Mini Gorilla portable charging device October 2009

The Mini Gorilla is the latest in charging solutions from the company that has also produced the Power Gorilla multi-device charger and the Motor Monkey, the in-car multi-device charger. It’s available from Amazon and costs around £90.

The Mini Gorilla is designed to provide you with extra power for your electronic gadgets – such as MP3 players, laptops or netbooks and mobile phones – when on the go. It also protects these devices against damage that can be incurred when plugging them into a plug socket with a voltage that isn’t suited to them – something that’s quite common when travelling overseas.

What you can charge with the Mini Gorilla

Take the Mini Gorilla out of the box and you’ll be impressed with how well built it feels. It feels solid and has a protective rubber casing but also comes with a soft case to offer further protection when in transit. The case has net pockets on the inside that can be used to carry any necessary cable adaptors.

The Mini Gorilla comes with around 20 adaptors and converters, so you can plug it into just about any common electronic device – including LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia mobile phones. It can also be used to plug into portable games consoles such as the Nintendo Lite, the Sony PSP and the Sony PSP Go. Check out our games consoles reviews for more information on these products.

You can charge iPods, except those with Firewire connections, as well as some digital cameras, camcorders and portable DVD players. A more comprehensive list can be found in the instruction manual, which is clearly laid out.

The Mini Gorilla can be used to charge Apple Mac laptops and netbooks, though you’ll need to by a separate MagSafe airline adaptor (available from Apple’s website for around £30).

Using the Mini Gorilla while travelling

The Mini Gorilla also comes with four mains adaptors:

• Type G - the commonly recognised three-pin variety used in the UK and Ireland. This type of adaptor is also used in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Malta and Cyprus.
• Type I - the ungrounded two V-shaped prong adaptor used in Australia, NZ, Argentina and some other countries.
• Type A - the two flat, parallel-pinned adaptor used in North and Central America and Japan.
• Type C - the plug with two rounded prongs that’s used all over Europe except where the type G plug is used.

While many electronic devices will work in countries that operate on voltages different from the UK’s 240, they rarely work to their full potential and can be irrevocably damaged if used for prolonged periods – hairdryers are particularly susceptible to this. The Mini Gorilla can take charge from a number of mains outputs, and can then be set to the voltage best suited to your portable device, which protects it from damage.

The Mini Gorilla has a few other protective features included. It features voltage and current limitation and a short-circuiting function, and will cut out when over-heated or over-charged.

Mini Gorilla charging time

To charge the Mini Gorilla from the mains will take around five hours, and it can increase a laptop’s battery life by about five hours – though this will largely depend on the laptop’s specifications and the applications it’s running.

The screen on the front of the Mini Gorilla clearly lets you see how much power it has left – much like the battery symbols that are often used on mobile phones.

Pros: Well built, compact, versatile, can protect devices designed to operate on 240 volts when travelling

Cons: Expensive, could end up being an unused gift as many people may rely on back-up batteries and several chargers