When it comes to devices that charge your gadgets on the go, there are tons of external battery options out there, tons of portable solar panels and transportable solar panels out there, and finally, many crossover devices that are portable solar panels with built in external batteries.
Of all the choices out there today, one of the seemingly clunkiest has got to be the Joos Orange.
At 1.5 lbs, it's certainly not light, and at 5400mAh, it's weight to battery capacity ratio is far far below average. A 5400mAh battery can charge an iPhone 2.5 times. At that capacity, external batteries that have no solar panel or ruggedness are far far smaller. In fact, batteries of roughly 1.5lbs typically hold over 11,000mAh or more, more than double the capacity of the Joos Orange.
And solar panels, no matter how incredibly efficient, are still not very efficient at all.
So, why do I LOVE this solar panel battery so much?
Three main reasons and one small reason:
FIRST, it's got the most efficient solar panel I've seen yet. Keeping in mind that I can't really tell the efficiency difference between a 3" solar panel, a folding textile based solar panel, and the Joos Orange panel, the only factor I can really use is how fast it charges. The Joos can charge its internal battery via the sun about 5% every hour, requiring 18-22 hours to fully charge. That would typically mean about 3 days of charging by sun to get one full charge of the 5400mAh built in battery. But since a fully charged Joos Orange battery charges an iPhone to 100% 2.5 times, the Joos battery really only needs about a 35-40% charge on itself in order to get an iPhone from 0-100%. Basically, that means just over 1 day of solar charging = 1 full iPhone charge. Put another way, in a pinch, roughly 1 hour of charging the Joos battery in direct sunlight charges an iPhone enough for 2 hours of talk time.
And that's damn efficient compared to other portable solar panel chargers I've seen to date. You might argue that It's less effective than a trans-portable solar sheet, but it's way more effective than any portable solar device I've ever seen. It's likely more efficient per square inch than a transportable solar sheet, and of course, you can't really charge a transportable solar sheet while walking around, as you have to set it up on a stand.
NOTE: Two other solar chargers I own are much less efficient as they get about 10-20 minutes talk time with a 60 minute charge and have only a 1000-1500mAh battery built in. Better than nothing, for sure, but a far cry from the Joos Orange and really only good in the most desperate of conditions.
SECOND, Toughness. There are two major thieves of the weight to battery capacity ratio. First, the solar panel itself adds a lot of weight to the battery (and forces the larger size too) when compared to pure external batteries. Second, and just as big a thief of the weight to battery capacity ratio is all that ruggedness built in. And I truly, deeply thank Joos for that toughness. This little gadget is so tough you can drop it in a stream, pick it up, and it'll keep on working. You can have it out by the pool and if it gets splashed on or if it accidentally falls into the pool, no problem. You can wash it under the faucet or in a stream if it gets dirty....This baby isn't just water resistant, it's completely water proof, and submersible. In addition to that, it's also shock proof and dust proof. That's not just worry mitigation, that's worry proof. In an emergency situation or out camping/hiking/boating, it's one device you can count on for years and years of use and storage.
For that kind of maintenance free and worry free toughness and dependability, I'll happily deal with the reduced weight to battery capacity ratio.
NOTE: There are plenty of folding transportable solar chargers out there that are water proof, but the very nature of a product made of textile material in these large and cumbersome folding solar panels means that these chargers need regular care and maintenance and have higher risk factors for damage over years of use and non-use (long term storage can dry and damage textile materials without proper maintenance and care). The simple, solid materials of the Joos Orange means that it will not suffer the wear and tear prone to textile materials.
THIRD: Light range. One of the biggest problems with most portable solar panel chargers is that they just don't work under cloudy conditions. The other ones I have don't charge at all even on a sunny day unless aimed directly at the sun. The Joos Orange may not be a sci-fi level super fast charger, but even under cloudy conditions, it charges. It actually, really, charges. This alone is an unbelievable value in my eyes.
This makes the Joos Orange the only useful portable solar charger I've ever owned.
NOTE: With transportable textile folding chargers, you have to set it up at a camp site and ideally adjust the angle once in a while to aim at the sun. If you sit at a camp site all day, no problem. But if you spend much of the day away from a camp site, or set up at a different location every day, you only get a few hours of sunlight each day to set up and charge, especially if you worry about animals getting to the site while you're away, wind knocking it down, or even have a few trust issues with other campers. With the Joos, you can strap it to a backpack or waist pack, keeping it with you, and charging all day long while walking, boating, or doing other activities. No setup, just make sure the panel faces outward and you're charging. And unlike other portable chargers, you don't have to constantly monitor the angle of your device to charge. Just strap it and go. Speaking of which, this is why i think an open faced case with more strapping options would be ideal.
