We’ve seen many eco-friendly, renewable energy, portable
charging solutions. And we can all concoct scenarios where these devices are invaluable
and scenarios where they’re completely useless. Take solar charging, for
instance; a fantastic method of collecting energy, capable of just lying there
on your dash or your picnic table and bumping up the battery bar but there’s a
whole slew of situations where such a method is not just impractical but
impossible. Then there’s wind energy, which is so fickle that you’d have to be
half mad to plan on recouping lost power that way. But combine the two in a
versatile, portable unit and you just might be onto something, as Kinesis
Industries is with the K3 Charger.
The K3 Charger is a solar/wind hybrid charger designed for
iPods, iPhones, cell phones and digital cameras via USB. Such a combination of
power sources epitomizes the K3 as a versatile charger, putting it head and
shoulders above other such devices [though on this point the pricing becomes a
significant factor and as of this moment the K3 has no pricing details available].The
charger itself is small enough to fit in your glovebox or purse. In addition to
renewable charging solutions, the K3 Charger also provides an AC charging
adapter so you can top up your batteries before you leave home. The combined
solar/wind approach provides 30 minutes of talk time/300 minutes of music with a
single hour of charging time.
Perhaps even more impressive than the hybrid power
harvesting system is that a fully charged K3 can charge a cell phone an
impressive five times over, according to the company. They also claim that the
same charge can recharge an iPod ten times over.
Making the K3 Charger even more indispensible is that with
its USB connections, travellers can enjoy fully-charged gadgets without the
hassle of international adapters. This fact alone means more storage space and
more savings.
With a fitting release date of June, the K3 Charger is
poised to be the de facto eco-charger with an admirable charging time, a myriad
list of supported devices, and a significant amount of power storage. And if
the sun and the wind fail you, you can always blow really, really hard.
