[HD2 Accessories] lusjash:
Another useless gadget

Well, slightly offtopic, but the thread was the closest I could find to post the following.

Recently i bought a wind-charger while on vacation in Paris (a charger that uses wind power while you bike for example to charge itself and then you can charge different devices with it).

And here is my negative review for it:

Well, i was very excited to buy this gadget (costed me 30 EUR). I bike a lot and this was also meant to be used for outdoor hiking activities.

But..

First of all the lack of any type of power meter renders the device unreliable to the point of uselessness. You take the charger outdoors (with a 1200 mAh battery inside) and you have no idea how much of the battery is filled(unless you pre-charge it from mains). But then, if i needed just an external battery, there are definitely better and smaller choices.

Second: You cannot pre-charge the charger from mains and charge the phone simultaneously, nor you can charge your device "on the go"-directly from wind..

Third: You cannot turn on the quite weak led lights in front of the device and charge it simultaneously (so, for example if you bike in the evenings when it is late, you have to chose, either you use it's light for safety, or you charge the device. Ridiculous)

Forth: in the description on Uniross site it is said "Can also be charged through a computer or through wall plug". Well, it can be only charged using supplied wall plug, no wire for computer charging..

Fifth: When fully charged from mains it will charge my discharged HD2 only to 60%, which means that it is less then 60% effective in transferring the charge. Also make sure your device will agree on some 500 mA of charging current (most of them will probably)

Sixth: It does need quite strong wind to charge, it starts to charge when your speed (in no wind condition) gets around 15 km/h. People say it needs some 15 km of ride to be fully charged. How they managed to estimate that the charger is fully charged - i have no idea.

Seventh: The charging indicator (which tells you that the speed is enough for charging), is placed right in front of the charger, so to check whether it charges you have to dangerously lean forward or ask the approaching bikers if they see a green LED light- truly stupid design flaw.

Eighth (the most annoying and stupid): YOU HAVE TO CHARGE IT FROM MAINS FOR SOME 20% BEFORE YOU CAN START CHARGING IT FROM WIND!! Can you imagine how dumb this condition is.. first - there is no way to know how long should i charge it from mains to get the necessary minimum 20%. Then, when i am outdoor and lets say charging the phone - if i use all the juice - the charger will become useless, as there won't be a possibility for another startup charging. Then I have to charge till it is decreased to 20% and use the wind to charge it back. HA! there is now way to know that it is on 20%,10% or 30%... how dumb the design and functioning can be... This is truly a raw device they let out on market. Shame for Uniross.

(i will stop here because it is too late...)

I wish i would have read a review like this before i went and got this piece of ... something... Hope it helps someone else.

Attached is the picture of mine in packaging