I got one at a woot off once. Works great for charging my Ipod and DS on the go.
I bought a couple of these the last time they were up and I actually use them to power my dsl modem and router when the power goes out. An hour is about as long as I needed them, and they did that with no problem. Great for charging a cell phone on the run to. The only thing even slightly negative about them is the interference that they produce. Basically makes listening to a boom box unbearable.
You should buy them. 8.5 outta 10 on my scorecard.
I went in for a pair last April. Never had to use them for their suggested uses (and honestly, who wants to lug one of these around all day?), but on a whim I plugged in one of those twisty CFL bulbs that draws 13W but puts out the light output of a 60W standard bulb (using a $2 light bulb adaptor), and what do you know, it worked just fine, just like the “real” thing, except exactly the same.
I put it aside, wondering when I’d ever really need to use it (camping, I suppose, but I haven’t done that in years). Then, several weeks ago, during a storm, the power went out for an hour or so. So out came the Rube Goldberg lamp, and it lit a 15x15 room pretty nicely, without going out. So forget about the iPod and cell phone stuff that most people will never use this for. It’s basically a backup light source during blackouts. And camping trips you never go on. And the Rapture, I suppose.
Nice woot, have one of these but never need to use it since battery time on cells and mp3 players is pretty long now days.
Well, it says it can deliver 20 watts for 3 minutes. Given that your laptop probably pulls at least 60 watts, that’s about 1 minute of power.
Something tells me, not gonna do it for ya.
So how do you recharge this gadget? Do you just plug it in or do you use batteries? I’m praying it will be able to provide my laptop with a little extra juice for plane rides? Is this possible if I use it with my laptop battery at the same time?
When a storm knocked my power out last month, I was able to get enough juice out of mine to recharge my cell phone 3/4 of the way (using the AC outlet), and it had been sitting on the shelf for at least six weeks.
Like everyone else shot down all my hopes and dreams… the two of these, with their powers combined captain planet style, MIGHT give us an extra 2 minutes of use…
Negatory, this little guy holds very very small charges best for cell phones and mp3 players. Your laptop would best benefit from a back up batt pack. I have a small one from Belkin that gives me about 25 extra mins of juice on the macbook pro 17 screen which isnt bad as long as the brightness is down
HUR HUR SEPTEMBER FOOLS!
I bet someone at woot got a giggle off surprising us with more of these…damnit.
even though I still lol’d.
roflmao…i wonder how long it would keep running for…
Can u charge a laptop with this 2?
Bought these on here - haven’t used them
Well hopefully it can recharge my iPhone at least…my backup entertainment source. That new 3G takes more fuel than my obnoxious SUV.
did you guys not get rid of these things on April Fools day? These are reminding me more and more of Leak Frogs… they’re EVERYWHERE!
I got 3 of these back in April, good to charge a cell phone with when the power goes out (like it did during Gustav) but other than that I’ve had no other use for’em, gave one away as a gift. Kinda neat but I have no need for another. Pass
I was wondering if anybody had any information as to how many times I would be able to recharge my iPod video with one of these? I am traveling overseas soon and if one of these could charge my iPod 2 or 3 times, it would be much easier to take one of these than to track down the right power adapter. Thanks!
You’ll just need a giant daisy chain of these guys… and, y’know, run an experiment to see where the asymptote towards gain is. It would be pretty amusing!
how many millions of these are in woot’s warehouse? I swear we’ll be seeing these 5 years from now
Bought these last time around. Useful for keeping your devices going while waiting in long lines at conventions. Love 'em. Limited uses? Sure, but a 20-watt AC outlet in your pocket is far better than none.