Finally, and this is a small thing, the device is designed with a rather large hole at one end making it easy to strap to a backpack using string or a large carabiner. That means keeping it attached to your backpack and sun charging while you're hiking or moving around, something you can't do with transportable textile based folded/rolled solar charger, and as long as the panel is facing outwards, you don't need to worry about direct sunlight like you do with other portable solar chargers, and even better, even if it's raining, you can keep it attached to your backpack and know that it'll keep charging and won't get water damage.
That's a huge benefit compared to transportable textile based solar chargers which have to be set up at a camp site, and portable solar chargers which, while also able to attach to backpacks, only charge when pointed directly at the sun.
CONCLUSION:
All in all, the Joos Orange chose all the right compromises and combination of features. More battery capacity and more effective in low light conditions than other portable solar chargers, more "charge on the go" utilitarian and long term toughness than transportable textile based solar chargers, and a truly maintenance free and worry free portable solar panel.
When broken down into scenarios, I'd say that it may only be reasonably useful on business trips as the feature gains reducing weight to battery capacity ratio aren't as highly valued, but, it's extremely useful on camping trips and boating trips where those those feature gains are not only valuable but critical.
One more thing, in this era where smart phones have become not only a critical voice communication tool, but also the be all and end all triage device for all things communication, internet, and GPS, the worry-free toughness, solar efficiency, reasonable battery capacity, and portability of the Joos Orange is not a nice-to-have in an emergency 3 day kit, but an absolutely must have.
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Addendum notes:
NOTE: Incidentally, if you're worried about the battery losing efficiency over time, as batteries tend to do over years of use, note that the back panel opens up and the battery is replaceable. I imagine that there is at least one o-ring, possibly more to ensure a water-tight fit, and they don't sell the spare batteries today. But it will hopefully be an option in the future.
NOTE2: I hope they create a case (denier fabric or strap weave or skeletal frame) with attachment options (e.g. 4 corner carabiner rivets or something along those lines) to give more flexibility to attach it to backpacks, tents, car windows, or even a car roof, etc. while still leaving the solar panel fully exposed to making charging in a variety of scenarios much easier. The single large hole is useful, but hard to stabilize.
NOTE3: I'm not sure, but I believe the front bezel is white to try and partially mitigate having the device get over-heated when out in the sun all day.
NOTE4: The only bummer with this device is the cabling. It's a female micro-USB. That's okay, but the port is shaped a little funny, more rectangular than a typical micro-usb female plug. some of my other micro-USB cables didn't work, some did. I ended-up spending $45 with SolarJoos in additional cabling so I can have spares in case I ever lose one.
NOTE5: I have heard from customer support that charging via USB only gets the internal battery to about 90% (with considerable slow down around the 85% mark). So it may be best to charge the internal battery via sun for the last bit to get it to 100%.
NOTE6: The one feature available on other solar portable chargers that I wish the Joos Orange had is some method (e.g. a button) to be able to see the blinks to know, whenever I want, what the charge level is).
Our boy scout troop spent a week in Glacier National Park this summer, and my Joos kept my Droid (original) alive all week. I'd leave it leaning against the tent in the morning, and it would be full when we returned in the evening. Then I'd charge the phone overnight.
Everyone else was recharging their phones in the cars or the bathroom at the campground not me! I ended the week with a nearly-full battery in the Joos, despite running the phone down to 15% during the day (combination of poor cell signal, GPS addiction, and doubling as my primary camera). I took 300 photos on my Droid that week, as my pocket camera broke.
I'm currently running a Droid3 (bigger battery, but longer run-time than the original), and can charge it twice from a full JOOS. So I figure I can last 6 days without any sun.
Lastly, a tip: This thing performs great in the snow. On a bright March day with snow on the ground, I can get 1.8 watts which is as good as I can get in June.
Another tip: Some phones like to turn the screen on when they're charging, thinking that they're on wall power. Turn off the screen and put the phone into "airplane mode" while charging, otherwise the phone will waste power.
Buy Solar Joos Orange Portable Solar Charger Now
Well I guess I will be the odd ball. I bought this unit for recharging my droid3 and I have to say it DID work. However the one gripe I have is the connector. The usb connector is very flimsy and sometimes wont make good contact. For example once I was down to 30% on my droid and I hooked it up. I waited for it to do its job. When I came back my droid was down to 10%. I looked at the cable and everything LOOKED connected however upon further examinations I found that when I wiggled the connection to the Joos the droid would show charging the show not charging. I tried diffrent cables and it was the same. It turned out the connector to the joos is very flimsy. They should have stuck to a more robust connector like a traditional usb connector. Don't get me wrong the solar portion works wonderful. You just have to make sure you have a good connnection.
