Solar Gorilla swings in, powers your laptop

By SmartPlanet on 15 September 2008, 3:45pm

If you've always loved the idea of a Voltaic Systems' £300 Generator bag. The £140 Gorilla is a heavyweight in every sense: it weighs 700g but it's capable of powering a laptop and a mobile simultaneously.

The fold-up design squeezes in two charging sockets, a 24 volt one a 5 Volt USB job. You connect it to your gadgets with one of the 15 supplied adapters, which include most mobiles, iPods and anything else that charges via USB.

Aside from being powerful enough to charge a laptop, one of the best things is that it's water resistant. Oddly, despite solar chargers juicing up slower behind glass, most of them die if left in the rain.

The catch? It doesn't have an internal battery, so you can only charge your gadgets in real time -- unless you stump up £150 for a companion gadget, the Power Gorilla [PDF]. The Power Gorilla is essentially a big battery that -- fully charged by the sun or mains -- should provide 2-6 hours power for your laptop. Its capacity is 21,00mAh in 5v mode and 4,200 in 24v mode.

Expect a SmartPlanet review soon. Officially, the pair go on sale 26 September, but Ethical Superstore appears to be stocking the Solar Gorilla now.

Powertraveller also makes the PowerMonkey-eXplorer, which roundup of the best solar chargers.