vik 

I think going nuts with battery operated devices on tour is needlessly complex and I would just use the AC power grid that's along nearly every paved road, but if the gadets are a necessity the dynohub and charger route is the one I'd use. Solar panels won't charge well on a day that isn't sunny or if your route takes you out of direct sunlight into shaded areas. The dynohub will charge all the time you are riding [day/night/rain/shine] and you can use it on your commuter bike at home to get hassle free lighting.

Best of all it saves you from festooning your bike with solar panels to keep your iPod charged!

Juha

Yes, if there are cafeterias along the way, or you stay at a commercial campsite. But around here it's relatively easy to ride through 1-2 touring day's worth of scenery with perfectly good cell coverage but no way to recharge, short of stopping by a stranger's private house. The few cafes / petrol stations / grocery stores in the area may not be conveniently located vs. your route.

On the other hand, most gizmos today are fine for a couple of days, even when frequently used. GPS is by far the biggest battery hog in my set of battery operated touring stuff. I try to make sure most of my gizmos run on either AAA or AA batteries, so I can switch batteries between them if needed.

--J

vik 

I've always found that when I'm in areas where navigation is tough and there are lots of roads there is also lots of AC power. OTOH when you are someplace more remote the options for roads dwindles - often to one and I only need to check my GPS once every hour or two for about 10 seconds to confirm I am on route so my GPS lasts days on one set of batteries.

I would also recommend a paper map - both as a back up in case your GPS should fail and as a battery free navigation option.

Juha

Very true. Also, I think it's easier to plan a route with paper maps. GPS is more of a backup in my use.

Gotte

I have a torch with an "emergency" usb chager on it. I tried it once on my HTC phone. After cranking for about an hour, with the phone's charging light on, there was actually less battery life.
Best option I've seen is a Nokia bottle dynamo phone charger. It costs £30, and you need a phone pin to USB adaptor (or you need to mod it yourself), but it will work for all USB devices. I know bottle dynamos have their drawbacks, but personally, I'd be prepared to put up with them if need be:

https://shop.nokia.co.uk/webapp/wcs/s...2_-11_70000597

nun

I still use paper maps for navigation, but I have to have my iPhone for entertainment, photos and blogging. I looked at charging devices and simply settled on taking a backup battery. I chose the hypermac mini (https://www.hypermac.com) as it's light and small and will keep my iPhone going for a week. I recharge it whenever I have the chance.

chiroptile

Well.. For those who are interested, I received the iSound battery.. 16000mah.. Weighs 14 ounces on it's own.. Simplygib, I think that's how much your battery weighs as well.. With the wall charger and the USB charging cable, comes out to 1 pound, 4 ounces. Has maybe 10 full charges in it.. Probably a no-go for ultralighters, but if power is a necessity, definitely recommend it.

AdamDZ

How long does it take to fully charge the battery itself?

AdamDZ

BTW, I just found this: a SANYO USB AA charger. Seems like a good companion for this iSound battery if you need to charge up some AAs.

simplygib

Sounds great. Let us know how it works out. I'm about two weeks away from a 6-week tour with mine, so will do the same.

zoltani

For navigating pavement I've yet to see the need for a GPS, but more and more I am liking the idea of heading out into the national forests on dirt, and I can see the usefulness of the GPS. Buying up a bunch of topo or green trails maps that could be out of date and only cover small areas seems like a hassle.

chiroptile

Hey, Adam.. it actually came 75% charged, and I haven't been able to fully discharge it yet. I am leaving on our tour tomorrow, so i'll let you know how it goes. Simplygib.. enjoy your upcoming ride!

wahoonc

I used to buy topo and trail maps of all the wilderness areas that I was planning to hike/bike in. Still have most of those maps. However I agree that a GPS is probably the best bet now. I still use the maps for planning and make make copies of certain sections. I like the Delorme Earthmate PN series GPS for hiking and biking. We have on of the older ones, but it is great for on route use.

Aaron

jharte

Ditto. On my last trip I was able to charge next to Coke machines and ice machines. I've also charged up while enjoying a nice cup of coffee in coffee houses. My trip last year was just over 1,000 mi and my phone never ran out of a charge. I usually carry one of those little socket testers in my tool bag to check for power at city parks.
This year I'm going to take a small solar charger/battery pack to see if it works.

Jerry H.

