I need to buy a charger of some kind to power my LG smartphone, which I intend to use for emergency GPS, kindle, photography and the odd phone call or text. I can't afford the Brunton Hydrogen charger, so I wondered what experience others had of external power.
I have been looking at the Anker Astro. anyone ever used one on these?

I've had a PAMA 4000mAh charger for years. There may be a more up to date model. Not sure of the cost, but, not very expensive.

It will charge my HTC One twice before neeeding recharging. It weighs about 200 grms (which is a bit heavy) But, it works and has never let me down.

I've looked at others and have yet to be swayed by anything else, so far.

BUT, just looked at that Ankar charger and it does look pretty good.... and has a 10,000mAh charge.

Personally I just take a charger and a couple of spare batteries for my phone.
If you leave it off most of the time, and also put it on Flight Mode unless making calls, they seem to last.
I took 2 x spare batteries last year, + small charger for civilization, but actually only needed 2 of them.
Depending upon model, you can get a battery for around £6.
The alternative is probably solar charger.
Ian C may have an opinion on them.

Me too. I've a Samsung Galaxy SIII, which is one of the very few smartphones with a replaceable battery - and that why I bought it! Last summer I was in the Pyrenees for three weeks, with little chance of getting to a mains outlet, and found that - with reasonable use - each battery would last a little over a week. Took it on last year's Challenge, with slightly heavier use and all was well. Martin Banfield used the same configuration (plus a charger) on his mighty GR10 stravaig last summer

Having said that, the new Anker Astro with a 12,000mAh capacity looks to be an excellent buy click here for full details for those folks using phones or other devices who won't let you get under the hood.

Weighs 300gm. Comes in black or white. And a dramatic price drop recently. Form an orderly queue . . .

Wowser! That Anker looks good value. I've got a 7000maAh Tecknet which weighs 178g which will charge an iPhone approx 4 times., £17.97 on Amazon.

A few years ago I did use a solar charger on the Challenge but did so because I couldn't get a spare battery for my new, or at least new then, camera and the USB portable battery chargers don't give a high enough voltage to charge the camera battery. The solar charger did work but it's heavy and obviously weather dependent. Now a days there is a far greater choice of portable battery chargers some of which have higher voltage output but personally I find 2 spare batteries for my camera and the charger for my phone is all I need. I keep my phone off when not in use and rarely switch it on to use the GPS function.

Ian , i may have been with you out of Loch Ness over East when you corrected me with your rechargeable kit into the upper river system for the Monadhliath . I thought it superb and am only now admitting WEIGHT is a significant factor . thanks bill h.

Hi
I recently bought an Anker Astro 6000mAh from Amazon for £26 for use on the event. Last week I charged 2 Android phones and an iphone 5s and it still had some juice left in it. Weight 132g.