS!

It sounds GREAT!

It linked up with my Bluetooth phone quickly (I use a Samsung model)!

It's ESPECIALLY handy with voice recognition Bluetooth devices. (I just tell it to call a name in my cellphone directory, and it does the rest!)

The price is reasonable for what this does.

It's one of the few devices of this type that has a big display area for the phone number, HOWEVER...(see CONS below)...

It's easy to operate!

It seems to hold a full charge for a long time period (at least a week so far for me).

CONS:

It only comes with a 30 day warranty!

It needs to be charged for 2-4 hours when the battery drains. The problem is, the ONLY way they suggest you charge it is through your vehicle's cigarette lighter. (No adapter to charge it in our home.) And they suggest NOT charging it when you aren't in your vehicle. I don't know about you, but I seldom drive around town for 2-4 hours. (FYI, I just left it plugged in while I was at home and all worked well.)

The "log" area is supposed to keep track of calls in and out by way of logging them with a 0-5 first digit in front of them so you know which calls were most recent. The unit I have puts no such digit in front of the number. And there are some mysterious numbers in the log I have no idea who they belong to which DO have a #1 in front of all of them. (There are no 0, 2, 3, 4, or 5 numbered calls to be found! All the "mystery" numbers have a "1" in front of them.)

While this unit DOES have a large display area for the number, it's hard to see in bright light.

Hope these PROS/CONS help you to decide if you want to purchase it. Would I buy it again? Yes, I think I would. Mainly because I believe the pros outweigh the cons...especially the fact that it really DOES work for hands-free calling. After all, isn't that why you're REALLY thinking about buying something like this?

Good luck in your decision.

This item was purchased for my son for father's day. He is a person who loves to use his cell phone while driving. My son contacted me upon installation of this item. I was surprised at the clarity in sound. I asked to call him back to see if the clarity would be fine whether receiving or sending a call, it was I am impressed.

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I purchased one of these today at CostCo and tried it out on my way home. It linked up to my Sony Ericson easily but the sound quality was poor. I called my wife who said the sound was not clear but rather muffled sounding. I had the unit mounted on my sun visor about 8" from my face. It also sounded muffled to me over the speaker. We have a Prius which is a quiet car, I was driving 60mph on the freeway. The sound volume was sufficient.

I'm going to return it. Too bad because the idea is great. I actually refrained from purchasing it on the spot yesterday. I came home and read the comments here on Amazon.com, my source of user comments. The comments were largely supportive so I went back today to buy it.

You may want to try it yourself. Who knows I may have purchased a poorly working example.

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Battery life is excellent. Sound quality is average. Finally it meets expectation of easy to setup and use device. Value is definitely high keeping in mind one of the lowest prices among the similar devices'.

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I got this to keep from neding to use my cell phone's speaker mode, which other callers reported as being muffled. This works much better the reports on audio quality are good. Battery life is pretty good too I only need to charge it every few weeks.

Schumacher CR-1 Charge 'n Ride 3 Amp 6/12 Volt Universal Battery Charger for Ride-On Toys

I bought two of thes since I run dual batteries on my power wheels one worked once, now it aborts every time before full charge. The second one never worked, the power led comes on but the charging never does and never charges. Took the second one back and exchanged it for another one with the same results so after three of these chargers one works half the time.

Avoid this headache!!!

I bought this to charge and recharge my kids power wheels battery. I used it 1 time, got the full charge. I then bought a second battery so the kids can run the car for longer periods, and the charger failed immediately. Called Shumacher support number, and they were perplexed by how the charger was acting, instructed me to go ahead and plug it back in and let it set until it started charging. It never got there, the red L E D power light just flashed slowly, never reset, or charged another battery. I have since requested a return number, and am awaiting instructions to get this pos fixed. it should work more than 1 time.......

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I bought this charger because I have a Power Wheels 12v Mustang and a Peg Perego 12v John Deere XUV 550. The adaptors are easy to switch and it works great. The only thing that's a little annoying is the high pitch whistle the charger makes when charging. Other than that its a great product.

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I found about this product after contacting Schumacher's customer support about the correct setting to use in one of their bigger chargers (which I've been using for a couple of years with great results!), when charging a small battery for a Power Wheels. The customer support rep suggested looking into this particular model because it has been designed exactly for that purpose, and I am happy to admit that she was 100% right! The different connectors, the plug-in-and-forget operation, etc., make it the best charger you can get for small batteries. I can charge Power Wheels and Peg Perego batteries just by switching the end connectors, and they both last a loooooooooong time after being charged. I expect that this charger will also help extend battery life, since it's supposed to charge them the right way and avoid overcharging.

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I bought this after borrowing my father's same charger for about 4 months. Charges the 12 volt batter for our riding toy. Display indicates when 80% charged and 100% charged. Cords on both ends are pretty good length, making it convenient to leave on the work bench in the garage and stretch down to the battery for charging. I've had other cheaper chargers that haven't held up or don't even seem to work from the get go. This one seems built to last.

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Retractable Auto Rapid Car Charger with Ic Chip for RIM Blackberry 9500 9530 Storm Thunder, Pearl F

This was my first retractable cord car charger and I am very pleased. No more messy tangled cords and compact enough to transport on you if you are changing cars.

