Backcountry power source

[Kevin Dill]

I'm far from an expert on these devices. One thing I've learned about battery banks is that some deliver a greater percentage of their total power to the devices being charged. Some don't fare quite as well. Whatever power is retained (not delivered) by the battery bank is basically unusable mAh. Somewhere along the way I picked up on an independent test of battery banks and the Zendure rated very well at delivering the maximum percentage of its charge.

 

[Trial153]

I have three. Goal Zero, Dark energy and anker. They are larger capacity and can charge a phone fully about three times . The goal zero is the worst of the bunch, the anker is the best but the heaviest . The posiden dark energy is by far the best of the three for weight to use.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

I must have got a defective Anker battery because my experience with their product was awful. I ran a cheap Panasonic battery for years until it finally died on me. I bought the Anker and it died in like 6 months after maybe 3-5 uses. I bought a goal zero after that and have been running it for a year now without issue. Honestly it just feels better built and I like that it has indicator lights on it that give you a rough idea about the battery percentage left.

Did you warranty it?

 

[oldgoat]

I like the Poseidon, water proof ports and lots of power and I know for a fact they are a pro-hunting company!

 

[Owenst7]

Zendure makes the most efficient discharging system on the market. I just bought a fourth, and they all test at 80%, even my 10000mAh that's 6 years old and gets used heavily.

They also list their weights honestly, to the tenth of an ounce, per the four that I own. Mine are all over 1500mAh/ounce.

 

[mproberts]

Did you warranty it?

I didn't... it was like $30 on amazon and wasn't worth the hassle IMO. I just recycled it and moved on with my life. I got pretty frustrated when it didn't work on a work trip and then I couldn't get it working back at home. It would charge and say it was full, but it wouldn't hold the charge it would be basically dead the next day.

 

[Wildlifer]

I picked up this one for $32 on prime day, I'll be testing it out over the next few weeks.
Amazon.com: Portable Charger RAVPower 26800 Battery Packs 26800mAh Total 5.5A Output 3-Port Power Bank (2A Input, iSmart 2.0 USB Power Pack) Portable Battery Charger for iPhone, iPad, and other Smart Devices: Cell Phones & Accessories

 

[bsnedeker]

I picked up this one for $32 on prime day, I'll be testing it out over the next few weeks.
Amazon.com: Portable Charger RAVPower 26800 Battery Packs 26800mAh Total 5.5A Output 3-Port Power Bank (2A Input, iSmart 2.0 USB Power Pack) Portable Battery Charger for iPhone, iPad, and other Smart Devices: Cell Phones & Accessories

I bought that exact unit earlier this year. I haven't tried it out in the field yet, but I've been testing it alot around the house and I have been able to get 9.5 complete charges for my Samsung S7 pretty consistently. I'm pretty dang happy with that!

 

[WV Mountaineer]

Anker is going to be hard to beat. They just work.

 

[Downeaster]

Just picked up these little jammies for when i carry my gpsor other AA battery using devices.Amazon.com: ❤ USB Rechargeable AA Lithium Batteries - Li-ion Battery Cell - 1.5V/1200mAH (4-Pack) - Not NI-MH/NI-CD/Alkaline Batteries - ECO-Friendly and Recyclable - No Memory Effect: Home Audio & Theater Can charge right off my RAV. Will test out this weekend, hopefully they live up to my expectations.

 

[mvmnts]

I've been using anker batteries for years (not to be confused with aukey), they are the best and the lightest by far. I wanted to like the poseidon whatever stuff, but they are extremely heavy for the juice they carry, not to mention expensive. I take care of my stuff, and my battery doesn't need to be bomb proof. It stays in my pack until I get to camp at night where I plug a couple devices in before bed. The anker 10,000 is probably your best bet for a 3-5 day hunt. I used to get 4 days of run time out of my old Galaxy S6, but for some reason my Galaxy S8 only gets a day and a half. I need to fix that. If I could, then I could carry a 5,000mah battery and save a few ounces even more, but battery life seems to be very unpredictable on android. It's real easy to have a rogue process pop up one day on your phone, sap the battery big time and run you short of your target time. So I think this year I'm just carrying the 10,000. It's more than enough juice.

 

[mproberts]

I've been using anker batteries for years (not to be confused with aukey), they are the best and the lightest by far. I wanted to like the poseidon whatever stuff, but they are extremely heavy for the juice they carry, not to mention expensive. I take care of my stuff, and my battery doesn't need to be bomb proof. It stays in my pack until I get to camp at night where I plug a couple devices in before bed. The anker 10,000 is probably your best bet for a 3-5 day hunt. I used to get 4 days of run time out of my old Galaxy S6, but for some reason my Galaxy S8 only gets a day and a half. I need to fix that. If I could, then I could carry a 5,000mah battery and save a few ounces even more, but battery life seems to be very unpredictable on android. It's real easy to have a rogue process pop up one day on your phone, sap the battery big time and run you short of your target time. So I think this year I'm just carrying the 10,000. It's more than enough juice.

