Review: HYmini
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
A few weeks ago, we celebrated Earth Day, and what could be more appropriate for Earth Day than a mobile accessory which will help you do your part to save the Earth one small step at a time. What is it? It’s miniWIZ’s HYmini wind powered battery and miniSOLAR solar powered charger. Initially I was contemplating whether these products should be reviewed separately, but as miniSOLAR is an accessory to the HYmini, it turned out as one review. So what do they have to offer? Just read on!
MiniWIZ is a company that develops “renewable green power technology and sustainable rechargeable systems for handheld digital devices”. They developed a way to power our digital equipment using renewable resources like wind and solar energy.
Here are the contents of HYmini: HYmini, wall charger, retractable USB cable with female plug-in for mini-USB, Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and LG phones.
As you can see below, HYmini has one female adapter port, one USB port (to plug in USB charging cable) and a switch. The switch has three positions: charge via USB, charge HYmini’s built in battery and LED flashlight. I must admit, HYmini’s LED flashlight are quite bright and would be very useful during power outage in the middle of the night.
As an accessory, HYmini also offers miniSOLAR (an external solar panel), arm strap, and bike mount (not pictured here).
Within HYmini, there is a built in 1200mAh battery which will hold a charge either from a wall adapter or through the use of blade that catches the wind’s kinetic energy. Not having a very ‘windy’ day outside? No problem, you can attach miniSOLAR (up to 4 of them) and recharge the battery within HYmini. Of course, for those non-windy and cloudy days, there is also a wall charger to keep HYmini’s battery charged.
This all looks good on paper, but how does it REALLY measure up in real world usage? Does it provide enough power to charge up devices in times of need?
It’s worth mentioning that I have no home phone, so my trusty Glofiish X500+ is my only mode of communication. So far, I have been able to keep my X500+ fully charged for a day and a half without recharging the HYmini. We are talking about a device that in most cases, needs to be charged in the middle of the day because of my phone usage!
Charging the battery performance through HYmini’s blades (using wind’s kinetic energy) was rather difficult to evaluate. When HYmini catches the ‘right’ amount of wind (9mph or above), green LED light lights up.
However, it is very hard to get the device to catch the ‘right’ amount of wind when you are not actively moving. While wind, in general, does blow from one direction, it does have variance. For me, it was very hard to set the device where it would consistently catch the wind. Also, because charging takes place at 9mph wind or above, it would have to be an extremely windy day to charge it. I was never able to get the green LED light show up during the time I tested the device. Perhaps this is the reason that miniWIZ offers an arm band and bike mount as accessories to the HYmini. Unfortunately, I could not get an accurate reading on how quickly I could charge up HYmini’s battery as the charging time differs depending on wind speed you are getting (higher the wind speed, faster battery will charge).
As for the miniSOLAR, the attached cable only has a male adapter. This means you cannot use adapter(s) included to charge your device directly from it. Perhaps this is because while solar power is sufficient to charge the battery built into the HYmini, it does not provide enough energy to charge your device while in use. I was able to fully recharge the unit using one miniSOLAR after about a day. Of course this time would be reduced if you have more than one miniSOLAR.
One hope or wish I have is that there be some kind of casing for miniSOLAR. Solar panels are not suppose to be bent and since miniSOLAR’s outer casing is made out of card board box, it makes it somewhat less transportable. I think aluminum casing for it would be a great accessory and would make it much more portable.
Other accessories for HYmini includes Armband and Bike Holder. Soon to be released are Hand Crank and Car Mount.
What I Like About It
- Eco Friendly.
- Multiple method for recharging.
- Portable.
What Could Be Improved
- Wish there was battery level indicator.
- Wish there were aluminum case for the miniSOLAR
Vital Stats:
| Name: HYminiDeveloper: miniWIZ
Where to Buy: HYmini Price: $49.99 |
Name: miniSOLARDeveloper: miniWIZ
Where to Buy: miniSOLAR Price: $24.99 |
Related posts
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Dear DongHoon
Hello from Melbourne, Australia.
Thanks for your informative review of the Miniwiz HYmini. Your article has inspired me to place an order for 1 HYmini and 1 miniSOLAR. I’m a little apprehensive about this. However, I remain optimistic that the HYmini plus 1 or more miniSOLAR accessories will provide me with enough energy to at least charge my cell phone. I’m passionate about technology, the environment and all forms of learning. Once again, thanks.
Regards, Graham Clark.
