I live near the mountains and recall several instances where lost hikers called for help on their cell phones. And in some cases, the hikers' phones eventually ran out of battery power before they were located. For hikers, and any cell phone user who may find themselves far from a charging source, Innovative Solutions' SideWinder can effectively give you more talk time.

The portable cell phone charger weighs 2.5 ounces and is
compact and easy to carry. You simply connect the
charger to your cell phone, flip out a crank and wind it up.
Two minutes of crank time gives you six minutes of cell
phone talk time. Another useful feature, the charger
comes with a useful LED light that runs for five minutes
after 30 seconds of charging. The device is also a
portable mini-flashlight.

The charger comes with four adapters to fit popular phones from Nokia, Audiovox, Kyocera, Motorola, Sony/Ericsson, and Samsung. The device worked well with my daughter's Nokia phone. However, my Motorola phone said that the charger was incompatible and didn't work. By the way, the charger makes a considerable amount of noise as you crank it. But if you really need your phone, who cares?

I was mostly impressed with the SideWinder. You never know when such a device may come in handy.

3/4/04 Wayne Kawamoto, Managing Editor

peripheral review - SideWinder