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uproar
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uproar
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PostSun Jan 18, 2015 7:48 pm 
Greetings, Looking for recommendations on a good solar charger for short-term trips and weekend trips. I have a New Trent battery pack; works well but is rather heavy. Any suggestions?

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mike
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PostSun Jan 18, 2015 8:43 pm 
My 11k mha batt pk weighs about 10oz. I paid less but I think there are better ones out there now. This should last at least a week. You'll be hard pressed to find a solar panel that is comparable.

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Malachai Constant
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PostSun Jan 18, 2015 9:33 pm 
I got a Royal 10k one at Costco yesterday for $37 it weighs 8oz.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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Daryl
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PostMon Jan 19, 2015 11:37 am 
I use the goal zero charger and battery pack, both work great. Charger for longer trips, battery for shorter trips.

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Lilredexpress
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PostWed Jan 21, 2015 9:57 am 
I have been planning on getting the Goal zero for the past 2 years from REI. I am currently upgrading a lot of my gear and solar panel is at the top of my list. SO after researching I found the suntactics charger 5. Seems like that is the go to panel for PCT thru hikers and I couldn't figure out why at first. But here are the main differences between the goal zero and Suntactics, I noticed. Goal zero seems to have lots of great reviews and it charges a battery pack during the day as you hike freeing up your unit. Where as the Suntactics can charge your device directly with no extra battery pack. They get rave reviews from PCT thru hikers because of the weight savings. But then the same reviewers also carry separate battery packs they charge when they get to towns so go figure. Syntactics has video showing how they out charge the goal zero etc etc. But from reading reviews both seem to get the job down. Suntactics S-charger 5 is 8.4 oz not sure for gaol zero. Only bad thing I heard of was the Scharger tends to wear in the folding area with heavy use and sometimes the wire get damaged there although others say they don't have that issue. I am on the fence and plan on seeing them in person before I buy. Goal Zero from REI you can always return. : )

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Jaberwock
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PostWed Jan 21, 2015 11:13 am 
I use an Anker 3200 mah battery $15. Weight is 2.7 oz. It will charge my iPhone 1.5 times from dead. I use my phone in airplane mode for photos. This combo (iPhone in airplane mode and Anker 3200 mah battery) works fine for 1-2 weeks depending on use. I tend to take my phone out for a quick photo here and there, I do not take much video with my phone, that seems to use a lot of battery.

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iron
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PostWed Jan 21, 2015 1:28 pm 
not to derail the thread, but would a solar charger for a phone work the same for a GPS?

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mike
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PostWed Jan 21, 2015 1:57 pm 
Don't see why not. Electrons are electrons. My batt pak will charge both phone and gps and tablet

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iron
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PostWed Jan 21, 2015 1:59 pm 
so in theory one could use a gps indefinitely if hooked up to a charger? i.e. no need for extra batteries?

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Daryl
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PostWed Jan 21, 2015 3:38 pm 
Lilredexpress wrote:
Goal zero seems to have lots of great reviews and it charges a battery pack during the day as you hike freeing up your unit. Where as the Suntactics can charge your device directly with no extra battery pack.
My goal zero charges my phone (samsung s4 mini) directly just fine without the battery pack. Might not with with Iphone though, apple is weird with non apple stuff sometimes?

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mike
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PostWed Jan 21, 2015 3:40 pm 
Interesting question that I haven't considered. My battery pack will recharge my gps many times. It would be rather unwieldy wired to the BP. gps has an internal li rechargeable plus option to add AA's. I carry a spare set of AA's but never need them... Only PITA is the need to carry the right cords mad.gif

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Daryl
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PostWed Jan 21, 2015 3:44 pm 
iron wrote:
so in theory one could use a gps indefinitely if hooked up to a charger? i.e. no need for extra batteries?
I can run my garmin GPS off the goal zero (I tried it), but the gps doesn't charge the batteries within when plugged in via USB (at least i don't think so). If your GPS charges the batteries when you plug it in and your gps plugs into usb, then it should work though. However, goal zero has a battery pack that is basically a 4AA (or AAA) battery charger, that you can also plug your phone in to recharge. With that I can use the batts for camera, gps, light, whatever, or keep them in the pack and charge my phone. nifty for a long time on the trail! put rechargeable batts in everything and rotate.

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tigermn
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PostWed Jan 21, 2015 3:57 pm 
On my Garmins which all use AA rechargeable batteries, sure you can plug in a power source and run off that, but it does nothing to replenish the batteries. They have to be recharged outside the unit in some type of something that recharges AA batteries. You could obviously run switching back and forth between external power pack and internal batteries. In fact I can run my old Garmin 60 unit plugged into power (USB, car adapter etc) with no batteries in the unit at all. Haven't tried it with the 64.

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