Phone Battery Charging Device Suggestions

[Airmed802]

I am looking for some recommendations on portable battery devices for charging an iPhone. I previously used a device made by Duracell but it finally crapped out. I usually never need more than one charge. Most of my trips are for a week. I really only use it as a camera and for emergencies (I leave it in airplane mode to save battery).

Go!

And no, I'm not leaving the phone at home.

[appompa255]

I just purchased this solar charger from Amazon.
Levin Dual USB Port 6000mAh Portable Solar Panel Charger for iPhone... http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JEGLLHM/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_Fv-Pvb1E3TWQ5

[soumodeler]

I like the Anker e3-10000. It will charge my phone about 3 times (3000mAh battery). Holds its charge for a long time.

I wouldn't recommend a solar charger on the AT as there is too much tree cover for it to work. Even if you let it sit in direct sun on breaks it will not have enough time to charge much.

[Tuckahoe]

Take this for what its worth, as I am not the most knowledgeable on the topic, but I ordered this one this morning -- http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00INRIWS4?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

Funny thing is that when I ordered it was $19.99 and now its gone up to $21.99.

[NightCreature0]

I like the Anker e3-10000. It will charge my phone about 3 times (3000mAh battery). Holds its charge for a long time.

I wouldn't recommend a solar charger on the AT as there is too much tree cover for it to work. Even if you let it sit in direct sun on breaks it will not have enough time to charge much.

My next charger will be this one. Do you have iphone or Android? I tried a Mophie and didn't even get 2 charges out of it. Some reviews on Amazon say they are counterfeited a lot so beware before buying a Mophie on Amazon.

[Sarcasm the elf]

I went with an Anker as well, though I got a smaller Anker Astro E1 5200mah model only weighs 4.2oz. Claims to charge an Iphone5s or 6 twice, I can get 3 charges out of it with my iphone5 which has a well used battery.

[Airmed802]

Thanks for the replies! Very helpful information.

[Moosling]

My father inlaw travels a lot for work, he picked up one from 5 Below, for like 4.99 Its not the greatest thing but has lasted him 6 months or more and can deffinately give you 1 full charge if not more.

[soumodeler]

My next charger will be this one. Do you have iphone or Android? I tried a Mophie and didn't even get 2 charges out of it. Some reviews on Amazon say they are counterfeited a lot so beware before buying a Mophie on Amazon.

I have an Android. The biggest thing is to find out what size battery your phone has. Mine is a 3900mAh. My battery pack is a 10,000mAh. I never let my phone get below 25% battery before I charge it, so I manage to almost get 3 charges out of the battery pack before I have to recharge. Also, approx 20% of the stated battery capacity will be lost during charging, so I really only have 8,000mAh to use.

[appompa255]

I like the Anker e3-10000. It will charge my phone about 3 times (3000mAh battery). Holds its charge for a long time.

I wouldn't recommend a solar charger on the AT as there is too much tree cover for it to work. Even if you let it sit in direct sun on breaks it will not have enough time to charge much.

This charger actually charges with ambient light, no direct sunlight needed. It charges even on cloudy days. That's why I went with it.

[Airmed802]

I am currently using an iPhone 6

[Coffee]

Anker Astro Mini. Cheap, durable, light and good for at least one full recharge.

[Wyoming]

This charger actually charges with ambient light, no direct sunlight needed. It charges even on cloudy days. That's why I went with it.

I won't go into technical details but expect to find out this does not work. I have read up on the device and compared it to what I know about other solar chargers. It pretty clearly does not have the capability to be a functional charger in the typical use situation found on the AT. But let us know what your experience turns out to be.

Note this from the product description:

"...It can charger your iphone about 50% to 60% juice for emergency after being solar charged for 7 to 8hrs under normal sunlight, It's not easy for 1.2W input Solar panel to fully charge the buit-in battery with sunlight, thus, we suggest it for casual use...."

[Etoryn]

I use this http://www.amazon.com/RAVPower-Portable-16000mAh-Technology-Lightning/dp/B00MQSMEEE/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1437089232&sr=8-10&keywords=battery+backup and use it when I go. 16000mah will charge a iphone 6 up to six times. Most all 16000mah chargers weigh the same (this one is 11.3 ounces), just go with something that gets good ratings if you want something lighter but less mah.

[Biggie Master]

Definitely look at the Anker line of products. I have two chargers and a bluetooth receiver/transmitter from Anker. All are rock solid products.

[Cotton Terry]

+1 on the Anker.

[appompa255]

I won't go into technical details but expect to find out this does not work. I have read up on the device and compared it to what I know about other solar chargers. It pretty clearly does not have the capability to be a functional charger in the typical use situation found on the AT. But let us know what your experience turns out to be.

