Kopernik

Lights for Midwives  October 14, 2010

“An overwhelming majority of the midwives at Bairo Pite Clinic are happy with their solar lanterns. They all appreciate the brightness of the light as well as the duration for which the light stays on at no cost. Many requested for more solar lights to be distributed and used in the clinic. ”

Light up rural Kenyan households and schools  October 11, 2010

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Light up Oecusse - Phase 1  October 24, 2010

“Many people have said that they would like to be able to use the S250 d.light to charge their Alcatel mobile phones, and have asked that a cable compatible with Alcatel mobile phones be made available in the future. The majority of mobile phones used in Oecusse are Alcatel, as they are the cheapest phone sold by Timor Telecom. Some people have reported that they don’t like the small S10 d.light, as it doesn’t provide much light in comparison to the large S250 d.light and it doesn’t charge phones. They would like the small light to be able to charge phones. The other concern that people have is with fixing the lights when they break or when the batteries stop working. They would like FEEO and Kopernik to provide training on how to fix the lights.”

Light up Oecusse - Special Project Phase 3  April 21, 2011

“d.light is simple to use, easy to carry everywhere and very helpful for everyone, especially kids and mothers.”

Bring Clean, Bright Light to Atauro  May 11, 2011

“The distribution of d.light S250 has resulted in both economic and social impact on the residents of Atauro. Access to the d.light S250 has facilitated an avenue to save money by reducing expenses, to make money through the creation of income-generating activities in the evening, to increase the potential of children by adding study time and to secure a brighter future by providing light without dangerous fumes. ”

Providing light for remote areas  May 11, 2011

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January 22, 2013

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Easy to use, the light lasts for hours and is bright enough to light up a large room!

Source: Tia G. via impactreview.org

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December 26, 2012

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Seems like a good light so far, but it is missing the AC adapter (it claims to be chargable via AC). There is no info about how to obtain the correct AC charger for this item either. Some seem to have gotten a charger and some have not from what i see in the other reviews. With the the ac adapter i would upgrade it to 4 or 5 stars... but without it product is lacking.

Source: Linda via amazon.com

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December 2, 2012

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My wife and I use these all the time. Work great as flashlights and for reading while camping. It does take two days to recharge them completely but then they are good to go for a month or so. I also use them for working in tight spaces like under kitchen sinks. They light up the whole area and do not have to be held like a flashlight. Great product.

Source: Denrnr via amazon.com

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November 22, 2012

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Likes:

-4 power settings with the low setting providing up to 100 hours of light before recharging

-superior solar panel for faster charging

-luminosity of light on high. The 250 designation might refer to lumens. It is much brighter than our 200 lumen rated lantern.

-option to recharge through AC charger. We just happen to have a charger that works with this light, but we need to use an adapter.

Dislikes:

-connectors at both ends of solar panel look flimsy

-lamp is not waterproof

-no crank recharging capability If you are looking for a powerful solar lamp that has relatively quick solar charging times, the d. light S250 is hard to beat.

Out of the three solar lamps I own, this is the only one that gets 5 stars. The solar charging keeps the lamp charged for daily use and the light is bright for short time use and can be adjusted to a lower setting for longer time usage. Overall, a great solar lamp.

Source: Big Sur Steve via amazon.com

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November 1, 2012

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This product lasted a little over a year. We loved it up until then. Can't get an answer to our email. Save your money. Figures made in China.

Source: Carey Smith via amazon.com

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August 28, 2012

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I received the d.Light S250 Solar Lantern last week and am very impressed with the performance of the lantern so far. I am also inspired by d.Light's mission and wish them every success.

It took less than 4 1/2 hours (10am-2:30pm; clear sky; 89 degrees Farenheit) to charge the lantern after I had completely discharged it. It ran on the "High" setting for 7 1/2 hours, far exceeding the promised 4 hours. However, one of the major reasons that I purchased this model over all the others in the market was that it offers the capability of charging cell-phones. However, of the 6 different adapters that were included there is nothing that the solar panel can plug into. So I appear to be missing at least one piece. Neither the package nor the website lists or displays all the included adapters. So I do not know which piece/s I am missing. I am unable to use the panel to charge a Verizon cell-phone or even my MP3 player which has a regular USB port for charging. I see an adapter that can be inserted into the MP3 player and another that can be inserted into the Verizon cell phone but there is nothing that interfaces with the solar panel. The website states, "Should your mobile phone require a different connector, individual adapters can also be purchased separately."

