Its about as useful as a solar powered torch! (Silverpoint Solar Trio Solar Charged LED Torch)

Member Name: Gerardus

Product:	Silverpoint Solar Trio Solar Charged LED Torch
Date:	27/01/09 (113 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Should have utilised a sustainable energy source

Disadvantages: Very dim for a torch and didn't charge my mobile

Well after three positive reviews so far in my DooYoo career, I am sorry to say this is my first negative review...

I am a bit of a geek when it comes to checking out new gadgets and technology that that may help look after the environment. After all like the rest of us I have a vested interest.

So it was partly this interest and partly your average blokes "gullibility for a gimmick", that saw me get sucked in by the Silverpoint Solar-Energy Flashlight. Not only did it act like a torch (I was going to type "work as a torch" but that is not the case as I now know). But you could also use it to charge your mobile phone... Apparently.

Well lets start with its primary function... As a torch it is rubbish. It has three settings 1 LED, 3 LEDs or Flash. The idea that if you don't need much light and want it to last longer you use 1 LED. For a stronger light but shorter battery life use 3 LEDs and if you are trying to attract attention in an emergency (or at a rave perhaps) use the flash mode.

Problem Number 1:

When sitting in a small bedroom with the torch switched on with 3 LEDs (marketed as "Super-bright") The torch beam is barely visible on the opposite wall. Never mind when using 1 LED.

When I saw this (lack) performance I couldn't believe it and I put it down to the poor British summer we had last year (when I was testing this torch out). However since then i took it all the way to Africa to ensure it wasn't due to the lack of solar energy available for charging (these are the lengths I go to, to give a product a chance). ...But no the torch was still dim at best. Put it this way you have to hold it pretty close to a book if you want to read with it.

Problem Number 2:

It also markets itself as a Mobile phone charger (connectors included for Samsung A300 SIEMENS C35, Motorola V998, Sony-Ericsson T28 and Nokia and Nokia slim). Well it may have a connector for my Nokia phone. But it wouldn't charge it. It does say on the back "if not charging, there is no sufficient power in the battery. Well thanks for that, but as I said above i had left this torch to charge for the requested time in the sun of the Masai mara, Kenya and there was still apparently not enough power in the battery!

Well I feel that I have now had a good rant, but I am truly sorry I have to be so negative. I sincerely hope that I simply got a duff torch but I'm afraid that this product did very little of what it claimed and is pretty useless. Come to think of it is was reduced to half price when I bought it so perhaps that tells its own story.

Summary: Good idea but a long long way to go...