Gadget links and reviews

please feel free to PM me with worth while links appropriate to add to this list (GPS, radio, software etc....) Or post them to this thread, and I will add them as we go.

Digital Camera Links
Steve's Digital Camera reviews
DP Reviews
Megapixel.net
Digital Eye
Imaging Resource
http://www.phototakers.com/forum/


Ham Radio
http://www.qsl.net/kj6vu

www.eham.com (great reviews and articles)
www.arrl.org (the very big, very old, definitive amateur radio site)
www.qrz.com (practice exams, tons of good radio stuff)
www.natworld.com/ars/ (Adventure Radio Society....ultralite radio geek backpackers)
www.swdcarc.org (my club's website...good info)

GPS
http://gpsinformation.net/

www.gpsnuts.com



Suruvival Gear
Equipped to Survive
(follow gear and equipment link)

My gizmos eat lots of batteries so I'm in the market for a new charger that does a better job of charging and conditioning my NIMH batteries for better performance. During the search I found a great discussion on Candle Power Forums titled "Best Universal Charger" It doesn't really identify a single brand or model as "the best" but there are lots of insights into the most popular ones:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/ubbthre...amp;type=thread

(Don't let the Aug 2003 date of the first post throw you. The thread is still going strong and all the links I tried from it are still valid)

Robert Lipe of the Middle Tennessee Geocachers Club gives the short answer about his nifty GPS case:

http://www.mtgc.org/robertlipe/GPS_Cases/

The best GPS cases I've found so far (Thanks to RL):

http://www.cartom.virtual-space.com/gps.htm

Thanks Penny,
I had 2 bookmarked and now I did the rest.
Youse is a good girl.

Just came across GearFlogger

Rather oriented to climbing, but has some interesting posts nonetheless.

Hi
A few more
For still cameras :
http://www.dcresource.com/
http://www.photoreview.com.au/
http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/index.html

For video cameras
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/

For GPSs
http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?

Franco

PennyS
I'm a retired Antenna and RF engineer and I have just opened an antenna/RF blogsite. I thought the radio geeks here might enjoy visiting and posting comments. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Note - all posts will be emailed to me and approved prior to publishing... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

So if I'm not out of line, my blog is
http://antrat-jim.blogspot.com

Its VERY new and just starting to grow.
<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />
Jim <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Here is a great GPS forum from downunder:

http://www.gpsaustralia.net/forums/

Cheers,
Michael (AussieBushwalker).

I'd like to get a GPS unit soon then I could review it on my site in my signature. If a company was feeling generous, could give one away to a reader. hum, maybe I'll get to it...?

That's a pretty idea I Agreed! Nice find .. Good stuff! it's really a good and flexible job....
Very well said, thanks for sharing.
Why not download VLC player instead? It's probably the best free multimedia player for Windows. It supports most of the audio/video file formats out there and has all the codecs installed already. I used it for about 6 months and it has never crashed or had any bugs since that date.

------------
VLC Player

I'd never looked through this thread before but was surprised to not see http://www.backpackgeartest.org/

This volunteer-run gear review site does more than just gadgets, but it certainly includes them with sub-categories for cameras, communication gear, electronic devices, navigation & map gear, among others.

Certainly other forums are a resource, for example the electronics gear reviews on Whiteblaze, and at least a couple of sub-category reviews on BPL, such as navigation and photography.

Ultimately for me what's most interesting in keeping up with "gadgets" for the backcountry is just keeping up with geekdom in general via sites such as engadget.com or gizmodo.com. It's just hard to know when a "mainstream" gadget might seem useful to at least some folks in a backcountry setting. Smartphones and power supply options come most immediately to mind, but on occasion others too, such as eBook readers, and things like Eye-Fi which don't fit neatly into any one category slot. For most of these what I think is wanted is a more general (and good) review, where the reader just keeps the backcountry use in mind.

"The New Split Pea Peanut Lighter. We have been told that it is the worlds smallest production lighter.

Constructed of 300 Series Stainless Steel with a overall height with out the split ring is 1.3" and it's diameter is .5"."

HERE

-- that's a good site, thanks!

I got a couple of these Solar Lanterns for Christmas this year.

All things considered, they're pretty light, and bright, and they seem to charge fast and last a long time. They're a borderline item for a solo trip, but they'd be great to have on a trip with a few people and they're perfect for car camping and playing around outside at night. Overall, I'm pretty impressed with them.

[quote=mootwalker]My gizmos eat lots of batteries so I'm in the market for a new charger that does a better job of charging and conditioning my NIMH batteries for better performance. During the search I found a great discussion on Candle Power Forums titled "Best Universal Charger" It doesn't really identify a single brand or model as "the best" but there are lots of insights into the most popular ones: (end quote)

I am doing more off season camping, with two teenage boys in tow...E-gadgets allowed only in camp and then only at bedtime. (mostly) We use an Xtar and a Nitecore universal charger run off either a Liion battery pack and/or a smallish folding solar charger...with patience it can take us through 3-7 days out as far as power needs.

Moderator note: Please note that nearly all the posts on this thread are quite old, and that the original post was last updated 10 years ago. I'm sure that some of the links there are still good, but technology has changed quite a bit!

That being said, I notice we haven't had anything posted about charging batteries in the backcountry for the past couple of years. I try to avoid items with batteries as much as I can, but I know I'm way out of the mainstream these days! Anyone want to start a new thread? Opportunity knocks!

EDIT,LATER: New thread, "Battery Charging for Backpackers" has been started below.