INTRODUCTION

   Summer is almost here and so just like every other summer in the past we've all started to look around for gadgets that will make your life easier during your long awaited vacations by the beach. With the sun being the dominant feature of the summer period our eyes and minds are of course turned towards solar powered gadgets and although there aren't that many reputable manufacturers out there that offer such products still we did manage to find a few to test their products. Up until 2 years ago the popularity of portable battery packs was not really that great but with the continuous advancement of tablets and smartphones today pretty much every person i know of owns at least one. Xtorm may not be a name that many of us have heard in the past but they are a well-established manufacturer of power banks inside the EU and today we will be testing their latest offering called the LAVA CHARGER.

   Xtorm is part of the Dutch company A-solar bv and was founded in 2008 with the idea that today more and more mobile devices come to the market, which requires a lot of power. To contribute to the environment we have searched for durable applications to provide a solution to this problem. Meanwhile we are the manufacturer in the field of innovative and practical solar and power solutions for everyday use. We bring a complete range of affordable and user-friendly consumer products on the market that simply charged from solar power and USB. The products with the brand Xtorm have a contemporary character and are of high quality.

   The LAVA CHARGER is basically a portable power bank featuring a 4000mAh lithium-polymer battery that can be recharged either via USB or via the built in solar panels. Unfortunately the one thing that many people may find insufficient right from the get go is the capacity of the lithium polymer battery but the Xtorm people have explained to us that even 4000mAh would take quite a bit to recharge using the power of the sun so a larger capacity battery wasn't needed. Personally the only reason i would accept such a low capacity battery would be size and since thanks to the placement of the solar panels the LAVA CHARGER is quite small i don't have a problem with that. Does however the LAVA CHARGER has what it takes for people to turn to solar charged portable battery packs? Well after 7 days of testing we think we can answer that question.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The box comes with a product image at the front right next to some of the features including the battery capacity.

At the rear of the box we see a list of devices you can charge with the LAVA CHARGER, its specifications table and a few words about it in 7 languages.

The front opens like a book to reveal the device behind a clear plastic and the included power adapters.

Inside the box you will find the LAVA CHARGER, 8 power adapters, USB cable, thank you paper and the instructions manual.

THE LAVA CHARGER

Xtorm has dressed the 152mm long, 91mm wide, 19mm thick and 240g heavy LAVA CHARGER with a nice rubber coat.

To have an idea about how large a 4000mAh solar charged power bank is compared to how it would be if it had a larger capacity we decided to compare the LAVA CHARGER to the MP-S23000A 23000mAh solar charger battery by XTPower.

The small screen at the top of the device is illuminated and is used to show the current battery level.

You can recharge the device by using the hardwired USB cable found on the left side.

Likewise on the right side there's a microUSB cable that can be used to charge compatible devices.

The LAVA CHARGER has two USB outputs a 2.1A one ideal for tablets and larger devices and an 1.0A suitable for smartphones (the on/off battery status button is placed right between them).

The solar panels are conveniently placed on the interior of the device so you will need to open it as seen above in order to use them.

Since our photo bench has lights almost rated at 800W it didn't take long for the panels to start charging the device.

CONCLUSION

   Although after 7 days of testing the LAVA CHARGER we can say with certainty that Xtorm has designed and manufactured a solid solar charged power bank not all is perfect. So while on one hand the build quality, size, design and available connectors are things we really liked a lot on the other the capacity still seems as too low especially since even after 4 charge cycles the device could just recharge the NOKIA Lumia 520 twice and some more. To be precise after testing the LAVA CHARGER with various smartphones and tablets we found that the actually battery capacity is at around 3000mAh and not 4000mAh (expected really since no PowerBank offers the exact amount advertised). However after fully charging the device using the solar panels we do see where Xtorm is coming from since it took roughly 7 hours under strong sunlight to recharge the LAVA CHARGER so one can imaging just how long it would take to charge a battery with twice as much juice or more.

   Currently you can find the LAVA CHARGER by Xtorm for 79Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk) but much like many other EU based manufacturers Xtorm doesn't sell their products in the USA (at least not until the time of this review). Overall largely thanks to its quality, design, size and available connectors (including the hardwired ones) the LAVA CHARGER is a very good solar and USB powered PowerBank even though its somewhat low battery capacity may not appeal to everyone out there. Personally i too think that's the main problem with the LAVA CHARGER which is why it walks with our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Design
- Size
- Solar & USB Powered
- LCD Screen
- Hardwired Connectors
- Bundled Connectors

CONS

- Availability Outside Of the EU
- Battery Capacity