Ya don't need to justify yourself here amigo. I carry mine - it's in airplane mode the whole time, and so the battery lasts forever, and serves as my e-reader at night. It's lighter than the paperback novels I used to carry, and can serve as a backup camera, gps, and god forbid, when I get to the trailhead, in the rare instances I have coverage, a phone. In airplane mode the thing lasts for like oh, over a week or more on the trail as a reader and alarm clock. I think I've done 8 bag nights without a charger with it.


I also often carry a gps.

*but* I turn it on, let it find its' marbles, find what I need, and turn it off. that basically means I get 3-4 days out of a set of AA batteries. I ususally carry two in it, and
two extras. Make sure you turn it off when not in use.



ditch the tripod and the charger, turn your gps off when not in use. maybe take one set of extra batts for your gps, or just make sure you turn it off when not in use. Get something like a petzl e-lite (that lasts an entire two hiking seasons for me on two cr2032 lithium batts) instead of your battery hogging headlamp - Honestly, with an iphone ereader (so I don't need headlamp to read at night) I use my headlamp to take a leak. that's about it. You have other backup sources of night light - (your phone, your gps, your lighter, etc. etc.)

Basically your devices, while light, are making you a slave to over a pound of battery charging crap. you have your 26 oz of charger - you could be carrying 28 more AAA batteries for that weight... you can turn off your gps, and I'll bet money if you get an LED headlamp you'll have a very hard time running it out. This isn't your red dot on your weapon.. the world will not be a very crappy place without AA's

Keep the spot, consider selectively ditching the gps if you're somewhere familiar and marked, (and take a map and compass - doesn't need batteries - I do consider my GPS a
"luxury" - one that can be taken away by electronics, trees, or the whims of a foreign government. so if I know I need it I have a map an compass.. doesn't mean I don't like my GPS