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Why your outdoorsy friend suddenly has a gummy bear power bank

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

#211

Post by 14 »

ics wrote: post #143
trenchpilgrim wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I spent time in India as a kid sleeping on the hard floor of my grandmother's home. Maybe my sense of comfort is different IDK, but I don't consider a pad essential on a warm night

I’m from the US but a “floor sleeper” and have never camped with a pad like these even in near-freezing temperatures. I’m sure it helps but these days I get the impression from people around that they just like gear, don’t like being uncomfortable, and any other benefit is just a bonus to rationalize spending money. Maybe I’ll try it some day and be a convert, until then…

How do you stay warm camping in near freezing conditions? I think pads are more so for insulation to the ground then comfort. Yes they add comfort but a cold ground will suck the heat out of you so fast. How would you describe your typical tent bed time set up?

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

#212

Post by tredre3 »

mbesto wrote: post #124

This is a very poorly researched article. A few things worth considering: - 20,000 mAh is the rated capacity. Anyone who has tested 18650 batteries (which are the cells typically used in these battery packs) knows the rated capacity != tested capacity. - Watthours is more important than amp hours - Tested watt hours as typical loads is more important than amp hours - It's very normal to see tested capacity to be roug…

I don't think this power bank uses 18650. You could fit 3 18650 in it, but the highest capacity 18650 out there is less than 15Wh and this advertises 77Wh. Even the tested capacity of 55Wh is higher than the before-loss 18650 capacity you could fit in it.

> This is a very poorly researched article

So, yeah, pot, kettle, all that.

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

#213

Post by heelix »

etempleton wrote: post #16
heelix wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll find out if this is true. Hiking buddy of mine pointed it out on Friday, so got one on the way. Was $18 when he called it out, $23 by the time I ordered. Apparently they have a bunch of random stuff like this. They must have some outdoorsy folks in marketing.

Thru hikers just kind of find this stuff. They are obsessed with weight and recommendations spread quickly through word of mouth on the trail and on forums.

Mine came in at 288g, which is a bit more than the 280g that the article mentioned. The nightcore NB10000 w/cable comes in around 167g. Will see this week how it does from a battery performance perspective.

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

#214

Post by jancsika »

chrisweekly wrote: post #96
Zanni wrote: post #2

Why your [ultra-light hiker] friend suddenly has [the world's lightest] power bank. I remember Colin Fletcher, years ago, writing in The Complete Walker about trimming the borders off his paper maps to save weight, which seemed like an insane over-optimization to me. But then, I'm not an ultralight hiker. I am impressed folks are getting their loads down to 10 pounds though.

Tangent: as a web performance consultant, I've sometimes used "shaving down half the toothbrush handle while carrying a bowling ball in your backpack" as a metaphor for misguided performance optimization efforts.

To turn it back around-- your entire codebase is on the hiker's back. They feel its aggregate weight with every step.

It's all literally in the hot path.

When bugs show up in the form of back pain, "pre-optimize everything" sounds like a sensible option to me.

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

#215

Post by dgacmu »

GuB-42 wrote: post #194
addaon wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't carry a battery, but I do carry a solar panel that weighs around 300 g. I use my phone when backpacking as a GPS receiver, map, flashlight, and eBook reader. Phone + solar panel weighs less than paperback + paper map + flashlight, gives me more flexibility for adjusting plans, and doesn't leave me out of novel after a few days.

I have tried my luck with portable solar panels, and my conclusion is that in most cases, they suck. For a solar panel to be useful you need: - At least a few days without access to electricity, otherwise even at max power, you won't get as much charge as a similarly sized power bank - Good sunlight, preferably in the summer (more daylight) - No shade, which is the opposite of what you want in hot and sunny summer da…

We did a five day backpacking trip this summer (in Wyoming, with lots of sun) and the solar was great. Kept my wife's iPhone at 80-100% for the trip (some idiot left the usb-c cable for his phone in the car) with mostly only using it after we reached camp. Decided that with two phones we had enough redundancy to leave the paper maps behind. And we used the phone a -lot- for taking photos in addition to navigation.

