Price: $27.99 - $24.99
(as of Jul 04, 2024 19:12:07 UTC – Details)
Product Description …
Customers say
Customers like the charging adapter for its performance, quality and brightness. They mention that it charges their solar powered watch to full, works great for Casio watches and that the construction is good. They are also satisfied with ease of use, and weight. However, some customers have different opinions on value and temperature.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Locoboy5150 –
Just what I need.
I received my Amazon order for two of these chargers and I immediately tried them out. Each one can be powered in three ways:1. Mini USB cable.2. 4.5 V DC power supply.3. 2 AAA batteries.When you use the AAA batteries, only four of the LEDs will light up. I don’t know how well the four LEDs charge a solar watch because I only tested my chargers with the batteries to make sure that the battery terminals were making good contact. I never ran them for any length of time with the AAA batteries. For the long term test, I powered my two chargers with one of these Vivitar USB chargers that has two 2 A USB outputs:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005GCMYAG/ref=cm_cd_asin_lnkNote that if you plan on getting a dual USB output charger similar to what I bought, look carefully at the current output through the two USB ports. I found that most of the units do not have a full 2 A output from both USB ports. Most of them have 2 A from one and 1 A from the second one. Ideally, you want as much current as possible (2 A) from both USB ports. The Vivitar one that I mentioned above was one of the few with that option. Despite what the Amazon reviewers said, I have had absolutely no problems with the one that I bought.The solar watch LED chargers are made from very thin black plastic and they are very light weight. I would not even think about taking them on vacation with me because I don’t think that they’d survive bouncing around in a suitcase. They are plenty durable enough for what I intend to do with them though – sit on my dresser and charge up my Casio, Seiko, and Citizen solar watches once a month.I put two of my most favorite Citizen Eco Drive dive watches on the new chargers: my Eco Zilla and my Promaster Aqualand Depth Meter diver. Both watches rested on top of the chargers’ rubber bezels without extending beyond the bezels’ outer edges. The chargers’ rubber bezels are great because they did not scratch my watch bezels. The LED chargers worked great! I have never run my solar watch batteries down very far (that will shorten the life of them) but my depth meter dive watch has a power reserve meter on it and it was down to about 75% charge before I started my test. After about three hours on the LED charger, the meter was up to a full 100%.Even though my two watches were fully charged up, I decided to leave them on the LED chargers for a full 24 hours. After sitting on the chargers for the full 24 hours, my watches were only a little bit warm and not dangerously so. This is a major benefit to using these LED chargers versus leaving solar watches on a windowsill where they can really cook. Also, unlike sunlight, LEDs do not give out UV light so they will not fade watch dials and hands. Fading hands is a big problem with some Citizen Eco Drive dive watches with bright orange minute hands if they are left on a windowsill repeatedly for recharging.The chargers come with two different sized rubber bezels. Supposedly one is for woman’s watches and one is for men’s watches. I only used the larger one for men’s watches and it worked just fine. It was able to accommodate both my largest watch (the 50 mm Aqualand Depth Meter BN2021-03E diver that I ran my first test on) and my smallest watch (a 40 mm Citizen BN0000-04H diver.) Both fit just fine though the larger watch rested on the highest top surface of the rubber bezel, while the smaller one fit down low inside the bezel on its sloped/inclined surface. All of my other solar powered watches in between those sizes fit just fine on the chargers.When resting my large Aqualand Depth Meter and Eco Zilla watches on the chargers, the bumps on the surfaces of the bezels caused the bezels to not sit 100% flush against the chargers’ rubber bezels all the way around. Those gaps between the watch bezels and charger bezels let some of the light from the LEDs shine out and into my bedroom. My wife complained about the light on the ceiling last night when she was first went to bed but after she shut her eyes, she fell asleep in a few minutes. She slept just fine throughout the night so the light spilling out from the chargers may seem like a lot at first, but once you close your eyes you won’t notice it. My smaller watches like the 40 mm Citizen diver I mentioned before that fit within the bezel did not have nearly as much light spill out. Also, in theory, a watch bezel that is perfectly smooth will rest completely flush against the charger bezel and prevent any light from shining out and into the room. None of my solar watches have smooth bezels so I did not get the chance to test out that theory.So I give these little solar watch chargers two thumbs up. For what they are, they’re not the cheapest things out there, but if they keep my solar watch batteries from going dead and keep my watch hands and dials from fading, they’re a great buy.Some of the negative comments/reviews for these solar chargers say to just leave solar watches on a window sill to recharge them. Here is my reply to that idea:Putting a solar watch on a window sill exposes it to lots of UV light. That harsh UV light can fade the dial and hands if they are brightly colored, as are the minute hands on several of my solar diving watches. There are pictures on the internet of badly faded dive watch dials and hands from people that made the mistake of using a window sill to recharge their watches. Unlike sunlight, LEDs like what are used in this charger do not give out a lot of UV light (some sources say that LEDs do not put out any UV light) and thus they will not fade anything that they illuminate. Also, if you have a Citizen Eco Drive watch, the instructions clearly state to avoid charging the watch in an area that becomes hot like a car dashboard. A window sill in direct sunlight can easily become just as hot as a dashboard. Too much heat is not good for the movement in solar watches.Of course, you can just wear a solar watch to recharge it (unless you’re nocturnal) but when you’re a watch collector, usually you have too many watches in your collection and your solar ones only come up in the rotation every few months at most. As a result they don’t get the necessary wrist time to sufficiently keep their batteries fully charged between the times that they are worn. Letting solar watch batteries die repeatedly will drastically shorten their life. As others have found out the hard way, these chargers will not fix a completely dead rechargeable battery in a solar watch.
