Coleman 6- to 12-Volt Portable Power Kit 50100

I liked the charger although I have some difficulty. The battery did not activate with the solar charger and I had to use the wall outlet. I also could not get my cell phone to charge off the internal battery but technical support has been pretty friendly and helpful so far. Some things have not been resolved as of yet. A note to keep in mind is that the unit seems to need to be in direct light for a long time. The window approach did not work all that well as direct light was not available full time. The radio does not have an antenna but sounds pretty good and the lights, my primary reason for the purchase, are flashlight quality.

My model didn't appear to come with the right cables -the key power cable didn't look anything like the picture in the somewhat cryptic instructions, and as a consequence none of the adapters could be fitted to the solar charger. But then the so-callled chargepak wouldn't charge anything, even when fully charged with the AC/DC converter, and as a consequence the the radio/light wouldn't work either. In case of emergency, I suppose you could throw it at someone.

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This item looked like an ideal solution for friends in Uganda where there is very erratic electricity but lots of sunshine. I tried to get it to work before taking it with us on our trip but could never get it to charge. I called the customer service and was told to try several things to "reset" it. Nothing worked. I sent it back and got a refund but wasted a lot of time.

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The solar panel works even in dim light, I place mine on a windowsill and it still manages to recharge the battery. The battery holds a charge for quite a while, I found it quite useful during long power outages. The built-in lights and radio works well. It's very portable and fits easily in your car or take it along with you on a hike or camping. The connectors will fit most cellphones and it has a USB port to provide power for devices such as iPods.

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I've used one of these radios for quite a while now (yes, it's survived a few drops, too) and I think it's great. The solar charger hasn't been all that useful to me, but we don't seem to get a whole lot of steady sun, here, so I've had a hard time making it useful. But, I bought the appropriate adapter for the charge pak and I simply charge it up by plugging in. The battery power lasts a long time.

I love the convenient shape and the easy-to-grab handle. This is a nice 'flat' type of radio. I always need a flashlight, too, so that's a plus. I use this gadget every night!

AM radio comes in great, and if I use a standard USB cord for an 'antenna,' I get FM just fine. (This item has a USB plug-in ... mine does, at least!) I have other radio/MP3 players for which I use a USB cord, so it's convenient.

I've been searching around for another similar, suitable radio/light but nothing else has turned up, so far. And this one has been hard to find, again!