Greenlight Planet Sun King Pro an Portable Solar Lantern Plus USB Charger

Solar charging the device Most importantly, the solar charging works--in direct sunlight and behind a window. The solar panel cord is really long which makes it easy to set up without having to move the lamp for charging. You could easily have the panel set up to charge on one side/wall of a 14 x 14 ft. bedroom and the lamp on a desk against another wall in the room. The solar panel is a bit smaller than a 5-subject notebook and is very lightweight and portable. Actual dimensions are provided by amazon. The lamp (the yellow part with the light in the amazon picture) acts as a battery and lets you know on a scale from 1-5 how good your light source is while solar charging--great feature. In direct sunlight it was a 5, behind a south-facing bedroom window I got some 3's but mostly 4's from 9 a.m. to about 2 p.m. on a sunny day. The fact that it charged behind a window at all made me pretty happy as some solar charging devices do not. The only downside with the solar panel is the wattage. It is only 2.5W which is extremely low. However, even with the low wattage, the product charges just fine for it's purpose--to charge the lamp for light or a cell phone. Cell phone charging I have only hooked up my Samsung galaxy ring (smartphone) with the cord that came with the lamp. It would charge from 25% to 50% in about 3 hours. You can charge your phone while the lamp is solar charging or when it not charging but it does take several hours off the quoted remaining hours of light. (The lamp tells you how many hours of light power remain.) Lamp light There are three brightness settings on the lamp. One button turns the lamp to all three settings (and off). Press once and you get to level 1 which is quite bright for the lowest setting and likely too bright to be used as a nightlight. (There are two smaller solar-powered lamps offered by Greenlight Planet if you want a nightlight but they do not charge cell phones and I have not tried either of them myself.) Per the # of hours quoted on the lamp and the manufacturer claims the lamp should provide light at this lowest level for 30 hours at full charge. I have not tested this 30 hours claim on my own. Press the button again and you get the next light brightness level--about 17 hours at full charge. Press the button a third time and you get the brightest level. The third level of light is surprisingly bright all things considered. I am quite satisfied with the brightness actually but it is less bright with just this one lamp than I am accustomed to. I would compare it to the brightness of a 70W bulb maybe in a regular house lamp. In my experience, the average american bedroom ceiling light fixture has three or four bulbs to brighten the room so if you want that level of brightness you would need three to four of these lamps. The third level reads 8 hours at full charge. If you want to read a book or something with just this lamp it would have to be relatively close by--maybe within 3 ft. or so on a nightstand if you are reading in bed. But it does brighten the room up quite well. Press the button again and the light will turn off. The lamp base I really like the lamp base design. It allows you to hang the lamp from a bar or some other mount without having to mess with it much at all. The lamp also detaches very easily from the base to be used as a flashlight or to attach to or put in a bag to take with you (camping maybe). Other comments and overall quality The lamp is lightweight and extremely portable with a hand strap for easy carrying. Since the light is for use as a lamp its use as a flashlight would be tainted by the fact that the light is not concentrated like a flashlight. As a lamp it is just fine. Quality seems good. Neither the plastic lamp nor the solar panel feel fragile. I let a toddler walk around the house with the lamp detached from the base and was not afraid of it getting broken. I wouldn't have the same confidence with the solar panel of course. Overall: Great product. ****Update 9/15/2015**** Overall I still really like this product and actually plan on buying another one. However, the charge indicator did stop working a few months ago--maybe a year after I bought the product. So I never know the level of charge that it is getting. But I have never had an issue with the lamp not lighting up so the solar panel is still working and the lamp still works great. I haven't tried to charge my phone with it in a while mainly because of a phone issue (whenever I use an external charger other than the wall charger my phone doesn't want to accept the wall charger --this issue is not related to the lamp in any way.)

I bought this light on recommendation of a coworker who was involved in the MIT study of solar lights designed to help in poverty alleviation in developing countries. (The original study no longer appears to be online for some reason.) For me, it's been a fantastic light to have in our shed. The light hangs from a rafter with the solar panel situated outside in full view of the sun. On high, the Sun King provides plenty of illumination for the 8' by 10' space, and the clever bracket makes it easy to move the light to shine where I need it. In terms of USB charging, be warned that while it comes with a variety of charging tips, none of them are for Apple products, either past (30 pin) or current (Lightning). There are mini and micro USB connectors and a few phone-specific connectors for "feature phones," not smart phones. In any event, be prepared to supply your own charging cable. Also note that the current output on this device isn't high. I tested both my earlier generation Pro and the current model (just arrived today) and while charging my iPhone 5S, both report just under 4.5 volts and .49 amps of current, or just short of 2.5 watts total power. USB 2.0 ports are rated at 5 volts at .5 amps (my Lenovo laptop delivers 4.99 volts at .49 amps when charging the phone.) This means most phones will *probably* charge using the Sun King's port, but they likely will charge slowly. And if you're *using* the phone while charging, it may just cause the battery to die more slowly. I'd advise testing your device in the charging port after you receive the light, just to make sure it will work for you. Summary: Pros: * Bright enough for a small room or relatively close reading * Durable (survived a couple falls to my shed floor just fine, at any rate) * USB port for charging portable devices * Simple but functional stand/bracket Cons: * USB output is at the bare minimum of useful for modern phones * No Apple-compatible charging tips - provide your own cables

Excelent product! Performs as expected! Quick delivery . I will use it daily In the fall and winter months.

great product, good light, clever charge indicators