Note this from the product description:

"...It can charger your iphone about 50% to 60% juice for emergency after being solar charged for 7 to 8hrs under normal sunlight, It's not easy for 1.2W input Solar panel to fully charge the buit-in battery with sunlight, thus, we suggest it for casual use...."

I initially charged it at home. (That's the nice part is you can also charge it from a regular outlet. The solar charging, if it doesn't work for you, is just a bonus) I've used it several times already, most of the hiking I do is under a canopy. I do alternate between this charger and another that is not solar powered (if I'm not charging my phone I'm trickle charging the other battery. I also don't let my phone get any lower then 50-60%.
Today was partly cloudy and I was able to charge the solar battery from my windowsill inside my house. Obviously it takes longer, but it still was charging. I've had pretty good luck so far.

[Mikenet7482]

I've read about some options, and found a cheap alternative, and one of them is working very well for me. I do have a battery backup, one with a high MAH rating is smart to have, id recommend one of those. This is what most people are using from what I can tell. They'll hike for a few days, then stop somewhere and recharge it. There is a disadvantage to these, while good ones will give you several charges on a smart phone, the more power they hold the longer they take to charge back up, some of them will take a night to fully charge. That's fine and practical for most people, and it sounds like you'll be being smart with your phone power.

(The other thing I'm bringing is a AA to lithium charger, that's the cheap alternative I'm going to list further down further down.)

First off solar power is also an option, but good ones are more expensive, and trails are generally shady. Stopping at a nice sunny spot will be the best way to make these work obviously. For solar chargers keep in mind the majority of them sold are very slow to charge devices, many of them take hours even in direct sunlight. The surface area of the solar panel is crucial, the smaller it is the less efficient it is.

I was looking at this one.... (Goal Zero 41022 Guide 10 Plus Solar Recharging Kit)
http://www.amazon.com/Goal-Zero-41022-Guide-Recharging/dp/B00DD6B9IK/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1433373552&sr=1-3&keywords=Goal+Zero
I've done research on many solar chargers, this is a reliable brand, and this model has very high reviews by users. This one says it'll fully charge a smart phone in an hour, and comes with 4 rechargable AA's that it uses as a battery backup making it easily replaceable. You'll also have the option of attaching it to the back of your backpack as you walk which is a nice feature, it may not catch much light on the trail though. It can be folded up and fit easily in a backpack based on the listed dimensions. Some of the other efficient solar chargers are more expensive, and charge a bulky battery that has a lot of weight. This was designed to be a practical portable option, and it's the one that caught my eye the most, due to it's stated effiecency, and other options. The price listed is $110.97 and it's 1.2 pounds. According to some even that's too heavy as a power option. Personally I think it depends on how far your going, how fast your going, what your hiking style is, what your needs are, and what the weight is of other things you'll be carrying.

Pay attention to the reviews on the cheaper ones, many of these come with a high MAH battery backup (which is fine) but they'll claim to charge your device fast, but that fast energy is coming from the battery. From what I'm reading on the smaller ones, once that battery backup is drained, they take a long time to charge from the sun. You'll read many reviews like this.....


"First things first: the solar panel...works! But slowly. Took 4-5 days (some sunny, some overcast) to fully charge. Seems reasonable given the size of the solar panel."


"This works very well. Its not as much a solar charger, as it is a power bank for your phone or device. Charge in the sun (or by plugging it into the USB port on your computer or the wall via a wall adapter) and it can recharge your phone at least twice before its supply is exhausted. Does recharge itself by the sun, but that is a slower process. Still, not as slow as I read other reviews to claim. Leaving it in the full sun, by the end of the day while camping it was fully charged and ready for use again. Very useful item."

Those were some Amazon reviews, some reviews on small solar chargers were worse, but many seem to like them. From what I can tell if you have a long time to stop at a sunny spot the small ones seem to be able to work but very slowly, but from what I'm reading your basically buying a battery backup with a very slow charging method, personally if I was stopping for an extended period id perfer to just plug in a regular battery backup where there is power. The one I gave you a link for they also recomend you charge your devices from the battery backup included, but it will charge that battery backup much faster due to the increased surface area of the solar panel. (all this information is based on research, I did a lot of it but I dont own a solar charger, I just read a lot about them.)

If the goal zero one works as good as people are saying then that's a renewable energy source that will prevent you from needing to buy batteries or have an electrical outlet. Weight and price should be considered though, many hikers shy away from anything weighing more than a pound. For good reason if you end up leaving with 40 pounds of equipment, but personally power is one of the things I'm going to make sure I have. I'll be using my phone a lot as a camera, I'm going to be smart with the phone, but I'm convinced I'll be going through more power than most hikers.

