Jetyo Offers HDV-T900 Solar Powered Camcorder [Solar Camcorder Records in 720p, But No Optical Zoom And Long Recharge Time]

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Straight from Shenzhen comes this unique little camcorder. A big complaint that environmentalists have against consumer electronics isn’t just their manufacturing process, but also their power demands that they place on the old coal-burning power plants. Chinese outfit Jetyo has come out with this unique solar-powered camcorder, but it has some drawbacks.

Admittedly, the HDV-T900 solar camcorder isn’t light on it’s recording chops. It can record 720p video at 30 fps. It uses SDHC cards and can handle cards up to 32GB. Like most HD camcorders (and other devices that record HD), it has an HDMI-out port so you can put your HD content directly onto a bigger screen. It records in MOV format, and I’m assuming it uses H.264 for its HD encoding.

For still images, it has the equivalent of a 5-megapixel censor. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have a optical zoom – as the lens is fixed. It does offer a 8x digital zoom, which you could use in a pinch (at the cost of image quality). It has a 3-inch widescreen (16:9) viewfinder.

Now, regarding the solar charger. As you can see, it folds out like the image above. Unfortunately, it the solar panels (or ‘panel’, singular) only provides 120mA of current. The camcorder itself uses four AAA batteries. Engadget did the math, and figured that for the solar panel to fully recharge those four AAA batteries, it would take 25 hours. Ouch!

So the solar panel is more of a gimmick than an actual green-friendly way to use your consumer electronics. If you’re interested in ordering one, you have to contact Jetyo, but they look to be only selling them in volume.