Ampy

No.

I am always skeptical of those wonders. They claim that they generate lots of energy, but they never promise just how much you'll get.

–B.G.–

Bump

Any thoughts as to whether Ampy would generate enough juice to keep a cell phone topped off on a thru hike?

It's claimed to weight 140 grams.

It says the battery stores 1000mha, about 1/3 my phone battery. If the Ampy charges fast enough and battery use conservative, you *might* be able to top a phone off as part of nightly chores.

Kinetic energy is appealing!

I can tell you The Ampy does not really work.  Even though it did not have good reviews and it was expensive I just had to try it for my self.  I have always been intrigued with some way to charge my phone on the trail. I used a Suntactics to charge my phone on a through hike of the PCT a couple of years ago. It worked reasonable well in Southern Cal but as I move north under the trees, clouds, and lower sun it become useless.  The Ampy weighed in on my scale at 7.1 OZ which is 1 oz less than the Suntactics.

Well I just got back from a 19 mile day hike and it did seem to charge it a little. One light out of 4 was lit.  I put it my sock next to my ankle thinking that would give it the most movement.  It was not the most comfortable place to put it but I wanted to give it the best chance possible. When I plugged it into my Iphone 6+ I got 1% out of it before it quit.  I know the battery in it works because I charged it from the wall and got a 40% boost on my phone which is what I would expect since the Iphone battery is about twice the size of the Ampy battery.

I looked it up and it takes about 100 calories to charge and Iphone 6.  My phone app says i burned 2,300 calories ( it was pretty flat). So I would have to some how get 5% of my energy diverted to my phone.  This seems almost impossible unless I was on a treadmill generated electricity.  I wouldn’t mind hearing from some of you if my figures sound right and let me know if Kinetic energy could ever be a viable way to get electricity while walking.