Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank • Hacker News Board

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#101

Post by lozenge » Sun, Sep 21, 2025, 10:05 PM UTC

NedF wrote: post #92

cenamus wrote: post #5

20Ah for 23 bucks? Seems like it's almost too good to be true. Wouldn't surprise me if it was just half that, would explain the price and weight.

> Wouldn't surprise me if it was just half that, This was openly crowdfunded in Japan. Please explain the lie/scam for us? How does Makuake rip people off? https://www.makuake.com/project/haribo_dcglobal/ Is this comment anything more than the normal shit HN negativity? Nihilism is so cool, thinking is so hard, if I try I might fail. Sure you might be right. Just want to know where the scam is here?

Did the crowdfunding mention breaking a new barrier in battery technology?

Batteries are made out of components, they have a capacity, volume, weight and price. It doesn't make sense that a cheap battery with low weight has a higher capacity than the existing expensive product.

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#102

Post by strken » Sun, Sep 21, 2025, 10:09 PM UTC

SoftTalker wrote: post #71

JohnFen wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Very easy to bring crap you don't need as well. This is so true it's not even funny. I keep a spreadsheet for each trip, and among other things, I record which of the items I actually used on the trips. It was very surprising to me how many things I thought I used and therefore needed, but when reviewing the records, I never (or very rarely) actually used. Those items get cut from future loads.

I'm not a backpacker, but I presume there is stuff you normally don't use, but don't want to be without. Some amount of first-aid supplies, etc.

For me, a not-particularly-lightweight hiker with a 10kg base weight, that list includes:

- a knife

- a first-aid kit with some niche stuff like big gauze pads, electrolytes, strapping tape, etc.

- quarter of a roll of toilet paper

- a compass and whistle

- a paper map

- spare laces

- 3L of water, unless water is guaranteed to be available (2L is more standard)

- spare calories in case I'm delayed

- emergency beacon (except my phone does this now)

I could sacrifice these and be fine most of the time, but I've needed nearly everything except the whistle, the full quarter-roll, and the emergency beacon.

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#103

Post by wkat4242 » Sun, Sep 21, 2025, 10:11 PM UTC

s0rce wrote: post #97

exabrial wrote: post #80

> Ultralight culture seems a little nuts to the uninitiated. I prefer "Durable, but as light as possible", not the other way around. Most ultralight gear breaks after a few uses or when it is mishandled in anything-less-than-perfect conditions, which, happens a lot outside.

My ultralight gear has been sufficiently durable for my backpacking and hiking, even off trail. I'm not hunting or repairing trails but stuff lasts a while. The only exception I've found is inflatable pads which get punctured but no more often than bicycle tire inner tubes and they can similarly be patched with some effort.

What do you use those pads for I wonder?

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#104

Post by Brian_K_White » Sun, Sep 21, 2025, 10:12 PM UTC

bawolff wrote: post #75

I thought the point of back country hiking was to get away from technology and society. Weight is of course a major consideration, but its not the primary reason im not bringing batteries on a hiking trip.

There is no particular point to a hike any more than there is a particular point to a ride in a car. Back country or any other.

A hike could be just the way to get to the camp, where you will spend 2 weeks primarily coding.

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#105

Post by Teever » Sun, Sep 21, 2025, 10:17 PM UTC

NoiseBert69 wrote: post #4

You can learn a lot from the ultra light dudes. I replaced all my travel electronics to be powerable from USB-C. This saved me from a lot cables and adapters. Even re-soldered the cable of my electric shaver to use a USB-C PD adapter PCB. As long it's somehow close to the standardized voltages (5/9/12/18/etc.) there will be no problems.

Can you talk more about this? I have a waterproof Braun one and I was thinking of making. USB-C dongle for it so that I don't have to crack the case and ruin the waterproofing.

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#106

Post by gavmor » Sun, Sep 21, 2025, 10:17 PM UTC

jasonsb wrote: post #36

This is advertising done right. Wish more companies would do this. Instead of spamming me with your brand on every platform, sell a dirt cheap product with your branding. This way the middle man gets nothing, everyone else is happy.

Social media is a dirt cheap product with branding, and the battery manufacturer is a middle man.

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#107

Post by SeanAnderson » Sun, Sep 21, 2025, 10:24 PM UTC

I guess I default to assuming this is BS?

I was in the market for a 20Ah battery to power my Burning Man totem last month. I ended up buying two off Amazon - a no-name brand and an Anker for 2.5x the price ($65 for 28Ah). The Anker bank was heavier than the no-name and had substantially longer battery life under the same usage patterns.

I don't know a lot about batteries, but what I do know is that they're very important tech and any performance wins would have cascading effects through multiple industries. It's incredibly unlikely that there is new battery tech that is meaningfully better while also not taking the world by storm. It's far more likely that whitelabel/noname brands are just lying about the specs/cheaping out on energy density and hoping consumers don't notice or care.

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#108

Post by wkat4242 » Sun, Sep 21, 2025, 10:25 PM UTC

MobiusHorizons wrote: post #100

thegrim33 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man it drives me crazy when people/products use Ah instead of Wh as a way to specify battery "capability". Without knowing more details about the battery, "20Ah" alone does not convey enough information to determine how long the battery could power a given load for. If I need to power a 100 watt lightbulb, will a 20Ah battery power it for an hour? 10 hours? 10 days? No way to know. Wh is the unit of stored energy, Wh…

Battery capacity is always measured in amp hours not watt hours, because it’s telling you more than just capacity. The rating is a measure of how many amps the battery can emit continuously for one hour. You can estimate how long the battery will last at different loads, but it won’t match up 1:1 because of efficiency differences depending on how fast the battery is discharged, and if it has a chance to recover betwe…

Ah does not mean it has to be discharged over exactly one hour in some test. It's simply a unit just like kWh. And most batteries are not optimised for one hour discharge. There's batteries with insanely high C-rates for delivering a lot of power quickly, discharging in 10 minutes. And some with really low that can standby for years. They'll still indicate the Ah capacity the same way.

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#109

Post by bluGill » Sun, Sep 21, 2025, 10:27 PM UTC

lightedman wrote: post #78

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ounces equal pounds and pounds equal pain.

Pain equals gain. Most ultralight hikers optimize for low weight, I optimize for low weight and maximum leftover space to haul a ton of weight back. https://imgur.com/a/ezPqNG1 Cuz trust me, you don't wanna leave that behind when you find it.

Leave only footprints, take only pictures! Leave no trace. Everything you take is stolen from the next.

Re: Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

#110

Post by mrexroad » Sun, Sep 21, 2025, 10:29 PM UTC

wkat4242 wrote: post #103

s0rce wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My ultralight gear has been sufficiently durable for my backpacking and hiking, even off trail. I'm not hunting or repairing trails but stuff lasts a while. The only exception I've found is inflatable pads which get punctured but no more often than bicycle tire inner tubes and they can similarly be patched with some effort.

What do you use those pads for I wonder?

sleeping.

my thermarest pad is a decade+ old and I won't hesitate to take it on a lengthy backpacking trip as long as I have a patch kit, same as a bike tire.