The best all round gadgetry to take on a hike

[gunwharfman]

It's October and due to requests I've decided to do a bit of work (generally admin/complaining, form filling etc)  during the winter months, but I do want the freedom to hike as well. So always the question is what gadgetry to carry with me?


My smartphone
A folding phone charger plug. I've just ordered one from Amazon, £10.
My large capacity Anker battery charger.
Two USB connection leads. One from phone (a C type) no idea what it means, it just looks different to the other one which I use to charge the Anker.
My mi-fi, which charges with the Anker lead.
And a notebook and pen!


I use a couple of apps, Last Pass and Skype in particular.


Always a nagging doubt, what have I forgotten, can I go hiking with less and have I remembered the waterproof bag to put it all in?


I have a printed list to tick off before I leave the house but I still dread the thought of forgetting something.

[Jac]

I'm reminded of the list of things we had to have in our pockets when in the Girl Guides; can't remember them all but it included 4 old (large) pennies for the phone box.

[gunwharfman]

I remember them! I also remember as a 14 year old 'tapping out' (anybody remember how to do this?) my friends telephone numbers instead of using my 4 pennies. I then got caught by our local copper,  who smacked me on the ear, then took me to our house, handed me over to my dad and he belted me as well!

[bricam2096]

Yes, I used to "tap out" the phone number....because my parents put a lock on the phone to stop us kids using it and phoning Dial-a-disk, haha. 

[Percy]

I've banged on about this several times before but I'm going to do so again. 


A kindle is a marvellous thing if you are away for multiple days, particularly in areas where access to electricity or wifi might be limited.


Aside from the fact that it can contain thousands of books, the battery lasts a month and it weighs less than a single paperback.


In addition you can put pdfs and word documents on it. When I go camping in the Lakes I can take every Lakes bus timetable, I also put on a table of sunrise/sunset times, you can screen grab or save a pdf of maps, route descriptions, booking confirmations etc. etc.


All the information you need and all your night time reading material with almost no weight, no cables etc. all accessible absolutely anywhere.


In addition, 1000s of books out of copyright (all the classics for example) can be got for free at gutenberg.org.


When you have internet access it has a web browser, admittedly it's not the most satisfying browsing experience but it works if you want to check the weather forecast etc.


Don't leave home without it. 


Before anyone jumps in, as they invariable do, yes, I still prefer and mainly read proper paper books but they're not great for lugging round in a backpack.

[Jac]

I remember them! I also remember as a 14 year old 'tapping out' (anybody remember how to do this?) my friends telephone numbers instead of using my 4 pennies.

Yep! Idling in a phone box one day - it was raining and there was nothing for the youth of the day to do (nothing changes) - I tapped morse SOS and was horrified when the emergency services operator answered.

[fernman]

I've always taken a small paperback book on my multiple-day walks. I absolutely dislike reading a book on a screen, be it Kindle, phone or computer. However, on my last two walks I simply didn't touch the books, being content to just sit and look at the scenery, and to go to sleep when it got dark. Therefore I won't be taking a book in the future, which will mean a little bit less weight to carry.

I can put any number of pdfs and docs on my phone, for instance on my last trip I had details and maps downloaded from the web of three sections of my route, plus the Snowdon Sherpa bus timetable (thanks to someone who posted a link on this forum) and the Welsh Highland Railway timetable.

To me the most invaluable bit of technology is the GPS to Grid Ref app on my Windows phone:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/store/p/gps-to-grid-ref/9wzdncrdqh22
I'm a paper map user, but if ever I'm not sure of my precise location this will give me a 6 or 8 figure reference, even when there is no phone signal. The OS map which you can get when there is a signal is not so useful, because you have to 'stretch' the screen to zoom in, and while you're doing that it moves off-centre. I presume something similar is available for Android and iPhone users.

[fernman]

Everyone's showing their age reminiscing about old phone boxes.
You'll all be saying next how you never passed one without going in and pressing button B to see if 4 pennies came out 

[Jac]

Everyone's showing their age reminiscing about old phone boxes.
You'll all be saying next how you never passed one without going in and pressing button B to see if 4 pennies came out 

  you saw me?

[walkingthedog]

Call me old fashioned but the only gadget I take with me is a cheap little mobile phone which I can use in emergencies and keep in touch with my wife. 

[fernman]

you saw me?

I was with you!!! You don't remember?

[Percy]

I've always taken a small paperback book on my multiple-day walks. I absolutely dislike reading a book on a screen, be it Kindle, phone or computer.

Have you ever used a kindle? It isn't a screen at all really. Screens actively produce light, a kindle is a real physical object that has black bits and white bits, it is entirely reliant on light reflecting off it. It really is nothing like looking at a phone or tv or computer.

[fernman]

Yes, my wife has a Kindle, she's an avid reader and it saves her taking half a library in her suitcase when she goes on her trips. I also have the free Kindle app on both my computers.

But for me I just don't get on with reading a book on a screen as opposed to on a paper page, when you can also very quickly flick back three or four pages to refresh your memory on something, look ahead to see where you can stop before doing something else, or look in the index. Yes, I know you can do that on a Kindle as well, but to me it's just not the same. I also can't really settle myself down to reading online blogs, when I tend to largely skip-read the contents; if the same thing were in a book I would savour it word by word.

To put things in perspective, I have a large collection of non-fiction books that I dip into for reference, maybe pulling 3 or 4 off the shelf at a time, but by comparison I scarcely ever look at the afore-mentioned Kindle on a computer, nor any of the ebooks that I have acquired. The main use I have for digital text is I have 1,000+ pdfs of journal articles (on ferns) that would fill a few lever arch files if they were on paper.

[gunwharfman]

Good info, Percy. I've tended to overlook my Kindle other than for reading books. I'll now have a 'new' look at it.


I've know quite a few people who prefer to use a book, which is fine by me, but I know that sometimes their stance is also a sign that they are stuck in life, change scares them and they often have to come up with justifications to cover up their problem to others.


I did that once when I would not allow myself to move onto a smartphone. I justified my view in many ways until I saw the 'light'! I can say openly now that, looking back, I was a pratt!


Because of me I find I am more sensitive about people who seem to find it difficult to cope with change, it's not only the people who will never use a Kindle or a smartphone, what about the people who still use XP or Visa and then say "Windows 10 is rubbish", the ones who refuse to eat 'foreign' food, the 69 year old male that I know who claims he 'doesn't like vegetables (his old mum mashes them into other foods and doesn't tell him) the people who will only go to hotels which offer a 'full english' or the smokers who justify their continued habit by claiming they know of someone who lived till he was 150 and smoked 60 a day from the age of four!  The list of change worriers is very long and as my old mum used to say "there are lots of people like it".
😁

[Mel]

Given your love of gadgets gunwharfman, can I recommend you never visit the Naddle Valley area of the Lakes.  Absolutely NO phone signal, NO mobile data signal either. 


Me?  I love it that I'm "forced" to do without electronic gadgetry but.... I do work on computers all day, every day ... so it's a wonderful escape for me.


I think my essential bit of electronic kit is my "GPS phone" and portable battery charger-up-er, and nowt else.