Archive for the ‘Equipment’ Category

Energi to go™
Our days can get long,

and if you are like me our batteries can run down.
The little devices that make our lives easier are getting smaller but don’t always have the juice to keep up.
Enter  portable power packs.

I was headed out to Texas to photograph a friends champion Great Dane Ty . I knew that I would probably need more power than my iPhone had. So off I went to find a portable battery pack.

Years ago when I was on a trip from San Francisco back home I ran out of power for my old school iPod. I had just made it from SF to NY with tunes but we were stuck on the tarmac for a few hours.

So I had to do something!

As a Photographer  I have an insatiable thirst for battery power, or at least my strobes do. I have made various battery packs throughout the years. this being one of them.

I don’t know why I wasn’t arrested right then and there as I pulled out my batteries and started tearing apart some wires to recharge my iPod. It must have been a sight. Remember kids don’t try this on a plane or anywhere near an airport.
Anyway I had tunes and I was doing much better.

Fast forward to today. Thank goodness several companies have noticed the problem of lack of juice and have stepped up with solutions. Otherwise I just might end up in the slammer.

Energi to go™ the review.

Prepping for the trip to Texas I went into my local BestBuy to see what they had.
There were several “made for the iPhone” packs, ranging from $30-$80 too much for my blood (hey I’m cheap). I had seen one that would use AA batteries. That way I could use rechargeable’s or in a pinch buy a pack at a drug store. Alas BestBuy didn’t stock them. Out of the corner of my eye I spied the Energi to go™  on display. there were a few different sizes I bought the cheapest one the 1,000 mah $20. It would power my iPhone for another 4-5 hours.

Now this is certainly a more elegant solution than ripping apart a cord and attaching wires with electrical tape to battery terminals on an airplane.
Not to mention less likely to cause the air marshal to put a gun to your head.

The battery comes charged though I don’t know if it is fully charged or just partially. As you can see, it has a USB cord that you use to charge it. Therefore you can use a computer, car to USB adapter, or wall outlet to USB charger like the one that comes with the iPhone.
I particularly like this as it eliminates the need for additional wall chargers, like we don’t have enough cords and things that plug into the wall as it is.
The Energi to go™ comes with several tips that you can switch out to charge other phones and devices. This is a good and bad thing.
The good part is that one pack can be used for different devices.
The Bad, well let’s just say that there is an iPhone/iPod adapter lying on the ground somewhere just outside of Johnson city, under a cactus or something.
So, when you get one make sure to wrap electrical tape around the adapter and the cord so I,er, I mean you don’t loose it. The great thing is that they have an excellent “tips for life” policy. Just register on their site and order up another tip, just in case.

When I got my new tip I had the chance to really put it through it’s paces. Fully charged it rechrged my iPhone to almost full. The battery in the phone is a bit larger at 1150mah. So now I keep it charged and in my bag at all times.

As you can see the 1000mah pack is small and easily slips int your pocket or bag without tipping the scales. It has two leds to indicate the charge status. They also make various sized interchangeable packs up to the gargantuan 18,000 mAh pack that weighs in at 17.5 oz. A little too big to slide into my pocket. But great if you are going outback and away from power.

So if you are in the need of backup power I would look into the Energi to go™ system.

I don’t get paid for these reviews, just my experiences.

good luck.

mdr