External phone battery and a solar panel?

[Gerry H]

I know all devices use different numbers of amps, and about low (<1 A) and high (2A) charging current levels. Phones are bad, heavy, etc. Digital cameras are lighter and more battery efficient. Spotty coverage. Use airplane mode. Turn it off whenever possible. Did that cover all the simple stuff? <heard them before>

That said, those who took external batteries, what size (AH) did you use? Did you consider using a medium capacity battery and topping it off with a solar panel? I have read the math about how long a portable panel will take to charge a battery, and know a battery has to be small-ish to be charged in one day. A friend has one of those small batteries with the 4″ x 6″ panel that takes 3 days to charge when he’s lucky. I currently have a tired 4000 MAH Mophie Pak that gives me about 67% charge.

I plan on BACKUP use of my S7 Edge as an offline GPS (with downloaded maps). Main use will be photos. My phone actually takes darn good pictures, including the full 360 sphere mode that I love using. Here is my best one from Old Rag – https://goo.gl/maps/rHSq3keCs552

[TAG in AZ]

I took a 18000 mAh battery pack. I considered doing what you suggest — taking a smaller battery pack and a solar charger, but at the end of the day, chose to just take the larger battery pack. It really came down to weight. The 18000 mAh battery pack was 10.8 oz and the solar panel with charger was closer to 16 oz. And, the battery pack would work even if it rained all day, every day (which was a possibility during our trip in July).
18000 mAh was plenty for me. I used my iPhone every day to run MapMyHike, Facetime from the top of Baldy with my wife and read ebooks in the evening (~2 pages per night before I fell asleep). I also had an InReach that I used every day to send tracking points and small updates for the families back home. I ended up charging my phone twice and the InReach once. I didn’t need to charge my flashlight, but I had plenty of excess capacity left at the end, so that wouldn’t have been a problem.

[Matthew / BPL]

Yes. That^

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