Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies - MiniPak Handheld Portable Fuel Cell Power Charger

This device does almost exactly what it is supposed to and does it very well. It is small, light, and will charge a cell phone without releasing any odors or generating a significant amount of heat. Each cartridge is rated for 3000 mah. I used one to charge my cellphone (the wonderful Nokia 920 which has a 2000 mah battery) from 15% charge to 100%. It took 5 hours. I unscrewed the cartridge which supposedly can be stored for many years without losing potency like a battery would. The next day I used the remaining hydrogen in the cartridge starting at 30% phone charge. It ran out at 58%. Assuming the phone charging is linear, I got 85% and 28%, sum 113% of 2000 mah is obviously a bit less that the 3000 spec. You get one cell phone charge with a little left over.Each cartridge costs $12. If I was to take it on a camping trip I'd need one for every day or two obviously adding to the total investment the first time. If I had a repeated use for it I would buy the $270 device to "refill" the cartridges (only one at a time, 4 hours each). Without frequent need, it doesn't make sense to spend the $270. Although it is apparently safe and legal to take the cartridges on a plane, I read somewhere that you are only supposed to have 2 cartridges in your luggage. That would rule out most of camping trips you fly to if you don't cheat and take more.Did I mention that Horizon's customer service is great. They promptly answered each time I asked a question by email.So it's a great device that unfortunately will in my opinion have limited use for me. I like the idea of having it stashed in my house and/or my car as an emergency charger in the event of a power failure or dead car battery. Thus I have ordered more o the cartridges. It would be good for Wilderness camping trips, but I don't go on that many. Most of my camping trips have access to the power grid at least once a day which make this device unnecessary and probably less useful than an external battery pack.

Even though the package shows the hydrostik, it came without it, so there was no way of using it. When I did receive the hydrostik, it was not filled with hydrogen, so I still can't generate electrical power with the device.

I get that many of you people who bought this item may be disappointed about not getting the fuel cell with the charger, and also having an uncharged fuel cell. BUT the one thing your forgetting is that is you transport these cells full, a single leak could cause extreme damage because it does have hydrogen. Lastly you need to know no person is going to refill these cells unless they have a hydrogen tank on sight, but your actually supposed to buy the hydrolyzer or basicly a fuel cell recharger which runs off a desktop with little water using electrolysis. So to cap off, before you buy this you will need a hydrolizer or hydrogen tank and gauge and a couple fuel cell.

You can't use this product without the main charger, over $ 300.00. Each cell will charge a phone, I bought it for my son "educational", not so, everything is self contained, you can't see it work, even with the main charger, it's like charging a battery, you plug it in and when it's done use it, that's it.

I am unclear what happened, but I received a new unit, and a "HydroStik" for Christmas. Just pulled them out to try it, and it just won't work. I follow the instructions, and I get no LEDs. No red. No blue. Nothing. The cartridge is firmly installed.Sadly, as a gift, I am not able to process for a return, but needless to say, from my sample size n=1, I am not pleased with the quality of this product.

Mine did not work at all!