Double-duty Mobile Charger from Duracell

I think I've made it to the point where about 95 percent of my battery use is rechargeable batteries. The main exception is the damn smoke alarms in my house as they only seem to work with throwaway alkalines, even though they're hotwired and the battery is just a back-up.

There's always one big inconvenience though: most rechargeable batteries lose juice over time, so if you charge them up and leave them in a drawer, they'll be half dead when it's time to use them. Most lose somewhere around two percent of their capacity a day. So you have to charge them up close to the time you're going to use them.

The exception to this are so-called hybrid batteries, which come ready to use out of the package and are not so prone to energy evaporation. The ones that came with this Duracell Mobile Charger worked fine right after I wrestled wrestled them loose from the (non-recyclable) clamshell packaging and the company claims that they only lose two percent of their power per month instead of per day.

Then there's the charger. It isn't nearly as compact as the Energizer travel charger I reviewed earlier, but on the plus side it has a USB port. This makes it qualify as a good double-duty charger: you can charge up the batteries by plugging it in or charge up your MP3 player by plugging it into the charger. So you can recharge your tunes without powering up a laptop. Power flows out from the batteries too though, so in a pinch you could pop in charged batteries and send that power to your USB device. Also, this unit has four individual status lights, so you can see when each battery is fully charged.

The Duracell Mobile Charger goes for anywhere from $17 to $29 depending on whether you are buying one stocked with two or four batteries and whether it comes with a car adapter.

Get the car adapter version with 4 batteries for $21 at Amazon
Get one with two batteries only at Amazon

The Best Eco-friendly Travel Gadgets

Excuse the long stretch of no travel gear reviews here, but I am on the move through western Canada until next week and am using stuff instead of logging on and writing about it. More to come.

Meanwhile, here's a rundown of the best eco-friendly travel gear I put together for a new site called Tibesti.com. I'm working as their gear and gadget review columnist, so there are some other ones there and more on the way. This one is topical though, as fuel costs continue to rise and we all look for ways to lessen our impact on the environment as we travel.

Many of these items you have seen reviewed here before, such as the cool HyMini wind charger, the BoGo Solar Flashlight, and the Shake Flashlight.

I will be getting a review of the Solo Magnesium solar charger up here soon, but first I have to spend some more time with it to grasp how in the world the company justifies a $200 price tag for something that doesn't seem to crank out much juice...


Search for more eco-friendly travel gear and gadgets at Gaiam.com

Buy Well to Pack Lighter

For a few years I've been running travel gear reviews on this Practical Travel Gear blog. I was stressing the need to pack light long before USAir started the trend of charging money to lose your bags and American showed even more contempt for its customers by charging for anything you check. Now the game has gotten serious and you really have to consider the cost of gear verses the cost of carrying it. Will that purchase help you save money---or will it cost you more money?

When you backpack around the world, you are thinking about this all the time of course, since you have to carry the load on your back. It doesn't take long to start cursing those blue jeans and the pair of shoes you really could have done without. Even a hardback book starts seeming like an extravagance.

On vacation though, it is easier to overpack. You have a wheelie suitcase maybe, lots of helping hands, luggage carts, and taxis. And before, you could just check your bag if it got too heavy or too big.

As I splurged far more than I ever normally do on a Air Strip Lite shirt from Ex-Officio for my current trip to Canada, I realized that I'm starting to look like those Korean travelers I used to make fun of: the ones who couldn't go on a hike or go skiing without buying all the latest and greatest custom-purposed outfits first. I've got the quick-dry underwear, the quick-dry wicking shirts, the zip-off convertible pants, the lightweight multi-purpose shoes. Throw in double-duty gadgets like the Chargepod and the Eagle Creek Money Belt and I start looking like a Magellan's catalog.

But you know what? I can pack for a two-week trip in a carry-on if I need to, which is the name of the game these days. It now pays to pay more for the right travel clothing. It weighs less, it washes easily, it dries fast, and it will usually last longer.

Plus the double-duty gear does more than one thing while taking up less space. The miniature gear does more in a smaller package.

Plan ahead, buy the right stuff, and you'll move through airports for less hassle--and fewer extra fees. I'm on the road trying out lots of new stuff right now actually, but with my family, so these posts will be a bit less frequent for the next two weeks.

See all quick-dry, lightweight clothing from ExOfficio.

Keeping Track of Your Kid in a Crowd

It's kind of ironic, but most of the places you end up taking your kids on vacation are the places where it is easiest to lose them in a crowd: amusement parks, water parks, sports events, festivals, ski resorts, airports, and on and on. Add to that the fact that kids aren't opposed to just wandering off to follow the balloon man or someone dressed in a furry costume and it can be trouble.

