If the idea of leaving your phone with Orange for a while doesn’t appeal (there may be queues to use the facility, or simply you don’t want to be parted from your phone, or you want to charge something else), then you’ll need to consider your own charging options.

Freeloader chargers

Firstly, there’s the Freeloader Charger, currently on offer at Maplin, and shown above.  This will recharge itself from the sun, and then you can use the device to charge your gadgets and phones (it comes with roughly 10 adaptors to fit the majority of devices you would have).  It also can be recharged via USB before you go.  The freeloader comes in Silver or pink.  It will take some while to charge itself (5 hours is stated), which might be too long to wait.

In that case, you’ll need to add the Freeloader Supercharger, which attaches to your bike or rucksack, and will charge your Freeloader much faster (it’s listed as 4 hours, but we would expect a greater difference between the two, so one of them must be stretching the truth).  This comes in green or pink, and includes it’s own case.  If you want a case for the Freeloader to protect it too, they are also available in the same green and pink (but not silver strangely).

Other gadgets

What else has Maplin got for the good weather: a Solar powered fan, a solar powered clock (designed for outdoor usage), a solar powered torch (which also functions as an alarm clock).  Finally, if you are worried about losing children, you might want to look at the Loc8tor Lite, which comes with 2 tags, and you can then use the control unit to locate the 2 tags (and hence whatever is attached to the tag).

Any special offers are valid until July, although if you want them in time for Glastonbury, you’ll need to buy them fast (some offers may be website exclusives).

This entry was posted on Friday, June 20th, 2008 at 2:37 pm and is filed under Gadgets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.