Those of us keen on our electronics while in the backcountry have undoubtedly been through a number of iterations of figuring out (some times the hard way) how much power we need. We’ve found little tricks like going into Airplane Mode, made sacrifices like avoided listening to music or we have limited how may photos we take or maybe forgone taking but one or two little videos.
Excitement grew into a fervor as solar power panels became more readily available and designed in ways for us to more easily take them along. The biggest letdown about solar was how long it actually takes to collect compared to how fast we end up using it. There in lies the rub. But once we have honed our systems to recognize these devices are best suited to extend the battery life of our devices and that they are not an endless source like plugging into the wall, our expectations have been tempered (at least for some of us).
For those of you who only need some of the functionality of your phone and won’t have GPS apps running all weekend or can handle listening to nature instead of your tunes, the Secur 4000 charger is a great option.
The internal batter holds 4000 mAh (milliamp hours) of charge. This is a rather simplistic way to think about battery capacities, but it generally works for devices like this. The iPhone 6 battery is in the 1800 mAh range, so you’re looking at two full charges from the Secur 4000. Odds are you won’t let it drain out completely so maybe you’ve got 3-4 boosts to keep your phone topped off.
As tested on the Colorado River down the Grand Canyon and on various backpacking and hiking trips in the Colorado Rockies, it never made sense to deplete the Secur 4000 completely to see how long it takes to re-charge it. What’s important is the Secur 4000 was able to keep a smartphone running for a few days of minimal use. Anything beyond that and there was a net loss of power due to the time it takes to collect solar power.
One of the great features of the Secur 4000 though is the built in cable for charging. Granted this is only useful for topping the battery off before you go since the solar panel will be the primary input thereafter. It’s still one less cable to loose or have to track down in that moment when you want to plug it in.
The only thing I would have liked to seen included is a better way to strap the Secur 4000 to my pack or on the raft for while in transit. It’s great for base camps where you can leave it out, tipped towards the sun (and maybe tracking the sun if you’re around) and let it absorb all day long.