Jack Byers –
Excellent Product
This will charge my Gshock watches so quick and it will help tired solar batteries 💯
RICHARD NEFF –
Works great!
Very fast charging. Nice item.
R. Frazier –
Like the product, errors in the info
I’ll start by saying I like the product but with the caveat I’ve only used it a few hours. It may have started life as a head lamp rather than a watch charger. I don’t mind that. It does charge the watch. My Casio GShock was at a medium charge level. The watch only shows low, medium, high so it could have been at the high end of medium. It moved to high within less than an hour. It could have been at the low end of high, but it was changing. It might take much longer to fully charge the watch. I’m leaving the watch on for several hours to hopefully charge all the way up. So, at first glance the unit seems to be working OK. Some reviews mention overheating. My charger and watch get warm. Nothing more. One review mentioned the charger damaging a watch. Thus far, I haven’t had a problem with that. I have not tried the unit in the battery switch position, only the USB switch position. It works fine with a USB battery bank.I docked one star off my rating because of errors in the ad and documentation.Light output: Lumens is a light measurement many people know. It refers to total light output. A 100 W equivalent LED light bulb (about 16 actual watts) puts out a total of about 1600 lumens. 1 Lux is 1 Lumen per square meter. So, it accounts for area of the beam. I looked at several videos about the difference between lumens and lux and my eyes started to cross. Don’t get hung up on the numbers.Problem 1: Ad says 30,000 Lux. Manual says 40,000 Lux. They should at least be the same. As a consumer familiar with light bulbs, which are usually rated in lumens, and not beam lights, I cannot say if this number is accurate. I will note though that this unit only has to produce very bright light over about 1 square inch, and it does do this. Do NOT look directly into it. The info says it replaces the sun. A bit of googling says the sun puts out about 100,000 lux, so I find this claim dubious. As an example, the sun has trillions of total lumens, but only 100,000 reach the Earth in our particular direction.Problem 2: The info says the USB input is a MINI plug. It’s actually MICRO, which is more common. That’s fine with me, but I ended up buying a cable I didn’t need because of that.Problem 3: The ad mentions a 4.5 V AC input, but the label on the device says 4.5V DC. I assume DC is correct. The barrel plug connector seems a bit redundant when you can just run this off of micro USB.So, bottom line, I like the device from first impression. It seems to do what it claims. The ad and docs have errors in them. Hope this helps.
MaX –
Works very well
I have set my Casio watches in the sun for days and could never get them to a full charge. 12 hours and my most hard to charge watches are at full charge for the first time. The watches are slightly warm to the touch but not as hot as watches left in a strong sunlight. I hesitated getting this device but, it does a great job.
DanMV –
Great for getting a full charge!
The first weekend after getting this charger I charged 3 watches; 2 Casios and 1 Citizen. I left the watches on for 6 to 8 hours each and they each charged to a full charge. The Citizen was completely dead when I charged it. The watches were warm to the touch, but not excessively hot. While charging very little, if any, light escaped around the edges of the watches. Each of these watches are larger in size, so a smaller dial watch may leak some light. There is a smaller “gasket” included that would help with smaller dial watches. Overall, I’m very pleased with this charger and would recommend it.
Amazon Customer –
Perfect 🤌
Circling back to this product after 4.5 years of use.The TL;DR is that this product works & works well.No longer need to worry about how to charge solar powered watches when the weather, seasons (this far north we only have 8 hours of sunlight in the winter), heat, or inconveniently placed windows complicate charging.I’ve used it for all my g-shock watches, citizen eco-drive, & garmin fenix with perfect results & faster charging than I would otherwise be able to attain.Construction is good, I’ve had zero mechanical or LED failures in all this time & I don’t baby it, been knocked off the desk numerous times as a result of clumsiness, a**hole cats, & wagging dog tails.Cheap, easy, ideal solution. Worth every penny.
Brent –
I’m using it with my Seiko Astron Cal 7X52. It seems ideal. The watch temperature is below Seiko’s maximum of 60C. The large adapter ring fits nicely and prevents light escaping. It’s expensive for what it actually is but it’s a specialty item with a limited market.
ALMARQUEZ –
Excelente producto carga los reloges solares muy bien
Reinaldo Michelis –
Funciona perfeitamente, tem excelente qualidade, muito prático. Vale o que custa pois a satisfação é certa.
Bookman –
Citizen eco drive watch wasn’t charging fully even when left on window sill albeit in winter sun and thought it needed battery replacement but decided to try this first. Very impressed, left it charging overnight and watch has been restored to proper operation. After a week watch is still keeping its charge at normal level.
Overlord –
La lámpara cumple con lo que dice, probada en los Casio G-shock 5610, B5600, 6900, 9300 y en el 1300 Protrek.El vendedor de 10, perfecto y el envÃÂo muy rápido, antes de la fecha prevista.