However, they are not in the product listing on their website and it is not clear how I can go about purchasing them. I am giving it 4 stars because although the lantern is excellent, there is no product listing and an incomplete set of adapters.

October 5, 2012 It turned out that I needed to plug the cell-phone or MP3 player into the solar lantern rather than the solar panel. That seemed counter-intuitive to me at first. I did succeed in charging a cell-phone in 3 stages, i.e. I needed to charge and drain the solar lantern thrice in order to charge a cell-phone from empty to full. I now give it 5 stars.

Source: Christina via amazon.com

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July 26, 2012

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I had this on my wish list, and I'm so happy with it! Four light settings, extra connecting plugs for charging other items, was charged on arrival so I could play with it... I'm delighted.

Update: There were no instructions and I'm a little dense. The cell phone connectors plug into the light not the solar panel.

As for the light, I'm really pleased with it. The dim setting lights up enough I don't stub my toes in the night and the brightest setting is enough to light up room well enough to pick up toys after the kids go to bed, walk the dog, and basically get by with out a plug in electric light. Camping or black out or just saving on metered electricity - it's awesome!

Source: Terrie via amazon.com

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July 5, 2012

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Out of the box, I loved this product. It's well designed, easy-to-use, and seemed to be pretty rugged. I charged it on wall power, and put it back in the box for an emergency.

Fourteen months later (just after the warranty expired, natch), we lost power, so I fired it up and enjoyed the light it provided. The next day, when power was restored, I plugged it back in to the wall for a recharge, but it won't take a charge now, and is completely dead.

Source: C. Jaccard via amazon.com

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May 31, 2012

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I already own two of the d.light S10 lanterns and I love them. I thought I would try out the S250 because it seemed like it would be even better than the S10's. First of all I was surprised when I opened the box at how small this is. I was expecting a bigger lantern. The most disappointing thing for me was the performance of the solar panel. The S10 lamps will charge in just about any type of light conditions. As long as they are outside they always seems to be taking a charge. They will even charge up inside under a table lamp or fluorescent bulb. Not so with the S250. This solar panel is very inefficient and will only charge in direct sunlight. I had it outside on a very bright day and could only get it to charge the lamp unless it was pointed directly towards the sun. The lantern itself seems well built. I like the design and the unit was able to charge my cell phones right out of the box. But the issue with the solar panel kills it for me. This might be great in the tropics, but for me in the Northeastern U.S., I need a more efficient solar panel.

Source: Christopher Paquette via amazon.com

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August 9, 2011

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I really wanted these lamps to be all that they were talked up to be... but I was a bit disappointed. I have a small nonprofit in rural Haiti and I needed these lights to be really dependable as we have no electricity. Once it's night out where we work, it's very dark and light is crucial to our productivity. It's been about 6 months and the lights have served us well, but I wanted to say I'm not sure if I'd buy them again. The light part is good. I like the different settings, but I will say that the first one is dim, which is sometimes useful, but then the three other settings are bright and there's not much difference. Would be great to have a medium brightness, rather than one dim and three bright.

I got two of them and only one of them came with a plug-in charger. I thought this was strange, but didn't think much of it until the small solar panels got stolen. Then I really needed the plug-in charger to get these lamps charged off our occasional generator. I wish they were packaged correctly and I had gotten two chargers with the two lamps.

Then, one of the lamps just stopped charging my Nokia phone. The phone charging feature was great for me. It saved me a lot of stress to not have to worry about how I could get my phone charged next. My other electronics can wait for the generator we use, but the phone has to be charged all the time so people can reach me. I consulted a friend that knows the products well and he was also stumped as to why it didn't charge phones anymore.

Basically, if you're in a remote area and need these to be high-performing lamps that will last forever, be careful. I still like the company, but I am going to explore other options now since I need to replace them. (Need to replace them because our panels were stolen, but not completely sure I'll buy the same ones because of these issues.)

Source: Catherine A. Hsu via amazon.com

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April 27, 2011

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This is a great light when it works. Had it for 5 months before it died. It's very lite. I left it with the solar charger plugged in. I took it camping and it was dead. I hardly used the light ( I turned it on once for about a minute)! It came with an AC charger and it charged the light with no problems. The AC charger and solar charger works on the S10 lights also. I contacted customer support and have not received a response.

Update 6-1-2011: I was able to reach customer support and they sent me a new one. I give them another two stars for that! They told me NOT to leave the solar panel plugged into the S250 for long periods of sunlight over weeks. Apparently the unit has not shut off when the battery is topped off. Hopefully the newer models will resolve this problem.

Source: L. Locke via amazon.com

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