I've had trips where solar would have mostly failed - 11 days of nonstop rain on the Continental divide trail in Canada, to be specific - but solar has worked for me really well in CA, UT, WY, CO, etc. the places where solar would have failed were pretty obvious in advance, too.

And it doesn't take much direct sun on a 15 or 20W panel to keep two phones and a steripen charged if you're not being crazy with the use.

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

#216

Post by anigbrowl »

mbesto wrote: post #124

This is a very poorly researched article. A few things worth considering: - 20,000 mAh is the rated capacity. Anyone who has tested 18650 batteries (which are the cells typically used in these battery packs) knows the rated capacity != tested capacity. - Watthours is more important than amp hours - Tested watt hours as typical loads is more important than amp hours - It's very normal to see tested capacity to be roug…

It's consumerist advertorial, which is why most of it is filler. 'Decent seeming new power bank happens to look cute' isn't that interesting of a sotry, so it has to be spun into a phenomenon that will allow the article to link out to 10 different products.

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

#217

Post by mbesto »

tredre3 wrote: post #212
mbesto wrote: post #124

This is a very poorly researched article. A few things worth considering: - 20,000 mAh is the rated capacity. Anyone who has tested 18650 batteries (which are the cells typically used in these battery packs) knows the rated capacity != tested capacity. - Watthours is more important than amp hours - Tested watt hours as typical loads is more important than amp hours - It's very normal to see tested capacity to be roug…

I don't think this power bank uses 18650. You could fit 3 18650 in it, but the highest capacity 18650 out there is less than 15Wh and this advertises 77Wh. Even the tested capacity of 55Wh is higher than the before-loss 18650 capacity you could fit in it. > This is a very poorly researched article So, yeah, pot, kettle, all that.

I think you're right, however, 18650 batteries do carry, on average, more energy density per volume and weight.

> but the highest capacity 18650 out there is less than 15Wh and this advertises 77Wh.

10x 2000 mAh 18650 batteries in parallel gives you 20 Ah @ 3.7V.

> So, yeah, pot, kettle, all that.

Totally unnecessary comment but thanks.

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

#218

Post by trenchpilgrim »

secabeen wrote: post #176
trenchpilgrim wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I spent time in India as a kid sleeping on the hard floor of my grandmother's home. Maybe my sense of comfort is different IDK, but I don't consider a pad essential on a warm night

Is any night in the mountains a "warm" night in the same way it is in the populated parts of India?

I often camp in the southwest US, it's pretty dang warm in the summer nights! I don't even sleep inside my sleeping bag on those nights, just lay on top of it

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

#219

Post by saidinesh5 »

mbesto wrote: post #207
emilfihlman wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>18650 batteries (which are the cells typically used in these battery packs) Absolutely not. Pouch cells are what most powerbanks have.

"Power bank cells are mainly divided into 18650 cells and polymer cells. The most common one on the market is 18650 lithium-ion batteries, with a market share of 70%." https://www.benzoenergy.com/blog/post/type-of-cells-used-for...

Looks like the article you've shared is from 2019 (at the bottom of their page?).

Things changed a lot since then. Most power banks these days use just lipo pouches.

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

#220

Post by hinkley »

ashdksnndck wrote: post #128
hinkley wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The max weight is a bunch of bullshit on the ultralight gear. Last time I moved I showed up the day before my stuff did, I slept on a camp cot I had bought for which I was 90% of the max weight. I used it on a carpeted floor for one night, it bent in two places. If I’d put the damned thing across a root it would have looked like a pretzel the next morning.

The designers forgot that a human is a live load!

"Up to" does seem to be a perfectly distributed load that doesn't ever for instance toss and turn, or sneeze.

Apparently I'm not a spherical cow.

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