The Mobile Geek

One of the drawbacks of being a “gadget freak” is you end up having more “necessities” than normal when up and about. ¹ And by “normal,” I mean your keys, phone, and wallet.

I bring my iPad more often than not – then there’s the MiFi for internet connectivity. And to prevent any of those devices dying on me in the middle of the day, I bring a portable battery pack along.

All that – for a regular day.

It gets even more complicated when on a trip out of town/country. Apart form those already mentioned, one has to consider the need to use other gadgets for tasks that would normally be done at the end of the day (computer/laptop). And let’s not forget real cameras, whenever on an interesting “trip.”

I also think my being a pack-rat comes with the territory of having so much shit to bring along, so I pretty much have to accept that for the most part, I’ll never be “traveling light” in the truest sense of the phrase. What I can be though, is efficient.

Bringing or packing the stuff I mentioned is easy enough… but what about keeping them charged/powered? Aye, there’s the rub! that’s where all the experimentation comes from. Packing power cords/chargers, etc. for all that gear can be a nightmare not only because they’re all in different shapes and sizes, but also because they’re things one could easily forget during a trip. Another issue is the lack of enough wall sockets – so I have to find a way to power everything through a single socket, power a ton of shit, and have it organized enough that I don’t leave anything when I’m done.

As such, I’ve constantly been re-evaluating what I like to call my “gadget travel pack” – and I’d like to share it with you.

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Here’s an idea of what I consider to be a “full setup” – meaning during long trips out of town/country, I tend to bring these at the most (and take away one or two depending on my needs).

1. Laptop
2. iPad
3. Battery Pack
4. iPod
5. MiFi
6. Portable Router
7. Phone
8. Camera

Everything is self-explanatory save for #6… which is my CradlePoint CTR35.

While the MiFi’s is an important day-to-day device, I normally don’t bring that out of country due to the impracticality of getting a temporary data plan on a different country. A more likely scenario would be finding myself in some place with “limited” internet; like hotels with a single wired connection, and such. The CTR35 allows me to basically take any type of connection (USB 3G/4G broadband stick, Existing WiFi network, or wired Ethernet) and share/extend that network. ² Of course if the place I’m in has ubiquitous WiFi, then I just keep it stowed away

Having said that, to power/charge all these simultaneously, here’s how I’ve got everything setup: ³ Again, the goal is to be able to power everything through one wall socket

From left to right

• Aviiq Portable Charging Station
  This is basically an all USB power hub that’s very much organized and
• Belkin Mini Surge Protector
  The most practical “portable power splitter” I’ve seen in the market so far. Has 2 USB ports.
• Universal Travel Adaptor w/ Dual USB
  This is to ensure you can plug into any type of wall receptacle. It has the added bonus of having an auxiliary power cable apart from the actual plug receptacle it has – that coupled with the dual USB ports, actually allows you to connect 2 AC devices and 2 USB devices.
• CradlePoint CTR35 wall adaptor
  This is the only annoying part of everything. I have the fact that the CTR runs on 12v. If they had designed it to run on standard 5v then I could use one of the USB receptacles for it and do away with this stupid cumbersome plug. But alas, I have no alternatives so I must put up with it.
• Camera charger
  For whatever camera I have with me, usually it’s the Lumix, but the AC plug is the same type for both that and my DSLR charger.
• Apple power brick with TwelveSouth PlugBug
  The iPad needs 5V 2A for proper charging speed – when typical USB ports supply 1A. While the Aviiq is capable, it’s nice to know that should I need to use all those ports for something else, that there’s still one available that can give 2A.

So here’s how it breaks down:

1. Universal Travel adaptor plugs into wall
2. Camera charger connects to #1 via auxiliary AC connector
3. Belkin connects to #1’s main socket
4. Aviiq, Powerbrick and CTR35 plug connect to Belkin.
5. Devices connect to any the three.

And when I’m ready to go, they can all be packed like so: ⁴ Included the iPhone to give a proper sense of scale

The only annoying thing here is that damned CTR35 plug. It’s physically impossible to plug all three (Aviiq, Powerbrick and CTR35 plug) to the Belkin – simply because the CTR35 is unencessarily thick!

Techincally, given that the Aviiq only provides USB output, and that we’ve already got 5 usb-ports ⁵ Two on the Belkin, two on the Travel Adaptor, and the one (2A) on the PlugBug without it – I could forego the Aviiq altogether. ⁶ That, or I could look for an slim 12V to Type-M barrel – that or hope that the room I end up using these things on has more than one wall plug.

The reason I’m resisting that scenario however, is because the whole point of me buying the damn thing was because of its [awesome cable management:]() it keeps everything nice and tidy. But I do have some CableYoYo’s here so if worse comes to worst, only time will tell.