A Look At Tech & Backpacking Part 2: Windwatches, e-readers, power banks, solar panels

Solar panel charging a power bank in the Colorado Rockies, 2019

Satellite navigators and communicators have been the most significant changes to my outdoor life in the last few decades, as I said in my first tech post. They’re not the only ones though and I’ve found several other electronic items useful and added them to my load.

Windwatches & Weather Trackers

For my first two decades of backpacking I carried various mechanical thermometers which told me the temperature at the time I looked at them (roughly – I don’t think they were very accurate) but couldn’t record changes or, of course, any other weather information. That changed in 1998 with the electronic Silva Windwatch, which had a small anemometer and recorded the temperature. In 2004 I replaced this with the more powerful Silva ADC Pro as this also had a barometer, altimeter, compass, and clock.

These little electronic instruments proved very useful for my gear testing work where it was valuable  to know the lowest overnight temperature, the humidity level, and the windspeed, and for building up a record for places I visit often and giving a weather picture for the whole of a long-distance walk. I wouldn’t be without one now.

However the ADC Pro only lasted five years before the anemometer broke. I was disappointed when Silva said it couldn’t be repaired, looked round for an alternative and found the Kestrel 4000 Pocket Weather Tracker. This had all the functions of the ADC Pro and more. I got it in 2010 and it’s been on every walk since and is still going strong. It is a bit heavier – 103g as opposed to 70g – but is clearly far more durable. The 4000 has been unavailable for years. The closest current model is the 5000 Environmental Meter.

Digital Watches

Digital watches that record masses of data started appearing in the early 1990s. For a few years I used one called the Avocet Vertech which had a thermometer, barometer and altimeter and could measure ascent and descent rate. I stopped using this when the Silva Windwatch arrived as the latter could measure wind speed as well.

Since the Vertech I’ve tested quite a few digital watches from TechTrail, Suunto, Garmin and others as the functions increased until now they can do much the same as a smartphone. I’ve never really taken to them though and once I’ve tested the functions I’ve ended up using them just to tell the time when I’ve used one at all. Mostly I don’t wear one. If I need to know the time my smartphone, Garmin InReach, and Kestrel weather tracker can all tell me. I think three clocks is enough! The first two of these can also record routes, speed and more – not that I usually bother.

I don’t feel the need to have the time available at a glance when on walks so I’m happy not to wear a watch. Mostly it doesn’t matter whether an hour or three hours has passed. I’m not racing. I’m not trying to set fast times. But I can see the usefulness of these watches for those who are.

Kindle

I’ve always carried books on overnight walks. On long-distance walks I have carried several at a time when it’s many days between supply points and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to buy anything I want to read at the next one anyway. Sometimes my selection of reading matter has ended up being rather unusual! I started carrying books so I had something to do during long stormy evenings inside a tent and occasionally during tedious road walks. As well as books to read purely for pleasure I often carried trail guides and natural history guides. 

Reading a natural history guide to the Sierra Nevada on a desert road on the Pacific Crest Trail in 1982

On the length of the Canadian Rockies walk, my account of which will soon be republished, I carried Ben Gadd’s hefty Handbook of the Canadian Rockies, which had inspired the walk, the whole way.

The Handbook of the Canadian Rockies after my walk. I obviously used it as a platform for my coffee mug!

All this changed in 2010 when I used my first smartphone as an e-reader at times on the Pacific Northwest Trail. The screen was annoyingly small but I could see the big advantages. Soon after returning home I bought a Kindle e-reader. On my next long walk, the Scottish Watershed in 2013, I had a whole library of books for the weight of a small paperback. I’ve taken a Kindle on every overnight trip since. Smartphone screens are bigger now but still not the size of a Kindle and that, along with the glare-free display and the very long battery life, means I still prefer one.

The options of listening to music or podcasts or even watching movies were far in the future when I carried my first books to an overnight camp. As I really like reading I haven’t taken up these other possibilities except for listening to music very occasionally. I generally like to be able to hear what’s happening around me and not cut myself off.

Power

Top: Garmin InReach Mini 2, Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro, spare phone battery. Bottom: Nitecore NB10000 Gen 2 Power Bank

An increase in electronic devices means an increase in power to keep them running. Back in the 1980s all I needed were batteries for my headlamp (plenty of these on long trips as pre-LED lights were not very efficient) and tiny button batteries for my camera.

The first digital devices ran on disposable batteries you could buy in many places. Soon some could also use rechargeable batteries. By the 2000s many came with built-in proprietary rechargeable batteries and needed charging from the mains or a power bank. The last only arrived in 2001 and it was quite a few years before lightweight ones were available.

When I bought my first smartphone in 2010 I chose an Android one rather than an iPhone because it had an interchangeable battery and I knew I wouldn’t be able to charge it from a wall socket very often on long walks. On the Pacific Northwest Trail that year I carried three batteries plus a tiny 49g solar charger but no power bank as I couldn’t find a suitable one.  

Since then I have gone through several power banks, none of which have proved very durable. My first power banks were around 2-3000 mAh. That’s not enough to charge a smartphone once now. My first smartphone had a 1400 mAh battery, my current one has a 4050 mAh battery, and that’s not big these days. So as devices, especially phones, needed more power so power banks needed upgrading.

Currently I have two lightweight Nitecore NB10000 mAh Gen 2 ones that I hope will last a fair while. On an overnight trip I take one Nitecore, on longer trips I take both. I also have a spare battery for my Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro phone, which is one of the few phones currently available with a removable battery (the latest version is the XCover 7 which I reviewed here). Although mainly used for the phone the power banks can charge the InReach, the Kindle, headlamp, and camera.

Solar panel in use on the very sunny Yosemite Valley to Death Valley walk, 2016

Solar panels are an alternative to power banks. The little one I took on the Pacific Northwest Trail half-charged my phone after three days of unbroken sunshine, which didn’t happen very often. I’ve taken bigger ones weighing 300-400g on walks in sunnier places since and they’ve worked quite well. I’m not sure there’s any weight saving over power banks though and they are more of a hassle to use. My last one dates from 2018. There are lighter more flexible ones available now so I will probably replace it.

Weights

How much all these electronics add to my load depends on the length of trip. On a two-day trip I’ll take the Samsung phone (223g), spare phone battery (73g), Garmin InReach (106g), 1 Nitecore power bank (154g), the Kestrel 4000 (103g), and Kindle (186), plus cables and pouches (195g) for a total of 1040g. For a longer trip I’ll add the second Nitecore power bank, a second smartphone, and a USB wall plug (54g) if I’ll be anyway with a wall socket for a total of 1471g. That sounds a great deal, but much of it is cancelled out by not carrying books, especially on long trips. A small paperback weighs around 200g. On a long trip I might have three or four of them. Guidebooks are often heavier. The Handbook of the Canadian Rockies, which went the whole length of the range, weighs 737g. I doubt I ever had less than 1200g of books on that walk.

Photography

I haven’t included photography even though the change from film to digital has made a huge difference as it’s not an essential part of backpacking and I’ve written about it several time before, most recently here.