by site editor Rick McCharles
You may find it surprising how much electronic gear I hauled on my recent 17-day trek in the Everest region.
I carried two iPods. … Overkill?
My iPod shuffle plays for about 10hrs on a charge. The iPod touch perhaps 20hrs. Both filled with audio podcasts and books on MP3.
Click on any of the images below for a description.
Recharging batteries en route was not always easy.
Comments?
besthike.com 
There are some small photo electric charging things that do an okay job. Especially where you were, up high with lots of sun. I have a larger, old one, about the size of the VHS tape, that will charge AAs. Doesn’t have a clue what it is charging, but solar charging is so weak that you are never going to overcharge anything. Now, if you aren’t using AAs, life is not as easy, but I think there may be USB ones out there now. This a technology that i feel is a must have for long hiking/outdoor trips.
Anyone out there with more experience with them? I have never had the chance to really put mine through it paces… The one time I intended to use it (hiking up at Lake OHara), I had switched to a different digital camera which had its own proprietary battery, so no go. But, I am back to a camera which uses AAs, so I will be trying again.
George has been following the developments. He has bought two different devices, so far.
In the Himalaya I saw many people with some sort of device hanging off the backpack. Most were simply keeping a charge up on an iPod.
The most brilliant piece of equipment that I ever bought is the Powermonkey explorer https://powertraveller.com/ It charges even in overcast conditions, albeit more slowly but on full charge has enough juice to recharge my ipod touch 3 times!!!
The best thing about it is that unlike all of my previous solar chargers that would try to trickle charge my devises directly (and fail quite often as the device needs a sustained current of a certain magnitude) this one charges it’s own little battery pack instead, and it keeps charging no matter how small the trickle current it seems. When you later decide to plug the battery dongle into your device you always get full rated current to your device. On my last trip to Utah all of my devices were fully charged all the time on about 4 hours or less a day of solar charging. Additionally you can charge it off the wall socket as well of course.
Two iPods…?!!! That’s not hiking electronic equipment…lol