Update 12/1/2011: I had to replace this charger with another one and have tried a different brand this time. The micro USB adapter became detached from the cord. It wears out from pulling the cord out and this seems to be the weakest point for any of these types of chargers. Although, it's been awhile since I purchased this product, I only used it on weekends when traveling so if you plan on using this more often or even daily be careful to not tug the cord out using the micro USB adapter but wiggle down to the cord itself and pull it out that way. You'll probably get more mileage out of it by pulling it out this way and that's what I'm doing with the different charger that I ordered just to play it safe.

Good product, a little cheap in quality but functions perfect. All in all good product.

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Love the features. Retractable cord means no mess in the car. Blue led indicates it is on. Expanded reception when plugged in.

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My bberry car chargers typically last a couple of months at most. This one has been going strong for 6 mos, and the retractable cord is convenient.

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This is a great car charger for my Blackberry Storm. I was a little weary of getting a retractable charger, since I didn't want it to stop retracting. I have not that problem at all it has retracted everytime.

It is rather quick to recharge.

It is nice and compact.

Unique Gomadic Portable Rechargeable Battery Pack for the Magellan Roadmate 800 - High Capacity Gom

• Specification: Internal Battery (3400mAh lithium polymer), Input port (miniUSB), Output Port (Standard USB), Onboard Circuit Design (Magellan Roadmate 800 Specific), Dimensions (4.0 X 2.0 X 0.5 inches), TipExchange enabled (Yes)
• Very easy to operate. Simply connect Magellan Roadmate 800, press activation button on pack, and charging begins. Quick start guide included.
• Integrated circuitry tailors output voltage and charging current to exact specification of the Magellan Roadmate 800 (accurate to 0.1v).
• Built using unique Gomadic TipExchange Technology that protects your investment by providing the ability to upgrade charging ports by simply swapping the physical connector.
• Designed with a series of front facing LED indicators that clearly display the current battery capacity at the touch of a button

This product is a very good spare source of power for my FPS unit. I really like the LED lights to indicate how much charge is left (and when it is fully charged). The item was delivered promptly, in good condition and I would buy from them again.

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IDEAL Lightening 3 Port USB Car Charger (Black), 5A Lightning Fast Charge, Charge Two iPads at the

I was skeptical to order this since there weren't any reviews at that time. I took a chance on it and I am very pleased with the quality and performance of this charger. The 2.5 amp port is plenty to keep tablets charged up and running. The other 1.5 amp ports I use for my cell phone and mobile hot-spot. It held up well on my vacation drive while running everything constant for about 9 hours. I was also very happy to find out that it came with so many cables as well. The cables that were meant for Apple products are good quality and work well. The ones that are the micro usb however did not fit my Galaxy Note II. I already had cables for it so that didn't matter to me. The cables this comes with alone would cost more to purchase separately that what the whole thing cost. I think this is a great deal on this little bundle.

I would recommend this to anyone who needs a good robust charger for in the car.

I connect an iPhone and a Samsung SGH-T679 phone, iPhone charges Samsung does not.

Connect only Samsung does not charge

Connect iPhone + Samsung + Nuvi GPS, only GPS charges.

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I don't think I have seen other chargers that charge as well as this one. The small 2 port chargers charge way too slow. I used this charger on the airplane with their empower cord and in the car and it definitely work well. Besides the one downside which, compared to the small 2 port chargers, this is the best charger for the price you can find.

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This is a great product if you have multiple things you need to charge in a car BUT it doesn't always work. We have 3 iPads, 2 iPods, and two cell phones (including an iPhone 5). The connection to the ports as well as into the car are a little flimsy. The cords feel like they are not in securely and can get pulled out easily. It's nice to be able to charge multiple iPads and devices BUT the iPads don't always charge. It still works for us since we end up charging phones and iPods but I use a dedicated iPad charger most of the time. We end up charging one iPad at a time.

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I tried this in 3 different places within my car and was not able to charge any Apple device, iPhone or iPad. I tried to just plug one item only and it didn't charge. I don't know if I just got a defective device, but now I'm totally disappointed that it's going to cost me to shipping to send it back.

Update: I got a replacement item and it works perfectly. I believe it has more to do with my car than the device. The MINI's don't have a deep charger port, so if you try to force the device in there, the fuse shorts. That is what happened with mine, unfortunately. I tried the replacement in a friend's Honda and it worked fine. It does work in my car, I just have to make sure I don't push it too far into the cigarette lighter.

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VMAX Solar Battery SLR100 Vmaxtanks AGM 100ah 12V Wind Power Backup Boat Lift ,Rally Pro Plus Gener

We looked high and low for a battery that we could keep in the vehicle while driving for the solar panels we installed on the roof. This one seems to fit the bill given the good reviews we read. We are making a box for it with an outside vent for the few times it may let some fumes out just to be safe since we have our whole family in the van. Now we can keep the fridge cold and the kids TV/DVD running while driving. Wow, it's like we never even left the house :)

I am still using it and it works really well. Keeps the charge for quite a long while. Nice product.

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I picked this up for starting my solar battery bank. Takes and holds a charge very well. Don't cheap out on your batteries!

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