Competition reviews are not good.
Hand-wound cell phone chargers
IST SideWinder cell phone charger
IST SideWinderEditor's rating: 5.3
The good: Compact and light; reusable; LED throws 5 minutes of light after a couple minutes of cranking.
The bad: Tough to crank; several minutes of cranking gave us only a few minutes of phone life; won't work on a completely dead phone battery.
The bottom line: The IST SideWinder might be small, reusable, and environmentally friendly, but we never got a decent cell phone charge from the device.
This crank-driven emergency cell phone charger seems like the ideal choice for a chatter who's stranded on, say, a deserted country road and needs to squeeze a call out of a dead handset. But while we got sore fingers from furiously cranking the IST SideWinder ($25), overall we couldn't get enough of a charge to even place a call for more than a few minutes.
The compact, lightweight SideWinder (2.3 by 1.8 by 1.5 inches, 2.2 ounces) comes in a translucent blue plastic shell, which is curved slightly for a better fit in your palm. On the right side of the SideWinder is a small crank that folds into the casing when it's not in use. On top are a small power port and a white LED that provides 5 minutes of illumination after cranking--great for dark environments. The charger also comes with a small lanyard and a vinyl carrying case.
Setup is relatively simple: Just plug one end of the included cable into the IST power port, then attach the other end to your handset's AC input. Adapters for most Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Audiovox, Kyocera, and Samsung phones are included, but you should check exact compatibility with your phone before buying. Next, you extend the small plastic handle and begin cranking at about two revolutions per second. After 2 minutes of cranking, you're supposed to get about 6 minutes of talk time and 30 minutes of standby time.
Unfortunately, the IST SideWinder won't work on a completely dead battery. We attached the charger to a drained Motorola V600 and cranked diligently for about 2 minutes. The crank was a bit stiff, and our fingers began to get sore at about the 1-minute mark. We then hit the Moto's power button; the handset powered up fine but died as soon as we started dialing. We then cranked for another 2 minutes, during which our fingers begged for mercy, and the SideWinder grew noticeably hot--again, no dice.
The IST SideWinder performed marginally better with a battery that had a few seconds of juice left. We tested it with the Samsung MM-A920 and got about 3 minutes of power after 2 minutes of cranking. Still, it was barely enough time to make a decent emergency call. We would have kept cranking until we got a decent charge, but frankly, our arms were rubber after the fruitless 5-minute workout.
ElectroHiFi SOSCharger
ElectroHiFi SOSChargerEditor's rating: 5.6
The good: Small and compact; crank drive makes the charger reusable; LED produces a few minutes of light after 2 to 3 minutes of cranking.
The bad: Tough to crank; several minutes of cranking gave us mere minutes of phone life; won't revive a completely dead battery.
The bottom line: Like the nearly identical SideWinder, the ElectroHiFi SOSCharger delivered a minimal charge in exchange for several minutes of cranking.
Closely resembling the crank-driven IST SideWinder, the ElectroHiFi SOSCharger ($20) also suffered from reliability issues. After several minutes of cranking, this palm-size charger managed to charge our Motorola V600 handset for only a few seconds, though our Sony Ericsson S710a lit up for longer. While we're all for reusable, environmentally friendly sources of power for our portable electronics, they're not much good if they can't deliver the juice.
The ElectroHiFi SOSCharger is essentially an exact copy of the SideWinder. Measuring a compact 2.3 by 1.8 by 1.5 inches and weighing in at 2.5 ounces (slightly heavier than the SideWinder), the SOSCharger comes in both silver and translucent blue.The plastic shell is curved for a better ergonomic fit and small crank folded into the side. And like the SideWinder, there's a white LED and a power port on top of the device. The charger comes with a small lanyard but no carrying case (like the one that comes with the SideWinder).
Setting up the ElectroHiFi SOSCharger is a snap; just attach the included power cord from the charger to your phone's AC input. Adapters for various phone makers, such as Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Audiovox, Kyocera, and Samsung, are included. Once the power cable is all set, you unfold the small handle and begin cranking.
According to the ElectroHiFi SOSCharger's specs, 3 minutes of cranking should get you between 2 and 8 minutes of talk time. Just as with the SideWinder, however, the SOSCharger came up disappointingly empty on a dead battery. The device won't deliver enough juice to power our depleted Motorola V600 for more than a few seconds; by the time we started dialing a number, the phone went dark. We tried cranking for another 3 minutes, but again, our V600 died within moments. On the other hand, when using it with a near-dead Sony Ericsson S710a, we got enough power for a quick 6-minute call.
