Outdoor Writing Gear

In lieu of hauling a whole computer out there — and dealing with batteries, solar chargers, and everything else that may well detract you from Nature… what about just bringing a tiny voice recorder — then do the typing when you get back home?

To follow up on Ben’s excellent advice, I have, on occasion, taken my Olympus DS330 voice recorder to keep notes for my journal and have transcribed them back home. The software is compatible with PCs and Macs and the sound file easily converts to MP3. The device uses one triple A battery and one battery would last me several weeks of daily dictation for my business. It weighs just a bit over 2 ounces with the battery installed which is less than half of what my paper journal and pen weigh. This above model has been around for years and most likely superior updated models are available.

This is a particularly good option, in my most humble opinion, when anticipating a busy hike with little down time to collect your thoughts for the day and put them to paper.

I've heard that Alphasmart works well for this, but don't own one. 2 lbs, slim profile and a very long bettery life. My concern would be the tiny screen. http://www.alphasmart.com/products/neo_In.html

Also see: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/technology/circuits/04pogue.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin for info about a fairly lightweight laptop.

Thanks for that tidbit. Though ridiculously heavy for actual use in the field, it could solve many of my base camp needs. Thanks.

As for voice recording, I have tried it and I guess I just need some adjustment. Speaking is not the same as writing, but it does allow me to record a great deal of information.

I would second the recommendation of a voice recorder if you are trying to quickly save impressions, ideas, etc. There are a number of light solid state voice recorders that are light, durable, and can run a long time without changing batteries. You don't need to be seated to use them which can be handy.

If you really want to type I would recommend:

1) PDA + keyboard

If I had to do something like this I would look for an old handspring or palm III which used AAA batteries and had a monochrome display for maximum battery life. Combine that with a folding external keyboard. You get something that is around 13 ounces with a surprising usable keyboard, so / so display, and maybe 60 hours battery life. You could use a more modern PDA / smartphone which would get you a better display at the cost of battery life and maybe a bit of weight.

2) An Alphasmart Neo. http://www.alphasmart.com

2lbs, decent keyboard, modest screen which can do a max of something like 60 char x 6 lines. Something like 700 hours on 3 AA batteries. I think this as the modern trs-80 model 100 or the Cambridge Z88.

3) Alphasmart Dana

2lbs, decent keyboard, decent display for this sort of thing. 25 hours on batteries. Palm OS applications.

4) Pocketmail Composer. http://www.pocketmail.com/

8oz, poor keyboard, 40 character x 8 lines display, built in acoustical model. Long battery life (100s of hours?) Used by a number of people thru hiking as electronic diaries when makes it easy to then email entries.

My advice is basically the same as Ben's, but you can choose your digital camera so it has voice recording capability. I can fit more than 100 hours of good quality mono on a 2G card with the camera I already carry. (Casio EX-Z750). But of course the battery would not last that long.. I used it on my last trip to record the ambient sounds of rivers, wind, etc..

Don't bother with the OLPC… if you're looking that direction a better option would be the Asus EEE… well reviewed in the field (as opposed to the OLPC)…. good battery life… light (~2lbs)… about the same price as the alphasmarts (… depending on how long you will be in the field, you can backup any pics you take (presuming you have a camera)… SDD based so no worries about jacking the HDD…

That or the whole digital voice recorder is good… only problem is, your ability to review what you've "written" appropriately may be hampered….

話題の内容はペンとノートのことですか？

私の場合は、加圧ペンと撥水加工されたメモ用紙を使っています。

加圧ペン
三菱鉛筆製（uni）のPOWER TANKという名称です。３０００ｈPaのガス圧力で押し出されます。上向きや水中でも書けます。＠￥２１０
東京では、ファミリーマートというコンビニ店で容易に入手出来ます。

メモ用紙
１０５ｍｍ*７５ｍｍサイズの紙が40枚綴りになった物を使っています。
Webで、＠￥１５０ぐらいで購入しました。耐水用紙ではありませんが
充分な撥水性があります。雨のしぶきぐらいには大丈夫です。

Brettさんのように、私もデジタルカメラも使います。
匂い以外はほとんど記録出来ています。しかし携帯電話も似たような
機能があり、どちらを使うのか迷う場面もありますね。

Broad translation…

Yukio is asking whether the question concerns pen and notepaper — in which case, he is suggesting the use of Mitsubishi Uni Power Tank Retractable Pen and waterproof paper. But like Brett, Yukio himself uses his digital camera for sound recording, although some cell phones have this function as well.

Amazing how easy it is to decipher Japanese, when one understands Chinese and English, then google and Babel the rest. :)

Yukio — the original question is asking about using some light weight typing device — to AVOID the need for writing on paper. But instead of typing, some of us are suggesting using a recorder instead.

The best writing device I have ever used for hiking and traveling is the Psion 5mx, now long discontinued. The keyboard was just right, the screen just the right size (though much too dark), the system software (EPOC) small and very efficient. Nothing else ever came close and in my opinion the designers of the Psion handheld series were revolutionary. I don’t know why no one has ever come up with anything similar since. The reason Psion stopped making the series was because of aggressive competition from Microsoft, bad management within the Psion organzation, bad placement on the market, and just plain bad luck. Their customer support was notoriously lousy. It’s really too bad. Like so many wonderful ideas it went the way of the dodo.

I now use a Alphasmart Dana for traveling, or an older Alphasmart 3000 for longer trips when batteries are a concern (up to 700 hours), but compared to the Psion they are both too big and heavy for UL trips. Palm handhelds always seemed like toys to me and they never worked well for me for serious writing (I write books). I still mostly use pen and a journal for most of my writing, but like Niall mentinoed earlier, after several hours my hand does tend to get very tired. On my trip in the Alps this summer I used the pen Yukio described and a Moleskine sketcher’s notebook. A small keyboard would have been wonderful for the times when the shaking of the train made it hard to write, I wanted to work on several projects at the same time, or I wanted to send a number of emails quickly. Here in Japan I have an excellent cell phone (it has a TV inside), but it is absolutely awful for writing in English (Japanese seems intrinsically made for predictive text writing on a cell phone and inputs much faster), though I’ve heard quite a few people have written novels with them.

Right now I’m eagerly awaiting the rumored Mac Mini Portable. I don’t much about it, it if it is what I’ve heard it said it is, then it might very well be what I’m looking for (though I doubt, with a color screen, it will have a very good battery life… not like the Alphasmart 3000)

Then there is something like the “DigiMemo Digital Writing Pad” or the “Aiptek GT-AIPADA4 Digital Writing Pad”, which allows you to write normally by hand and store your words digitally. As an illustrator this is particularly attractive to me, since I prefer to draw by hand, not using a drawing tablet.