Slowburn
How long would it take to charge a car battery?
MimarSinan
@Slowburn How funny!.. I hope it gives you a small peek into the future, though.. Of course, the future of mobility is electric! But with it comes the "cut the wire" mode. And with it I do not need anymore nuclear/coal plants instead I can use whatever method harmless to charge my batteries. Small scale or else...
Brendan Dunphy
" Additionally, it has been approved by the UN International Civil Aviation Organization and the U.S. Department of Transportation as an acceptable carry-on luggage item." So I can't take a can of Butane onboard but I can when its in this thing? Please explain....
mrhuckfin
I'm a BIG fan of fuel cell's and this one seems like one of the better ones? Now let's scale it up and use it to power electric cars, this is the only way they'll ever be viable. :-)
ChristianSFO
@Brendan Dunphy - I saw this on another site: "About the size of a deck of cards, the charger will reportedly cost between $100 and $200, with the plastic replacement butane cartridges costing less than $5. The cartridges, which will be manufactured by cigarette lighter makers, will be sealed in such a way that TSA regulations will allow them to be carried on airplanes, according to Lilliputian."
Skip Michael
Let me see... hummm cost $100 or $200 USD. Just how many batteries can I buy with that amount of money. I would say anywhere between 12 and 25 batteries, and I use what... 1 or 2 batteries per phone lifetime! Doesn't sound much of a bargain to me. It sound insanely stupid to me. Maybe that is what they are counting on, they believe the media saying that we Americans are stupid and lazy and wont use a calculator to figure out how much this thing will cost to operate and what little benefit it provides.
Bryan Paschke
@skip Michael: there IS a niche for these things, even at that price. There ARE those of us who go "back of the beyond" and camp and kayak...Something like this would be REAL NICE for a week trip into the wilderness. Also, this may mean that a butane powered laptop is just around the corner. A laptop with a transfinite battery run time (assuming a small battery + a fuel cell or even a hot-fillable fuel cell) would be VERY nice. I'm tired of the cords.
bio-power jeff
@Skip Michael
I think you might have misunderstood the purpose of this gadget. This is not a battery, but a charger. Instead of hauling bigass external battery packs for tablet pcs and phones, this charger would be very practical for long hikes or travels with no available power sources. And as for the price, I used to have a battery pack for the iPhone 3GS, Mili, and it had about the same energy as the internal 3GS battery but cost roughly 110 dollars(I live in korea, so it might be different in us).
For this price, specs, and size, I think this is competitive in the market for backup chargers and I would seriously consider buying it.
Nathan Jeffree
@ skip Michael.... sorry to rain on your parade, but its about about "charging" your devices, not replacing their batteries.
Charles Barnard
Power output? Voltages? W/lb butane? Exhaust temp/velocity?