Read Best Reviews of Solar Joos Orange Portable Solar Charger Here
Got the Joos Orange to provide backup power for Android phones and iPads in case of an extended power outage, and to provide travel power to the same devices when we're away from a car or wall socket for extended periods. The biggest pro here was that it's a one piece unit with a replaceable battery. Originally I was looking at solar panels and charging for AA, but the efficiency just wasn't great and I didn't want too many moving parts to lose, break, forget about, etc. The Orange Joos is all one unit except for the charging cables to attach the devices, and those are in a bag that we tie to the Orange so it doesn't get lost.
The unit is solid and well designed. We haven't had any drop tests ourselves yet but I have no concerns about beating it up. The little flip feet could probably bust off under the wrong conditions, but we bought it from REI so if we have any issues, back it goes for a full refund.
The red and green charging notifications are fairly intuitive put it in the sun and see how fast or slow the red light is blinking for how much charge power it's getting, and the number of green blinks (0-5) is relative to how fully charged it is. Or when you plug in a USB cable to power something count the green blinks there as well, same deal.
With one exception I wish they hadn't made "full charge" no green blinks when you plug in a cable, which is the same as "no charge." So if I ran the unit down completely and then put it out to charge and came back at the end of a day of leaving it in the sun, I might not know if I had full charge or still no charge until I'd had something plugged in to run it down a bit. This is mostly an annoyance, and more of a hassle when trying to explain to someone not familiar with the unit how it works. Obviously when it is fully charged it should stop blinking so you know it's "done", but maybe a future model could do a single long green light to indicate full when you plug in a USB cable.
That said, once you've used the unit a bit you forget about this annoyance and it just becomes normal. I wouldn't let this stop me buying the unit.
Android Phones
Samsung Galaxy S3, Motorola Droid Pro and HTC Incredible all charge fine off the Joos Orange and register "Charging AC" either using the Micro USB tip that came with the Orange, OR using the female USB tip that came with the Orange and the regular USB to Micro cables that came with the phones (for longer cord reach) the phones all still registered "Charging AC" indicating they are drawing the most power they can during charge. The Orange has been really sweet for using the 4G on the Galaxy as a mobile 4G hotspot, which drains a lot of battery, but the Joos provides enough of a battery backup to keep things running for hours and leave the phone with a full charge. If you do something like this be sure and keep the phone as shady and cool as you can, as running WIFI and charging full bore will heat it up and it will stop charging if it overheats too much. The Orange Joos of course you want in the sun. :)
Apple original iPad and iPad3
Both charge using the included iPad tip but as noted elsewhere and on the Orange website they do NOT charge if you use the female USB tip and connect the iPad cable. Would be nice to have a longer cable via this setup, but it is working as designed and we clearly knew this before we bought the Joos so no hard feelings there.
We keep all the tips and cables in the little bag that came with the Orange, and tied that bag to the locking hole on the Orange using the cord provided with the bag. It's a little annoying to have it hanging off there all the time, but it makes sure we don't lose any tips.
One more con I completely understand why they need their own proprietary tips with the current design, but honestly I think adding a 2nd regular "dumb" female USB port and jacking up the price of the unit would be worth it to be able to use regular cables. If I lose a proprietary tip on a camping trip it will be hard to replace but I can always borrow someone else's regular USB.
I leave the unit in a secure window of my house where it gets full sun about 3-4 hours a day and that seems to be doing fine to keep it topped off and charged on full and ready when we need it.
Want Solar Joos Orange Portable Solar Charger Discount?
Connector issues? We hear you. On our quest for Solar Enlightenment we hit a bump in the road.
In our first production run of our world-class SolarJOOS charger, we ran into problems with the black charging cable failing. Needless to say, this was not the Sunshine of our Lives. The good news is that it has nothing to do with the actual JOOS Orange connector port, but rather the cable and plugs specifically.
Fast forward to now: The dedicated SolarJOOS team decided to change cable suppliers, revamp connector plug type and add new steps to quality control. All JOOS Orange units shipped from 3/1/13 forward have the new fail-safe cables. If you run into a connectivity issue, we will happily send you a new cable free of charge, regardless of when you purchased your JOOS Orange. Just let us know!
Our sincere apologies for any inconveniences or frustrations that you may have encountered with the connectors; we now have a fantastic connector cable to share with all of you JOOSers and look forward to your feedback!
Works very well, I haven't had any problems with connectivity, voice dialing, volume, sensitivity, etc. I've used it in rush-hour driving, and it's quite usable despite the background noise. (Quite useful if you need to have a conference call from your car!) Battery life is fine as well.
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