How do you keep your phones charged?

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KelanAnzures
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How do you keep your phones charged?

Post by KelanAnzures »

Hey all, I'm planning on doing some over night 14er camping trips this upcoming summer and even on short day trips I notice that my phone battery is quickly depleted due to picture taking, looking over routes, and just general use. How do you keep your phones/cameras charged for extended periods of time? I have seen the solar chargers, but they look a little pricey unless they perform very well. Thanks for any input or recomendations!
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rijaca
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Re: How do you keep your phones charged?

Post by rijaca »

KelanAnzures wrote: How do you keep your phones charged for extended periods of time? Thanks for any input or recomendations!
Don't turn them on.
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the women 'round here start looking good"
DSeyfried
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Re: How do you keep your phones charged?

Post by DSeyfried »

Put it on Airplane mode and download the trail map on the 14er app for offline use.
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TallGrass
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Re: How do you keep your phones charged?

Post by TallGrass »

+ 1 ^^^rijaca

+ Keep it in Airplane mode if you need it's clock, or turn it off and wear a :shock: :shock: :shock: watch.

+ Print out a paper map. "Screen size" can't be beat, can be used as tinder, and is recyclable. Waterproof with a freezer bag if needed.

+ Get a real camera.

+ Read up before hand to load up between the ears. Let's you interface with nature more than tech -- kind of the point of doing 14ers in the first place.
"A few hours' mountain climbing make of a rogue and a saint two fairly equal creatures.
Tiredness is the shortest path to equality and fraternity - and sleep finally adds to them liberty."
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Re: How do you keep your phones charged?

Post by justiner »

* use a dedicated GPS
* have a few extra internal batteries I charge up beforehand
* have an external usb battery I can hook the phone up.

I do a lot of bike touring, so I'll be investing in a generator hub wheel built shortly. Generate my own power!
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jdorje
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Re: How do you keep your phones charged?

Post by jdorje »

Solar-powered battery is okay. I have one by Opteka that's a few years old. It holds about 2 phone charges worth of battery, charges the phone rather slowly, and takes several days of sunlight to recharge the battery itself. They're only $10-15 these days. It's a bit heavy (6 ounces). A water-resistant one would be a ton more expensive.

Worst case if everything dies you can get some sun and still get a little charge back. In the more usual case I just leave it sitting on my dash and it's charged, then use the battery (but not solar charger) on some longer days. I think with another 6 ounce solar charger (no battery) you could hang it your backpack. But the ideal would be to have the charger on your head, part of your hat so it's facing straight up at the sun! 6 inches on each side should be enough for 5-10 watts, which is a ton, but you need a battery if you want to store it and that's the heavy part.

In general, airplane mode is enough for a full day of hiking even with the GPS going full time. Beyond that you'd want to, well, turn your phone off except for emergencies.
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Re: How do you keep your phones charged?

Post by TomPierce »

Geez, how much are you using it? I get a couple of days use out of mine in the backcountry even with what for me is heavy use, ie using it as a GPS, camera, even movie camera. My last winter trip saw me using it as a GPS (maybe 4-5 position checks, unfamiliar valley with a snow-buried trail), I even watched most of Hitchcock's Psycho at night. Ordinarily I read a book on my phone (Kindle app) but hey, once chores are done in the winter it's a long time before I'm sleepy. Half dozen pics. Even with all that, juice to spare the next day.

Tips: Use it sparingly, duh. Completely delete all unnecessary apps, airplane mode, skip the GPS tracking it's just a waste IMO and blows power. Lots of other power-saving tips online, eg turn off ringers, lower the brightness, etc etc. If you really want to you should be able to go a week without recharging with prudent use.
Last edited by TomPierce on Thu Apr 21, 2016 7:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
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tobiasfunke
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Re: How do you keep your phones charged?

Post by tobiasfunke »

Kill all unnecessary apps and disable wifi/gps/cellular. You really don't even need GPS for most trail hiking, and if you do, turn it on quickly to get your position and turn it off. You can almost keep your phone off even. I basically use it as described above and only keep it on for an alarm to get pre-dawn starts. Obviously if you are traveling between trailheads in a car you can use a USB charger.
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JTOlson26
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Re: How do you keep your phones charged?

Post by JTOlson26 »

rijaca wrote: Don't turn them on.
+1
SuperiorTrailHiker
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Re: How do you keep your phones charged?

Post by SuperiorTrailHiker »

I'll second the external battery recommendation, and not necessarily solar. There are very good ones available which don't weigh much and hold charges for a long time. I have one that's just a little thicker and bigger than a business card case that can charge my phone multiple times over a multi-day hike.

But mostly, I just leave it off and try to forget it I have it.
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nsaladin
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Re: How do you keep your phones charged?

Post by nsaladin »

They regularly have these on sale for $12.99-$19.99 and will charge your phone or GPS device a few times depending on the size of the battery.

http://www.amazon.com/Anker-Generation- ... ge_o01_s00
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Cruiser
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Re: How do you keep your phones charged?

Post by Cruiser »

Great deal today on this 10,000mAh battery on Amazon. It'll charge most phones 3 full times or more.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N2J ... l_bw_c_x_5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Enter code USJLUHMI at checkout to get it for $8.99 shipped with Prime.
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