Ok.. so I'm an idiot.. I just checked my amazon history and I accidentally bought an aukey instead of anker, so earlier when I said it died after 6 months, just ignore that because it wasn't an anker.

On another note I know with my iPhone7 I can get 4-5 days out of it on one charge if switched to airplane mode and non-used apps closed. That is while still using it constantly for mapping, pictures, notes, light, games, etc. My wife and I just got back from a 7 day hike and 1 goal zero flip 20 (5200mah) was more than enough to keep 2 iPhones running for the whole trip (while taking hundreds of pics/videos and mapping constantly). I think I still had like 25% battery left on the battery pack.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Just picked up these little jammies for when i carry my gpsor other AA battery using devices.Amazon.com: ❤ USB Rechargeable AA Lithium Batteries - Li-ion Battery Cell - 1.5V/1200mAH (4-Pack) - Not NI-MH/NI-CD/Alkaline Batteries - ECO-Friendly and Recyclable - No Memory Effect: Home Audio & Theater Can charge right off my RAV. Will test out this weekend, hopefully they live up to my expectations.

I don't really have any AA stuff normally anymore but the AAA version of those is interesting for a headlamp (could top it off each trip or after a long night, etc.).

Amazon.com: Rechargeable Batteries Aaa Usb Port Lithium, 1.5V Remote Batteries Rechargeable, 4-Pack, 1 Hour Quick Charged to Powerbank, Socket, Car: Home Audio & Theater

Edit: Nevermind I see these capacity is like 1/3-1/2 of a typical alkaline battery, I don't think I'd want that much loss of capacity even if I could top them up on the fly.

 

[adamm88]

I had two small anker chargers and they lasted years before they crapped out, now we have the larger ones and it works great.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mvmnts]

Ok.. so I'm an idiot.. I just checked my amazon history and I accidentally bought an aukey instead of anker, so earlier when I said it died after 6 months, just ignore that because it wasn't an anker.

On another note I know with my iPhone7 I can get 4-5 days out of it on one charge if switched to airplane mode and non-used apps closed. That is while still using it constantly for mapping, pictures, notes, light, games, etc. My wife and I just got back from a 7 day hike and 1 goal zero flip 20 (5200mah) was more than enough to keep 2 iPhones running for the whole trip (while taking hundreds of pics/videos and mapping constantly). I think I still had like 25% battery left on the battery pack.

No worries. I'm so glad I went back and added that because the same thing happened to me with a wall charger. I am 99% sure that aukey is in business solely because people make this same mistake. Their stuff is cheap garbage and anker is usually pretty great.

 

[mvmnts]

I like the Poseidon, water proof ports and lots of power and I know for a fact they are a pro-hunting company!

Which one furthers the interests of hunting more:

Buying a $30 charger from a company with neutral or anti-hunting stance and donating $70 to conservation and pro-hunting causes.

or

Spending $100 on a battery from a pro-hunting company?



What's the gold standard for these pro-hunting companies? 2% for conservation? lol

 

[bsnedeker]

Which one furthers the interests of hunting more:

Buying a $30 charger from a company with neutral or anti-hunting stance and donating $70 to conservation and pro-hunting causes.

or

Spending $100 on a battery from a pro-hunting company?



What's the gold standard for these pro-hunting companies? 2% for conservation? lol

If a company is neutral about hunting it doesn't factor for me, but if a company is truly Anti-hunting I absolutely feel you should not support them with your dollars. If a company is publicly anti-hunting that means they donate money to anti-hunting organizations, and it stands to reason that the highly-paid execs at that company also donate to anti-hunting groups. This means that by giving them my dollars, I am indirectly giving dollars to anti-hunting groups and this is something I won't do.

I think the flip is true for pro-hunting groups. Take First Lite for example, they may give some small percentage of their profits to pro-hunting groups, but look at their leadership team and what they do to further the world of hunting? Ryan Callahan's whole job seems to be to go around and talk about hunting and public lands!

That's just my take on it.

 

[Riles1050]

Several good options on Camofire today.

 

[mproberts]

What's the gold standard for these pro-hunting companies? 2% for conservation? lol

Yeah, to clarify.. 2% for conservation is 1% income and 1% time

 

[Trial153]

Which one furthers the interests of hunting more:

Buying a $30 charger from a company with neutral or anti-hunting stance and donating $70 to conservation and pro-hunting causes.

or

Spending $100 on a battery from a pro-hunting company?



What's the gold standard for these pro-hunting companies? 2% for conservation? lol

Yea and who does that? 99% of time thats nothing but lip service.

Seems pretty shortsighted to disparage industry support for conservation.