These are the 3 products I own and have tested, they're the AA to lithium chargers i mentioned, they're cheap and much lighter than the Solar Panel I gave you the link for.

http://www.amazon.com/Verbatim-Power-Bank-Charger-97928/dp/B007MLHS2S/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1437258598&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=Verbatim+AA+Power+Bank

That one is the (Verbatim AA Power Bank Charger), I bought it for $12.15. Don't let the price fool you on that one, of the three I bought that is the only one that gave a 100% charge on my Iphone.
It's also the lightest one if your worried about weight, it weighs 1.4 ounces, this one is less sturdy than the others, but suprisingly was my favorite of the 3 chargers I bought. My initial testing is that it charges my phone in about 8 hours or less (I charged it overnight so it might be faster), sounds like a lot but the difference between this and a battery backup is that when you stop somewhere you can just get new batteries to replace the old ones, if you don't want to stop for a long time in one spot to recharge you dont have to. My plan is to make short stops in each town, restock, grab some good batteries, then keep going. I'll charge the battery backup I'm bringing when I stop for an overnight in a town, but I'm going to try to be efficient with my time and money. Again regular battery backups are suitable for most people, and is the more popular option, from what I'm reading many people do stop in towns for long enough to charge them. Your going to be gone for a week, a good battery backup should last that long unless you use it a lot.

The other two AA to Lithium chargers I tested were these......

The (Rayovac 7 hour powe USB Backup Charger with Micro USB and Batteries Included (PS73-4b)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D2ZQ6ZI?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=od_aui_detailpages00
It cost $11.39, I didn't see the weight listed but it's similar in weight to the Verbatim one, slightly heavier but not much different. It's a good deal for what you get, it comes with batteries, and a charging cable for an iphone, and micro USB cable. This one didn't give me as much charge though, about 70% charge. I think it loses some efficientcy because the LEDs that indicate the power level are way to bright. It seems to be a little more sturdy than the other one but the primary function of charging is not quite as efficient from my experience, I still like it though.

The last one I tested I had the highest hope for. It's the (Duracell Mobile Charger with 4 AA Rechargeble NIMH Batteries, CEF23AU)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004B9ZK4M?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=od_aui_detailpages00

This one cost $19.95 and weighs 11.2 ounces. It's considerably heavier than the other two and the most expensive.

It's well built and seems study and it has more than one function. It'll charge a lithuim powered device, but also charge rechargable batteries if you plug it in a wall.

All of these chargers will work with regular Alkaline AA batteries, and I should mention I tested all these devices with Alkaline batteries. This is because they'll be easier to find on my hike, and I can just replace them instead of stopping and recharging, and I'll already be doing that with my battery backup. The Duracell charger I didn't like because it only gave me a 35% charge with regular batteries, this one should be designed to be very efficient with NIMH batteries, but I found that it gave me the same problem with the batteries it came with. Not much charge on my phone, I'm reading it's because the output is lower than what's optimal for a phone. This one wont help me on my trip but I did get some nice rechargable batteries with a charger.

None of these seem to be doing damage to my Iphone 3, and the phone isn't getting hot while charging, I've been using my older phone in case it did. I'm reading that smart phones have built in regulators now that automatically adjust the power they recive through the USB port so I'm confident that all these are safe to use, but some chargers will be less efficient than others.

My plan is to bring a battery backup and one of these AA to lithum chargers, with a few extra batteries. If I do that I'll have more power than most and it should be a little lighter than the solar charger I was thinking of getting.
Do what's best for your situation though, your saying your not going to need too many recharges, so it's likely that one good one will last you a week if your smart with how you use the phone.

[Mikenet7482]

One last thing, I did all these charges with the phone off rather than in sleep mode, if it's completly off you'll get more of a charge. Charging at night is usually how I do it.

[Singto]

I only buy smart phones phones (Samsung) with exchangeable batteries so I carry up to 3 extras for long trips. I do have a $6 "Golf" brand 5200 MAH @ 4 ozs. battery supply that charges up my Asus 7" tablet quite nicely. The Anker products have a good reputation but can be pricey. I also have a Tekkeon AA charger/battery pack that works great if I'm traveling with devices using AA batteries. It will charge AA batteries as well as use the AA batteries as a power supply to charge other devices. Most people don't recommend solar chargers on the AT but if you can find one with an internal battery (also chargeable by AC) that weighs close to a battery only, why not? PowerAdd Apollo.