I have an app on my phone to track my trips. It drains my battery fast. What do you guys use?
I thought of a solar charger, but they seem to charge slowly and need near to perfect sun.
What i thought of was a samll deep cycle marine battery, like used with trolling motors. Add a 12v socket, and incase it all in waterproof box. This will be heavy , but i dont portage. But this should last me a long while, and could be used to charge other devices if needed.
Thoughts?
Get a GPS NM
I agree
If the whole goal is just to track your trips, get a GPS.
One thing to check is whether it is the App draining the battery, or the phone itself. When I am biking or paddling away from cell service, my phone uses up a lot of battery trying to find a signal. If I turn the phone to airplane mode, the battery lasts a more normal amount even with the GPS app running (but normal amount means the battery likely wouldn’t work 2 full days - these smart phones use a lot of juice).
I’ll look into that.
I like using my phone because it gives me a satellite views of the surrounding terrain. But Im sure some of the new gps might do the same. Its been a while sense ive shopped for them. I do have a gps, 2 acutally but like the fetures of seeing several diffent maps, ie. street map, satellite view, topo view and a few others. Guess its time to get reaquainted with my gps.
i wish
I knew the link, but I stumbled upon a set up for something similar on the web one day. This guy used it for a bulge pump as well.
Without getting too complicated you could get a solio (i think) solar charger. I have one, it will recharge your phone twice before it’s battery is dead. In good light it will recharge in about eight hours. It will also charge your phone as it gets sun if its battery is dead but it is sunny.
Good luck.
Ryan L.
I like the idea of using the phone.
It’s akin to using a spoon to dig a hole. It’ll eventually get the job done.
i dont know
My phone does some pretty amazing things. Somethings it does better than the original device. If my phone had service everywhere I paddle it would be better than any gps out there. With satellites and cell triangulation it gets your location in about two seconds. It also allows you to flip between map and satellite in a snap. The Google map app allows you to determine distance and has points is interest. Also you could surf the internet for information about your location. If your going to bring the phone as a back up communication device, you might as well use it as your navigation device.
Ryan L.
gps plus phone and Solio charger
A phone can be a good piece of safety gear sometimes better than a VHF in some inland or near shore situations so I don’t want to run the battery down. So I bring a phone but keep it off much of the time. I can pull it out and get NOAA updates easier than with my VHF which requires waiting for the needed forecast to come up (which I miss half the time and need to wait for a repeat). In some select cases things like satellite maps are nice but rarely needed. So using the GPS most of the time and the phone sometimes is good. If you don’t have a GPS then use the phone only a few times a day just to verify some location info then turn it back off (so no continuous tracking which can be fun for later).
The Solio charger as well as some non-solar chargers allow you to pre-charge a battery at home then recharge your phone in the field. Pure solar chargers are great if you stay put for a day and have lots of sunshine.
You should probably get a GPS
Does your phone give marine navigation info and tidal velocities at max flood/ebb? Does it give you an indication of how the tides + winds are affecting your course.
You can probably get an app that makes the screen flash SOS, but I think thats the only advantage.
But the sad reality is that battery is probably going dead because Google and Pandora and/or Apple wants to log your position and add WIFI nodes to a database, and preload all the apps with advertisements. Even the Amazon MP3 downloader starts up at run time and chats with Amazon frequently on my Android.
If you still want to rely on your phone, you can get external rechargeable battery packs that power your phone and that are recharged over a computer usb port.
If you put them in a waterproof otterbox, hydrogen will accumulate in in the box and could cause a small explosion at the launch, but I digress.
Yes you are right.
I should of given much more info than I did. I’m a canoer. Don’t canoe much where the tidal flows would bother me. But I am dusting off the old gps and getting better familiar with it.
But why would anyone need google maps? Well where I canoe it’s nice to be able to see local hunting trails that arent on a gps map. Or possibly a hunting camp or farm house to get help if needed or even what lies between me and where I need to get.
But I think I’ll use both. And rely more on the gps like you guys say.
SOMETHING LIKE THIS…
http://sewelldirect.com/Emergency-Cell-Phone-Backup-Power-Source.asp
Have you ever been low on battery power and needed to recharge your phone but are nowhere near an electrical outlet and/or have forgotten your power adapter? The battery backup mobile phone charger is just the device for you!
With ten adapters for Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG, Motorola phones, and more, you can be sure that there’s a plug that’ll fit your phone. Plus, the battery backup is not like expensive replacement batteries because it runs on very affordable and plentiful ‘AA’ batteries.
Never get stranded with a powerless cell phone again! Keep an emergency mobile phone charger with you and get another 100-180 minutes of talk time on a single ‘AA’!
Note: This charger will not work with certain carriers who modify their phones to require proprietary accessory usage (namely Verizon).
There are others on the market similar to this. ust Goolgle it.