Help me decide on a portable power bank, err, battery.

Brendan

Ultralighter
Need to buy a battery to charge phones whilst trekking. Actually, make that 4 phones, mine, the missus and the kids. Do I buy a large capacity battery or perhaps 2 or 3 medium capacity ones?
What is the rule with flying and large capacity batteries in the luggage?
Cheers.
 

dovidola

Thru Hiker
It also depends on how heavy your phone(s) usage(s) will be, on how long you intend to be away from a power source, on whether you intend to charge other devices (eg camera, torch) from the power pack, and other factors.
 

dovidola

Thru Hiker
My little lineup is as follows:
For 1 charge - Zendure A1 Mini 3350 mAh 68g
For 2 charges - Anker Astro E1 6700 mAh 125g
For 3 charges - Anker Power Core 10000 mAh 180g
can recommend all three; never had any problem with them.
 

Brendan

Ultralighter
Wife and kids phones will be used for taking the odd picture, listening to music and for reading.
Mine will be used for backup navigation and as above. All phones will be in airplane mode and so not using a lot of power during the day.
Would be great if it could also recharge a camera.
Expect to be say 4 or 5 days away from a power source.
 

Brendan

Ultralighter
Would hate to buy a large batery and have it confiscated at the airport, so what are the rules on taking these things on planes.
 

dovidola

Thru Hiker
Wife and kids phones will be used for taking the odd picture, listening to music and for reading.
Mine will be used for backup navigation and as above. All phones will be in airplane mode and so not using a lot of power during the day.
Would be great if it could also recharge a camera.
Expect to be say 4 or 5 days away from a power source.

If you insist on 4 phones between 4 people, then perhaps two of the Anker 10000 mAh (one between 2) would be the most versatile option for what you have in mind. Depending on how profligate your children are with power after 'lights out', you should be able to squeeze a camera charge out as well.
 

Diddi

Thru Hiker
Most devices have Device manager inbuilt into the phone.
So for starters you can put on MAX power saving mode, and as you can see that triples my battery life (depending on my usage)...
So that may help to start with.
Screenshot_20180408-134329_Device maintenance.jpg
 
Last edited:

maddogs

Ultralighter
Something like the Nitecore F2 and a handful of 18650 batteries may allow you to experiment and adjust the weight and power you carry?
 
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