The PowerMonkey

Besides my Nokia & my Palm T|X, there’s 1 more gadget I cannot leave home without … the gadget that is literally so useful that everyone I show it to asks me where I got it!

Imagine this common scenario: you’re out of the office for some time & you’re about to receive an important business call - the problem is your cellphone’s battery is about to die. Or you’re in a overnight flight, your iPod’s battery’s died & you’re forced to listen to the plane’s music channels on those stupid earphones. Or you’re on a roll on that Sony PSP game & you get a warning that the battery’s about to give up. That’s the time that PowerTraveller’s PowerMonkey pays for itself.

The PowerMonkey is a portable recharge device with the ability to charge virtually any mobile device, hold a charge for over 6 months, and be recharged virtually anywhere.

Simply plug in the recharge adapter - which has 4 interchangeable international power plugs, to work in over 150 countries - or the included USB-adapter, and let your PowerMonkey charge for a few hours. Toss this small & lightweight device into its handy travel pouch, stick it in your bag or glove compartment & forget it; until you need to charge up your cellphone, PDA, iPod, PSP or a wide range of portable devices.

Included are 8 ‘MonkeyNut’ converter tips for Nokia, mini Nokia, Motorola v66, Samsung E900, Siemens C25, Sony Ericsson wide, mini USB, normal USB, Sony PSP & a direct iPod adapter - so you can pretty much charge up the most popular devices when you open the box. And even if you don’t have one of the these devices, you can buy more ‘MonkeyNut’ converter tips from the Powertraveller website.

Amazingly, the fully-charged the PowerMonkey claims to deliver up to 96 hours standby time on a mobile phone, 40 hours on an iPod, 6 hours to a Sony PSP, 2 full charges on a PDA & give the power for 1600 photos on a digital camera. Now, while I haven’t experimented with all these devices, I know for a fact that it can fully charge my Nokia 6230i at least once - I’ve been able to go 5 days without recharging my phone from it’s plug-in adapter.

This is definitely the 1 device that I would take absolutely everywhere I travel (which is a lot)as an ‘insurance policy’. I now only have to pack 1 adapter into my bag, saving space. I never have to leave my phone unattended while it’s charging - it charges in my pocket - so there’s less risk of theft. Plus, I never have to be disconnected from my business due to a dead device!

Bonus: Now charge your mobile devices even during ‘load shedding’…

Apparently, everyone in the UK now has a PowerMonkey but I haven’t seen anyone in South Africa who has one. Which is a pity, because they’re not expensive.

The PowerMonkey is available from Incredible Connection, Digital Planet, or ZAStore for about R 640,00.

The PowerMonkey-eXplorer takes where the original PowerMonkey left off & has the added feature of a recharging solar panel, so you may NEVER have to plug a device in! It’s definitely worth the additional R 200,00.

Check out PowerTraveller.com for the full “PowerPrimate” range (they even charge laptops!) & a whole bunch of really clever & invaluable travel gear, including mobile speakers, torches, laptop bags, adapters & DVD players. If you travel with a ton of mobile toys, like I do, you’ll definitely find useful gadgets here!

Guest review by Marcel Oudejans

Ed’s Note: This review was conducted by a loyal Nudjit reader. The views represented in this review do not represent those of Nudjit.

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Filed Under Featured Reviews, Other Gadgets, Stuff