External battery charger advice?

[Travis]

I am planning a backpacking trip with my family and now we need

an external battery charger in our pack list? Do you guys have any

good one to recommend?

[Aaron Zagrodnick]

Hey Travis,

Do you know what you need to recharge, and how often you think you'll need to do so by chance? I usually just take extra batteries for shorter trips when needed, and anything I take that has a built-in, non-replaceable battery lasts me a really long time if I'm careful. But if the trip length will be on the longer side or I expect heavier electronics usage I leave out the extra batteries and just throw in the PowerFilm Solar Charger. You can check out details on our review Here.

[Rick-Pittsburgh]

I typically use Goal Zero's Nomad 7 w/the Guide 10, or a Nomad 13 w/the Sherpa 50. May I ask what it is that you are trying to keep charged? This will have a tremendous bearing on what type of device you may need to look at.

As Aaron stated some devices can last a really long time. I typically leave my phone, etc off until I truly need it. Then use it and shut it back off. Cold can also zap a phone very quick. I was in my tent last winter and my phone was at 3/4 charge when I went to sleep and was dead when I woke. Temps were in the low teens and if I took windchill into account probably less.

If you are going to be out in cold weather I strongly advise that you keep your electronics as close to your body as possible and sleep with them in the footbox of your sleeping bag.

Solar is great but a lush canopy, cloud cover, so on and so forth can all hinder the effectiveness of these devices substantially.

Edited October 24, 2013 by Rick-Pittsburgh

[Travis]

Hey Travis,

Do you know what you need to recharge, and how often you think you'll need to do so by chance? I usually just take extra batteries for shorter trips when needed, and anything I take that has a built-in, non-replaceable battery lasts me a really long time if I'm careful. But if the trip length will be on the longer side or I expect heavier electronics usage I leave out the extra batteries and just throw in the PowerFilm Solar Charger.

I am a medium tech user, but I would bring my phone and tabs with me so there's quite a lot to be counted. Your solar charger is great, but it's not the right fit for me, too large for me. I think I'll stick to a normal external battery charger. Around 10000mAh would be nice to me.

[Travis]

It's a bit tricky that at the end I got a filehub. I picked this one because it has the file sharing and it even includes the battery charging function, so fulfills many of my needs. There's one thing good about this filehub than other eye-fi/flash-fi is it's flexible in the storage. I can insert either an SD card or a USB storage.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AQUMZRA/ Before I got it in hand, I checked an review from Cnet, and after that I got one. http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57608897-285/how-to-add-more-storage-to-an-ios-device/

[Draco]

I have a Goal Zero as well. My research showed that the technology they use is the more efficient of the two kinds. And they do work. However they have their limitations. You have to set them in direct sun light and it has to be pretty high in the sky. It takes a couple of hours to fully charge my iPhone. The problem of course being that stopping for lunch is not going to be long enough to get much of a charge. Hanging from your pack does nothing because it just does not get direct enough light. I have found the best technique is to turn the phone off when not in use and put in airplane mode except when actually making a call. I can get a week using that technique.

[frogpockets]

i like the looks of this one.on my wish list.

http://www.flamestower.com/FAQ/