Gadgets and Gear!

Gear commentary, ongoing reviews, motivations, etc. 

Gadgets

DeLorme InReach SMARTPHONE 

I had a dream, a vision if you will, of being able to keep in contact with the outside world on a fairly consistent basis, while also remaining just in touch enough with society to stay safe. The DeLorme inReach personal satellite communicator satisfies all these goals. It works on its own or paired via Bluetooth with a smartphone. It offers transmission of canned messages, custom messages, trackpoints, SOS signals, Twitter posts, and Facebook updates from anywhere in the world on the Iridium satellite network. Three different tiers of subscription options at two usage/billing frequencies provide a great range of flexibility. I have the 'recreation' plan, which allows unlimited tracking and canned messages, plus 25 custom messages/Tweets/FB posts, for ~$25 a month. SOS is included in all plans. Nobody should leave home without a way to get in contact with the world in case of emergency. If SkyNet takes over, well, we're all screwed anyways...

Apple iPhone 4s

The iPhone was a no-brainer: one device to read from, listen to, store geodata on, edit movies and pictures, post to Twitter (and Erin's Facebook) via satellite and have 2-way satellite text communication, store field guides.... you name it, and the iPhone can probably do it! Below are a few of the apps which I think (at this moment) will be useful:

• iBird Pro v. 6.x: The comprehensive bird guide on the iPhone. A wide range of calls and photo album interfacing are highlights. The search ability based on morphological features is also quite useful, but LBB's are always tricky. As are peeps.
• Sibley Guide to Birds: Why two bird apps? Well, because I've spent so many years staring at David Allen Sibley's field guide and know where everything is. The iPhone guide has the same organization as the paper version, so browsing different taxa is just intuitive at this point. The SmartSearch narrows down the taxa based on the state you put in. Very convenient. 
• GPSKit: offers very intuitive creation of geodata (including pictures) with good interface for offline data management. Also, this app has very nice representation of tracked data. Can be hungry on battery power tho. Cannot handle USGS quads, but will download open source topos or Google aerials at multiple resolutions for a given area (Circle/Rectangle/Freehand). Note: offline management chunks can only be stored in ~76MB increments. I imported HalfMile's track and waypoints into the app and created freehand buffers for approximately 1/2 mile on either side of the trail from start to finish. I'll let you know how it works. 
• Halfmile PCT: Tells you how close you are to your nearest Halfmile waypoints and the trail itself! As I write this from my home in 94610, I am 136 miles southwest of PCT mile point 1102, 
•  Earthmate (by DeLorme): Interfaces via Bluetooth with the InReach unit. Useless on its own, this app allows your iPhone to bootstrap the InReach's GPS, enable/disable tracking, modify settings, send and receive messages via satellite, and acces ALL of DeLorme's maps. Remember, guys, DeLorme has been in the cartography business since there was a cartography business (aka before ArcGIS). You can access terrestrial and marine topo's from the app, and have full access to satellite imagery along with ortho-quads online. Plus, using the app allows the InReach to access your full contact list when need be for satellite texting. 
• Camera+: This is a great app, and a steal at $0.99. You can control focus and exposure settings independently, and it has some fun post-processing for an iPhone.
• CameraWindow: largely useless, except for importing photos via WiFi from the Canon s110 (below). That is pretty useful, considering that there isn't any easier or lighter way to move data. 
• LemonWallet: I think this will be useful, but have not tested yet. It will be nice to not keep all my assorted wallet debris with me on the trail, but I do not yet have a functional review. Check back later. At a minimum, it can hold my AAA number. I really, really hope some of the hotels for zero days offer AAA discounts to stinky hikers in search of clean sheets and a washing machine...
• Splice: Reasonably convenient video editing app for the price (=free). I need to see how much solar power I can generate in a day before I get too involved with video editing on the trail. 
• Blogger: poorly reviewed on App Store. I have not had the chance to love/hate it yet, but at this point I just want it to work off line.
• Evernote: It's awesome. It will work offline in the event that Blogger will not (I hope)

Canon S110

At first, I was pretty convinced I'd bring my Canon DSLR with a couple lenses. Then I realized I'd need to buy the lenses. Then I realized that I'd need to have a bunch of time to take the photos. Then I realized that I'm just not skilled enough at photography to justify the trio of expenses (time, money, weight) borne by the likes of Ansel Adams. However, I really like photography and manipulating settings, so I opted for a Canon S110 after a very favorable review by North Star and Shutterbug. My limited pre-hike tests have yielded very favorable results, and the WiFi interface is convenient, if not battery consuming. Beware: the spare battery recommended by Amazon.com (NB-1L) is NOT the type that is used by the contemporary S110, which takes a NB-5L.

GoPro Hero HD

At the risk of redundancy, I also wanted to bring this little adventure camera. I love the shots it can take with the wide angle lens and multitudinous shooting modes (though they are tricky to decipher). I plan on using this little guy on the UltraPod I extensively - the tripod will stand in most places, and where it can't (i.e. glissades), it can easily strap to a hiking pole. The original Hero HD isn't the best in low-light, high-contrast situations, so if I really fall in love with cinematography before the northern forests I may upgrade to the new Hero 3 Black. Regardless, I am keeping an extra battery on hand. The meter accuracy is dubious at best. 

Nikon Travelite IV 8x23

"Shit - what was that?!?!" "Man, I wish I brought my binoculars!" "Can you see where we're supposed to go?" 

A few of the many reasons to bring binoculars everywhere. Like most gear, they are superfluous until needed, but they can add the detail which will make or break a trip (especially for a field nerd like me). The optics are great for the price (= I won't cry a river if/when they get beaten up), and at ~8 oz, I'll carry 'em until I get sick of 'em. 

Suntactics sCharger-5

Again taking the lead from North Star and Shutterbug, I bought this well-reviewed solar panel with USB charging port to power all of the trail gadgets. Initially, I was hooked on the idea of building the MightyMintyBoost with a large solar panel for the works because the idea of having a battery backup of Xxxx mAh was pretty appealing to me. After I could not acquire a crucial component after several months of waiting, though, I was more concerned with getting power at all rather than the perfect source. So far I am pleased with the weight and output of the sCharger-5 - it also appears to be quite durable. I am opting out of bringing the heavy-deiner nylon case it comes in, and will be storing it in a LokSak/UltraSil stuff sack with the rest of the electronics when not in use. However, between two iPhones and four camera batteries, I doubt that will be often. I plan on mounting the panel to the top flap of my pack, and modulating the panel for (optimal) angle to the sun.