Portable power station for keeping my multitool batteries topped up?

[alexanderjohnson]

I've been carrying a growing pile of rechargeable gear on hikes and weekend trips around western PA — headlamp, a couple of 18650 flashlights, and my phone — and I'm getting tired of rationing charge. I'm looking at small portable power stations in the 300–500Wh range, but I keep going back and forth. Some listings advertise a certain capacity yet the real usable output seems lower once you account for inverter losses, and I'm not sure how much that matters for mostly USB loads. I also can't decide whether to prioritize pure capacity or a model that lets me plug in a small folding solar panel for longer trips. The weight difference between units in that class also seems bigger than I expected. For those who already carry one of these around their EDC and outdoor kit, what capacity has actually been worth the weight, and is solar input something you've found yourselves using in practice?

[Defender]

@alexanderjohnson

You are really speaking my language on this one. I've been looking for portable power options for years, and it really does boil down to weight.

As part of my daily EDC I carry four power banks- I don't usually need them, or at least not all of them, but I really like having them. Two are 10000 mah, and two are 15000mah. The four together aren't too heavy, but they give me days with a cell phone.

I'm a big advocate of having power with you- it's all well and good to get out to nature and away from technology blah blah blah, but your cell phone is the single best piece of safety equipment humans have ever had, and it is much more useful when it has power.

Add to that my multiple GoPros, drones, heated vest etc, and portable power is pretty well a necessity.

I have a first generation Bio-Lite camp stove, which burns wood and generates electricity while cooking your lunch, but it is hungry- you need lots of wood to keep it going. I hear the second generation is much better, but I wasn't going to buy another one!

I also had a Bio-Lite solar panel that was really good, but very limited, and as such I burned it out. The dual fold out panels would only charge the internal battery, and the internal battery was smaller than the ones in most modern phones. The unit also had a USB out for charging phones, but you couldn't have power come in and go out at the same time, nor could you bypass the teeny internal battery to charge an external device. It was, IMHO imbecilic.

There is a new product I have been looing very closely at lately, although it is more of a camp oriented device rather than a "use on the go" type device, and it's called The Shine Turbine. It's a small, portable windmill, about the size of a football. You set it up and it generates power at your camp and you pack it all away when you are on the move. Not great for hiking maybe, but great if you are camping- you can let it run all day when you do things, and all night while you sleep.

It doesn't help me much as a kayaker or hiker, but I keep meaning to get one anyway, because it certainly seems like a good thing to have.

The other good thing is the drone batteries- I am carrying the drone anyways, so it's nice to have the multiple drone batteries since they are high capacity and high discharge. The charger/carrying case for most modern drone batteries can also be used as a battery bank for your phone, which is nice. Yes, it limits the amount I can use the drone, but if I am having an emergency, I'd rather have the phone.

I always thought that someone should invent a small spring loaded doodad that you wear on your shoes- every step you take turns a small wire (similar to a speedometer cable) that spins a small generator. Each step might only generate a tiny fraction of energy, but multiplied over a long hike it could add up to a reasonable amount of power.

Def