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Solar Technology

Freeloader Pro

 

Here at UKMA, some of the team are complete gadget junkies and like to use them when out on the bank. With more and more people taking advantage of technology and carrying items within their angling kit such as smartphones, mp3 players, digital cameras and other electronic gadgets, keeping them all powered can mean either transporting around a lead acid battery pack or a leisure battery - both of which add significant weight to the already creaking barrow. With this in mind, UKMA set out to find a more practical solution which will anglers will be more than happy to have tucked away in their bags when on the way to their venue.

After scouring the web looking for solutions that did not cost the earth, we stumbled across the Freeloader Pro from Solar Technology, which on paper ticked all the boxes to what we were looking for. After a phone call to the UK distributors, a Freeloader Pro was winging its way to the UKMA office to be put through its paces.

The Freeloader Pro is a hybrid of two popular bankside charging methods. The first is an inbuilt rechargable battery which stores power in preparation for connecting up to the gadgets that require recharging, the second is solar panel technology to ensure that wherever you are in the world, you can get some charge back into flat batteries completely free of charge using only the power of the Sun.

 

 

Included in the box are:

The solar panels used within the Freeloader Pro are not huge like the suitcase style panels that some anglers are carrying around with them, and have a charging output capacity of 200mA. 200mA may not sound a lot but if you divide the mA rating for the battery that you are going to be charging by 200, you then will reach an approximate time in hours before a full charge is reached i.e. iPhone 4 battery is rated at around 1450mA so would take approximately a little over 7 hours to fully recharge from completely flat in optimal sunlight conditions (although it is not recommended to let any device go totally flat as it will take more power to initially start the battery recharge). If charging from a fully charged internal battery of the Freeloader Pro, you can recharge a smartphone from 10% remaining to full in a little over a couple of hours.

Where the Freeloader Pro stands out from its competitors on the market is that the box also includes what the company call the "CamCaddy". The CamCaddy is a brilliant addition in that it will accept almost every digital camera or camcorder battery available and allow it to be charged via the inbuilt battery or solar panels. To fit the battery to the CamCaddy is a simple task of adjusting the slider on the rear to align the pins, check the polarity switch so that the correct polarity is selected, and then switch the slider on the Freeloader Pro to the 9,5v setting and connect the cable.

The Freeloader Pro main body has been constructed from Aluminium to keep the weight down and is also very compact in size. The total weight of the Freeloader Pro itself is a lightweight 174g. When folded up the dimensions of the item are 150 x 63 x 20mm, which puts it in a similar size range to a small radio or large smartphone. When opened up to solar panel mode, the length of the product then reaches 238mm, which is still a lot less than a leisure battery or car starter jump pack. On the side of the Freeloader Pro, a standard USB port has been added for the supplied cable to plug into, but this can also be used for devices where the 9 supplied connectors are not suitable and a different USB cable is owned. This means that items such as iPhones, iPads or other smartphones or tablets can be charged using their own supplied cables.

 

 

Checking how much power the Freeloader Pro internal battery is holding is a simple job of pressing the silver button on the top of the device and the "halo" of blue lights around the button will illuminate to inform you in quarterly increments of the remaining power. To fully charge the internal battery using the solar panels will take longer than with the USB cable, and during strong sunlight the internal battery can be recharged in around 8 hours. In the traditional UK weather though this is a rough estimate and during cloudy days, the charging time will take significantly longer. When the Freeloader is charging from solar power, one or two sections of the "halo" will illuminate red to inform you of solar power getting to the panels. During testing UKMA found that from virtually flat and in cloudy conditions, we managed to get 75% charge using the solar panels to the internal battery in a little over 12 hours. A 75% charge to the internal battery will give out more than enough to give several hours of use from a mobile phone.

 

Final Thoughts

In all honesty, when I was passed the Freeloader Pro to review, I was a little dubious of the claims as I have owned similar devices in the past that have not been up to what the manufacturers state. With the Freeloader Pro, I made sure that I tested the device in several weather conditions and temperatures, and it performed as I expected it to throughout. After charging the Freeloader Pro up fully first using the USB cable supplied and the Mini USB jack, I used my iPhone so that the battery held 15% charge. Charging the iPhone from 15% to full using the Freeloader internal battery took 115 minutes, which given that the iPhone will only charge when it is actually on and that I had recieved numerous text messages and emails during the charging process, if the handset had been placed in Airplane Mode, the charging time would have been quicker. After leaving the Freeloader Pro outside to charge as soon as dawn came around, I checked the capacity regularly throughout the day in hand and it was almost 12 hours after dawn that the device showed a full "halo". I had more than 12 hours of use (mainly on standby with the odd call coming through) from my phone during the recharging time of the Freeloader to allow me to fully charge the phone overnight again. The next day I left the Freeloader out again charging with the solar panels and connected the CamCaddy to the USB cable and placed my depleted Canon DSLR battery into the cradle. After 6 hours, the battery was fully charged and allowed me to take the remaining pictures that I required.

All in all I cannot find fault with the Freeloader Pro as it does exactly as it says it will do. The recharging times stated by the manufacturers are given under optimum conditions and your own experiences may differ (which is the the same with any electronic equipment that uses batteries).

The Freeloader Pro has a RRP of £69.99 and offers very good value for money, especially when a spare battery for a DSLR camera can cost similar.

 

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