AdamDZ

I ordered one, too nifty to pass I'll find out soon, although it might take a while to discharge it. But definitely post your experiences too.

tombilcze

I am 2 weeks from my first tour. I toyed a lot with what I wanted for a power supply. I am a tech guy and plan on blogging along the tour. After some research, I opted to purchase 4 - 1900 mah battery backup chargers for my iPhone. They only weigh a few ounces each and are pretty compact. I tested one first and saw that I could get my iPhone charged 2 times with the device. They were dirt cheap on Amazon.com and through several of the Chinese electronics places on eBay. I think I paid about $10 delivered for each. I plan on charging them all up before I depart and then recharging them whenever I get a Chance. Hopefully, restaurants and convenience sites when I stop along the trail. Some nights I will have power to recharge. I am planning on putting my phone in airline mode through the tour and only put it in phone mode when I need to call out. That should preserve the power. It's going to be a let's see if this works thing. I'll be sure to report back.

tombilcze

Great pics Jerry. It makes me more ware that I need to be resourceful when looking for a power source. Who would have thought a nice break along a power pole or parking lot would yield power.

MMACH 5

I got a Hype Dual USB Power Bank at Fry's, last night for $30. It's 5000mAh lithium-polymer. So far, it has charged my iPhone from 20% to 100% twice and all three power bars are still lit (which means 70-100% capacity). I'll repost after I've drained it.

Google only seems to be returning results for the 1200mAh version.
I did find a video, but the one I got is black. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ynDMiyZa3w

MMACH 5

I got three "full" recharges (from 20% to 100%) and one recharge from 20% to 70%.

AdamDZ

I got my iSound today. It came about 1/3 charged so I'm charging it now. It's slightly bigger than I expected, but still manageable. It's not something you'd want to carry in a pocket though.

It has a glossy, iPhone-like finish on both large sides, but not nearly as tough, the plastic is very soft. I managed to scratch mine while unpacking (or it came scratched), don't even know how and when. I expect the glossy finish to be totally ruined under frequent use. The soft bag it comes with offers no protection against sharp items. It's clearly not designed to be rugged or used on the road or on the trail. But if it works I don't care much about the looks.

AdamDZ

That's what I've been doing with my iPhone 3GS last year and I always had juice when needed to make a call or connect to the net, even if I wasn't able to charge it with my solar panel because of the weather. Although sometimes not enough to play some games before bedtime, but 3GS had poor battery, I hope iPhone 4 will be much better. I didn't have any portable power sources back then either. I also charged it whenever I had a chance: shops along the way and bathrooms/showers at the state parks mainly.

So this year, in addition to the solar panel, I will carry the iSound too, and that Tekken gadget as backup (it's only like 5oz without batteries).

AdamDZ

I was wrong, it was more like 50% charged up. There are 4 power level LEDs, the 5th one is just power on/of indicator. It took about 6h to charge. I suspect then it'd take around 12h to fully charge from 0%. So it's an overnight affair easily if it runs out completely out of juice.

For the sake of testing I will use it now exclusively to charge my iPhone from now on until it runs out of juice. Let's see...

dannwilliams

I work at a Costco and this company is there this week, Goal Zero, and this one looks interesting, https://www.goalzero.com/shop/p/11/No...lar-Panel/3:1/
The drawback is it does not have storage, need to buy a battery pack separately. Price is cheaper in Costco than on their website. If anyone else has any experience with this let me know if it is worth buying. I tried a Solio and after a few trips of it not being of much use, I returned to REI.

Brontide

Monoprice flyer from today touched on this subject.

They offer no-frills USB battery packs in 1000 ( $14 ) , 2600 ( $17 ), and 7800 ( $39 ) mAh sizes.

https://www.monoprice.com/products/su...=10831#1083110

Seems like a great alternative. The 2600 for the cost sensitive and the 7800 for those epic travels.

jigou

I've been poking around for info about solar chargers, and stumbled onto this:
https://www.browndoggadgets.com/kits/solar-usb-kit/

I don't know that the single solar cell / Altoids box would do what I want....but it sounds like the guy building it knows his components pretty well, and I'm wondering if talking with him and adding a second or maybe even third solar cell in some way would be enough to charge its batteries, and eventually my cell phone, in a somewhat-timely manner. My key is that (in theory, anyway) I'd like to set it up and have it charging while I'm riding.

Murphy says that as soon as I set that monster Powerfilm array up on my bike, I'd somehow trash it....

Jarrod