Quote:

Based on your experience, what are the most important features for an external battery pack for hiking?

I doubt that many have experience with more than one of these devices, so it's difficult to get a good comparative review.

I would suggest that the key factor for the typical backpacker is just weight of the unit as a ratio to the amount of charge it delivers.

How you use your phone and/or tablet makes a big difference, both in terms of apps/functionality, and things that you do to minimize power drain. Do enough of that and I would suggest that for 2-3 days you don't need an external battery pack. But if you're only thinking of short distances to hike or just car camping, then sure --- don't worry about it, toss one in.

My own approach is to use a smartphone that has a replaceable battery; in my case that's a Samsung Galaxy S5. More recent models of the Galaxy 'S' line have eliminated that (for me key) feature, so I'm done with Samsung phones now I think, except for hanging on to the S5 for a good long time. If I were buying a smartphone today, I would have a look at the LG G5, which does offer a removable battery. Carrying a spare battery is always a lighter weight option than an external battery pack, and you don't lose power in an unneeded device-to-device transfer, just plug in a new one and go.

OTOH, my S5 is highly water resistant (IPX 67 rated), which is great. But it was rarely a big problem putting earlier smartphones into a snack sized ziplock bag on rainy days. Only real downside for me is that I take pretty much no pictures on rainy days, but don't tend to take a lot of pictures on such days anyway.

Tablet: I'll take a tablet on vacations or biking trips, but can't imagine taking one hiking. IMO the extra screen size isn't worth the weight when hiking, plus I always have my phone anyway because of the actual phone functionality. Maybe a phablet, if I had one.