Short of putting them on a leash (which makes me cringe when in see it), how do you keep the little ones from getting lost? And what about their stuff?

One company that has spent a lot of time on this question is Stuck on You. Their Stick with Me wristbands are better versions of the ones you get at an all-inclusive resort, with bright colors and kid-friendly icons (ladybugs, dinosaurs, flying saucers). They have a space for writing after "My name is" and another one after "If I am lost please call..." The idea is, you write the vitals, pop one on their wrist, and you've got some peace of mind if you get separated.
Stuck on You also helps you find your kids' bags, with colorful and fun luggage tags that your little ones will want to watch for on the carousel. Plus you can order matching stickers for their water bottle, and shoes. (Don't laugh--been to an indoor playground lately?) See more at the Stuck on You website.

I've also been trying out some Tattoos with a Purpose. These are kind of goofy---a temporary tattoo on your kid's arm that has a place for your cell phone number---but my daughter thought they were pretty cool. They come in all kinds of designs that will make the girls and the boys happy: dogs, rockets, butterflies, hearts, dinosaurs, and horses with pink manes. They're FDA-approved to no hurt any sensitive skin. They're also water resistant, so they'll work in a water park.

The pack of temporary tattoos comes with its own pen and some alcohol wipes for $10. See more at tattooswithapurpose.com.

Eco-friendly Sunscreen

If you're going snorkeling around sensitive coral reefs or swimming in cenotes, it is becoming clear that regular sunscreen is a big no-no. It's harmful to the marine life and may kill the coral, according to this National Geographic article.

Four chemicals commonly used in sunscreen activate a virus that can bleach the coral. "The researchers estimate that 4,000 to 6,000 metric tons of sunscreen wash off swimmers annually in oceans worldwide, and that up to 10 percent of coral reefs are threatened by sunscreen-induced bleaching."

Of course you yourself won't be bleached if you don't wear any sun protection; you'll be cooked red instead. So the sensible solution is eco-safe/marine friendly sunscreen like that produced by Caribbean Sol. (As in Caribbean Solutions.)

It feels the same on your skin and blocks out the rays with the same zinc oxide (not one of the four culprits in bleaching), but is biodegradable and won't harm the coral or the fish. In my tests it performed just as well as the standard kind. It comes in SPFs ranging from 4 to 25 and there's also a kid's sunscreen version.

If you can't find the Caribbean Sol version, check around for others, but be wary: it's easy for a sunscreen to say "oil-free" or "eco-friendly" and still be filled with the offending chemicals. There's no regulation on the terms. Some outdoor sports and gear stores sell another brand, Mexitan, that is one of the only ones approved for some of the "natural sunscreen only" places in the Yucatan.

The other solution is to wear a sunshirt of some kind instead--probably the best bet anyway if your back will be facing the sun for hours of snorkeling.

Review of the Periscope Book Light in a Bookcover

I have run reviews of a few book lights before, including the Light Wedge, the Spike Light, and the Flex Neck. This Periscope Book Light provides a different approach. A leather cover wraps around your book and then, true to its name, the light is housed in a telescoping periscope that comes out of the top.

You can adjust the periscope light to go as far over your book as you want and the head swivels back and forth. (Want to know what that head looks like? See a poster for the new Pixar movie WALL-E.) It's a bright, two-bulb LED that definitely does the trick in complete darkness. The light is powered by three AA bulbs---please promise you will use rechargeables after the included ones run their course of 40 hours. You can buy an A/C adapter for it, but who wants to mess with a cord when they're reading a book?

There are a couple advantages of this design. First, you never have to worry about misplacing your light because it's attached to the book you're reading. Hey, it even comes with a cloth bookmark. Also, it "protects your privacy" if you don't want everyone to see that you're reading a trashy romance novel. Or if you are, as I once was, reading The Satanic Verses while traveling through a country full of Muslims.

The downside of this approach is that, last time I checked, book sizes weren't very standard. The paperback size one will only hold mass market paperbacks, so if your tastes commonly run to Danielle Steele and the like, you'll be fine. Otherwise, you need the larger one that holds hardback books and trade paperbacks. Those books come in all kinds of sizes though, so sometimes the cover is going to barely fit and other times you will have lots of slack space.

Still, kudos for finding a new solution and trying something different. After all, it really does feel nice to have a leather cover in your hand while reading a $14 paperback. See the whole line here.

The Periscope Book Light in a Bookcover is available for $35 to $40 at Barnes & Noble stores or their website.

Want to check out others?
Book lights and magnifiers – a huge selection of stylish and smart designs! Shipping just $6.95, everyday