Need help with UL electronics setup for thru-hike

The Anker PowerIQ 2-port chargers are very good and very fast.  Dunno if they are the lightest. The Anker cables are also well thought of and durable. The best cheap cables I’ve found are Amazon basics, and although completely up to the task, they are not of super high quality and comparitively stiff.

I’ve been using a 4″ Amazon Basics USB to Lightning cable for about 2 years without incident.

I don’t know if you’ve seen this, but it’s kind of cool….2 USB port adapter and battery charger all in one.  Don’t know if you plan on doing any solar charging  or not, though.

https://www.anker.com/products/A1621011

A couple of random thoughts. Not suggesting all of these at once as they don’t necessarily fit together but some might help:

<li style=”list-style-type: none;”>
<li style=”list-style-type: none;”>

• Why do you need to charge your phone so often? It should be off most of the time as it won’t work most of the time.  Not sure how long you plan to be out but assuming 20mi/day you could probably get away with only 2-3 charges if you keep it off most of the time which opens possibilities of not bringing charging equipment on your hike but instead mailing it drop to drop.
• A prepaid basic phone weighs 1/2 the iphone 5, has much longer battery life and some have replaceable batteries so you don’t have to waste time charging in town and can just swap and go at your food drop.
• Bring a ipod nano at 25g and 30 hours of life for music then you won’t have to turn on your phone
• Carry an extra camera battery (they weigh a lot less than all that charging equipment) or better yet, mail several to your drops so you don’t need bulky and heavy chargers and can just swap out at your drops.
• If you are looking for an AC charger to use in town, why not just mail it to your mail drop so you charge then drop it back in the mail?
• A delorme inReach works everywhere, weighs the same as a phone and has many weeks of battery life if you turn it off when not using it. You can rent them, send “I made it, having a great time” type messages to save typing time and mail your iphone from drop to drop for longer messages.

Sorry to be a bit off topic but I saved 10.5oz off my kit by really thinking through what electronics I actually need and how to power them so I hope this helps you lighten up a bit.

Chuckle – and I save even more weight by not bringing any electronics. I am trying to exercise my legs, not my thumbs.

Cheers

I wish that were possible but alas, it’s not. Family that needs to stay in touch (and thus allow more trips), businesses to run and tinnitus that doesn’t allow sleep without music to mask it; we’ve all go reasons to bring some things that others might not But totally agree that like everything else UL, we need to be very discerning in what we carry and have a real good reason why we do!

“Chuckle – and I save even more weight by not bringing any electronics. I am trying to exercise my legs, not my thumbs.”

So those pics you post Rog are actually drawings/paintings you do on your trips and not photographs from one of those electronic camera thingies? How impressive!

To the OP, Colin makes some excellent suggestions. I assume you’re going to do some trips before your thru, so use whatever you bring during those trips as you plan on using them on your thru, this will give you good, base data on how often you might need to charge. One thing you should also do, if you haven’t already, is turn the brightness way down on your phone. The screen is one of the biggest battery draws on a smartphone, you can help limit that by turning the brightness way down.

Some have definitely taken an all in one charger/battery. There are several on the market. That Anker (fusion) one is probably good. For a separate small dual charger, Aukey sells a popular one but is 12 watts, not the 24 watts of the Anker one linked above.

There are past threads but I know they are hard to search for now. On Amazon there are short cords that have both micro usb and lightning.

Other threads

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/what-dual-usb-charger-do-you-use/

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/99580/

David- a 5,000 mAh battery is cutting close for what you need. You need to account 15-20% for lost power of the charger itself. I would recommend a 10,000 mAh battery to meet your needs (at minimum size up another 1,500 mAh).

For chargers, I have experience with the Anker and Svance models. The Svance is 1oz lighter and has a digital readout of battery life left and is dual USB.

My absolute all time favorite charger is the all in one RavPower 9000 Savior although it’s the heaviest of the 3 I mention. However,  it has a built in lightning cable and a built in plug. There is also a USB port. On my thru hike last year, I carried that with a 1ft cable.

This is the battery pack I use for hiking now, easily the lightest 10000 mah I’ve found.

@tomw: Tom, no issues with the lightning cable on the Savior? Several Amazon reviews mention it breaking off or just being a pain in the butt to position correctly. I’m vacillating between the Anker 5000 fusion and the Savior 9000 at the moment…. 3oz diff between the two and 5000 is prolly enough for my one iPhone SE for a week at a time of low usage.

Thanks!

Andrea

Chuckle – and I save even more weight by not bringing any electronics. I am trying to exercise my legs, not my thumbs.

Roger,

You’re a dinosaur. So am I, other than a P&S camera. But, you usually do long trips with your wife, so no need for communication electronics.

I don’t have much in the way for backpacking electronics other than a camera and headlamp. But spending almost 18 years as a business road warrior, I do have a lot of “retired” electronics.

My wife and I have been discussing me doing a long thru hike in a couple years. That is going to require me to check in at least once a week. I would probably want at least a 10,000 mAh power supply, which doesn’t weigh much more than a small camera and couple that with around a 7-10 watt solar panel. I have a Goal Zero Nomad 7 that is fairly robust and does output the stated specs. A large enough battery bank that can last through periods of little or no sun is the better option IMO. I would need a cable for my iPhone. My RX100 camera batteries last quite a while as do the 3 AAA batteries in my headlamp. I would probably bounce spare batteries for the two items. If my iPhone had replaceable batteries, spare batteries would be a better option than the brick.

I have something in the works soon (knock on wood). Since I’ll be writing a bit and uploading entries, a smart device will be part of the gear kit.   I plan on taking a 10k rated device for my charging needs. I think it will be more than adequate for how I plan to use it.

Lower priced mobile phones (such as purchased at Cricket, Virgin Mobile) still use replaceable batteries. Less expensive and lighter than more feature rich phones. Depending on a person’s needs, the lower priced phones may be a better option unless you need/want a better camera, faster operation, larger screen,  more GB capacity, etc.

A  point of reference: For work, my on-call phone has a 4″ screen, is about as fast as an iPhone 5 circa 2012, and cost $35. The batteries were about $5-10 ea on Amazon.  The trade-off is that the camera is OK, and the GB capacity is smaller as well in addition to the smaller screen. Just another option that could work, though.    (Work wants to install software on my personal phone. I politely declined and bought the cheap phone instead. Surprised how well it works esp for the price)

Another point of reference:   Interesting cultural references. My former wife grew up in Eastern Europe when it was communist.  Her family sneaked in what was then West German when she was about 12. All she wanted was a plan, and a phone call when I was back in phone range. She had a different concept of tracking people and thoughts about it than most Americans. :)

A person I was dating recently, born and raised in the USA, said if we were to date more, she’d want me to get a SPOT or similar. :D

I have the lightweight anker and this one, which has a degree of waterproofing. Both work well for 10k of power.

I’ve been using an 18650 battery pack that takes external batteries. That way you can choose to bring only one battery for short trips, or 4 batteries for week long trips. I’ve been in the electric car and bike space for awhile so I’m familiar with batteries and how often these companies quote a higher mAh than what their product is capable of. Not only do you know what you’re getting when you get your own quality (Panasonic, LG, or Samsung) 18650 cells but it’s impossible to beat them for energy density:

A person I was dating recently, born and raised in the USA, said if we were to date more, she’d want me to get a SPOT or similar.

Sounds like a deal breaker if I ever heard one!