Hello Graham Clark,
I’m glad that my review was helpful in your decision to purchase the product. I must admit I was a little apprehensive about the product as well. However, it has proven to me that it DOES have a lot of potentials. I think once the hand crank and car mount is out, it’s potentiality will be much greater. As for miniSOLAR, I am in the same boat as you are. While I think 1 solar panel does its job, I may go ahead and purchase one or two more in the near future.
I hope you enjoy the product as much as I did. Once you get the device, please let us know what you think of it!
Interesting device.
I think most people think of renewable energy as a supplement. (After all, governments aren’t trying to do away with, for example, coal energy. They are trying to make it clean and store away the carbon!)
It’s great that you kept your cell phone charged the whole time you tested the device. Looks like the combination of wind and solar helps turn the trick. It would be wonderful if everybody found ways to take electric use off the grid as much as possible.
Many thanks for the info.
I just bought a HYmini for myself three weeks ago, to my surprise the HYmini doesn’t collect as much energy as I thought it would through the wind. I was so dissapointed that I was about to write a complain to the company behind HYmini, but as I was looking for their e-mail address on their website, I found out that they publicly announce that their HYmini is only a “supplemental power source.” I can’t really say much to that.
After my further dissapointment, I was rather surprised to find out that the miniSOLAR works extremely well! It charges quite a lot of energy, it charged my phone (Sony W580i) from empty to full twice before needing more juice. The one complaint I have is about the packaging of the solar panels. It’s freaking cardboard! What if you leave the damn things outside and it starts pouring? I think the company ran low on their budget so had to make the damn thing ghetto.
Does anyone know if they’re going to make a better version of the Solar soon? Cause I don’t want to purchase another one of those cardboard boxes!
Gabe,
I could not agree with you any more.
Btw, what was your method of charging the HYmini? My assumption is that the more wind it catches the more energy it would collect, but I have yet to test this theory out. Like yourself, I have using the miniSOLAR instead.
As for the miniSOLAR, yes, I too am disappointed with its casing. I do understand their reasoning behind it. After all, it’s suppose to be “renewable energy” accessory, so it does make sense that they made the casing out of recycled cardboard, but I really do wish they had aluminum casing accessory of some sort. After all, solar panels are not meant to be bent or poked. I can totally see myself putting it in a bag and it getting all bent up.
I’m not aware of new versions coming up, but I do know that they are some additional accessories that they are planning on releasing: hand crank and car mount.
DongHoon Shin,
I actually tried the wind turbine (HYmini) yesterday and got it charging for a while, it got charged a fair amount i would say? It charged my iPhone, that was dead, from empty to full, so I guess you have to really get a strong wind going.
I think you’re right about Miniwiz (the company behind it all), since it’s a green product and all that’s probably why they used cardboard, but yeah same here, I wish they use some sort of aluminum casing.
Yeah… I don’t think the solar panels are meant to be carried in bags and stuff. You should just let them charge in the sun (balcony or somewhere outdoor) or like on the dash board of your car, when you go to work everyday. I mean that’s what I do! This way, your solar charges without you having to worry about them! You should totally try that out man!
I bought a HYmini and bike mount two weeks back. The wind blows here all the time, so I’ve tested the mini wind turbine over long periods, now up to 12 hours at up to 35mph (attached to my bike outside). Disapointing. Even after 12 hours at 35mph, it only managed to charge my Nokia two bars. The little green light glows brightly with the promise of green energy, but the return is not worth the plastic used to make the device.
I’ll keep trying it out, but it looks like I should have stuck with my Solio, which can charge the same phone to full twice on about a days collection. Interestingly, you can combine Solio and HYmini attachments and solar feed the HYmini. The Solio has a weather-proof exterior, so makes it much more versatile than the miniSOLAR and has its own battery store too.
Hey Matt,
I’m actually quite surprised that you had a bad experience with the HYmini. I mean, I’m not that surprised with the HYmini as only later did I find out that the company does label the turbine function as not such an efficient aspect of the product. However, I used to have a Solio and discovered that the miniSOLAR panels were a lot more efficient!
It may be perhaps that I have 3 miniSOLAR panels total, so it increases the efficiency. But Solio’s panels have 3 as well, and I still found that the miniSOLAR’s were more efficient when I connected 3 together. No offense, but I think the design of the Solio is quite ugly. The actually clover style is nice, but the color and the size of the thing is just nasty. It’s big bulky and GRAY.
That’s actually what caught my attention about the HYmini products, they were all cool looking with their comic looking pictures and cardboard packaging. yeah.. great idea for a green product. but yeah. give it a shot man!