Electronics & Survival, & some of my favorite luxury items of "gear"; what are some of yours?

First of all, I cut and pasted this from a reply I just made to a "gear" type BOB thread on ATS Gear Junkie only to realize the thread is older and the replies have died out, so I thought I would pop the information into a new thread as none of the information besides what I've posted below there was about Electronics, and how to utilize them possibly as a valuable resource.

I live in a very rural wooded region of New England, and have an old family riverside plot of land with a very old camper on it, with no electricity. This is only a few hours hike from my home, or a 15 minute drive. Since I plan to go there in the typical SHTF scenario, a few of these "non essential" comfort items would certainly not go in a typical BOB, but this thread is about my favorite "gear", here are mine with links, and a brief description & picture. Most of these items I acquired for normal hiking and camping over the past few years, but are definitely part of my SHTF plans. You may be surprised that half of my favorite pieces of "gear" are electronics, but with my homemade faraday cage, some of them just might still work after a blast.

This small biolite stove runs on twigs, is 5"x8" at 33oz & also produces electricity to charge my phone (which I do not plan to use as a phone, see further below) biolite


This brunton charger also can charge my phone (which I use to store many gigabytes full of PDF survival files) brunton


I am no survivalist, and I have not taken the time to learn how to make a small animal trap or do at least 5 gigabytes worth of reading that I have stored on a tiny MicroSD card in my phone, but I have over 1000 files (1/4 million pages) in PDF form and keep this Samsung Exhibit in a homemade faraday cage ready to be pulled out and charged up with one of the above items, to learn on the run in a time of need. PDF viewer


This rechargeable small Polaroid speaker works over bluetooth with my phone above, and makes listening to music, audio books, and movies far more enjoyable. It too charges with the biolite or brunton above via USB, as well as the battery pack further below. speaker


This digital TV tuner by Hauppauge makes my laptop a television and picks up over air HDTV. Maybe emergency information will still make it to the airwaves, but I currently use it with my pc hooked up to a large flat panel HDTV as the tuner in it broke and this cost less than replacing the tuner. It works as a DVR with my pc and I use it to follow what little good programming there is out there.tv tuner


I don't have a picture of my folding 80 watt solar panel that I constructed from solar cells I bought online, but it is similar to this. solar panel


With this I can store solar energy or transfer energy from a car battery in this portable battery pack that also has jumper cables, an emergency light, and an air compressor battery pack


This rechargeable Coleman lantern lasts several nights on one charge from the above battery pack, and has 3 light levels. I really enjoy having this around on a rainy night if I'm stuck inside the Hubba tent reading. The bulbs are impossible to find anymore, so I'll eventually upgrade. lantern


My non-electronic luxury items that I really enjoy, and would hope to utilize to stay comfortable, warm & dry

This Leatherman Wave has all locking blades and several tools I need in one handy leather pouch. leatherman


This is my 1 man Hubba tent, 20"x6" packed & 45oz, it can be used with just the tarp and poles, or just the mesh and poles, or with both, and sets up in the dark in less than 5 minutes with the connected pole system.
hubba tent


This Easycot packs down to just 6"x7"x40" and though it weighs 21lbs, it fits in the tent above, and opens in seconds with no assembly. easycot


This Therm-a-rest dreamtime mattress self inflates, weighs just under 7lbs and packs down to 6"x25". The soft fleece cover is washable, and it has an air and a foam mattress inside, and is very comfortable. dreamtime


This 1 piece silk sheet is sometimes all you need over the mattress above for a comfortable nights sleep, and I pack it right in with my sleeping bag which is just below. silk sheet


This UltraLamina 0 degree sleeping bag packs to 8"x15" and weighs less than 3lbs, and it is highly wind resistant as well as super soft and comfortable. sleeping bag


So those are my favorite items of "gear" and I have lots of other things like a cooler with wheels on it, fishing gear, kayak, 25 lb bags of rice as well as lima beans, hand cranking radio/light, knives, vegetable seeds, a pressure cooker is essential I believe and of them all, I have put the most time into the PDF files. I believe information could be a form of currency one day, if things happen to get black out bad. Every US Army manual out there, recipes, digital copies of books, some over 100 years old. I also created a PDF of all of my favorite paintings from artists like Da Vinci and Michelangelo. I have most of Beethovens symphony sheet music, countless fictional novels from great writers, poets, 40 of my favorite movies, audio books, hundreds of discographies of music, and I am adding to that PDF file list all the time. I would like to add that the survival forum is one of my favorite places on ATS, and I learn a great deal here. Thank you to those that contribute to this forum.

I'm running an REI Quarterdome T1:
REI Quarterdome T1

It's about 10 oz more than the MSR one you have. I looked into MSR, but for the money I chose the REI brand. Also, you can't forget how REI stands behind not only everything they sell, but especially their own branded items.

How's that stove working out for you? When it first came out I was very interested, I haven't heard any real reviews on it.

For my sleeping bag I have the North Face Dark Star, that's rated to -40F/-40C.
Dark Star

It's not the lightest bag, but for 9 months out of the year there's usually snow on the ground here.

reply to post by MystikMushroom


The Biolite is still in the box, as I didn't try it this summer, but plan to in the coming weeks. The links I included weren't from my "source" which to me is a great company to do business with, L.L. Bean. That is where I got all the non electronic items I mentioned. Thank you for your suggestion, they are an excellent company as well.

reply to post by AlchemistSwami


I have that exact battery pack. I can't tell you how many times it's come in handy. Where I live, if you need a jump there might not be anyone around for hours.

LL Bean is a good company, I actually tend to like their clothing more so than Eddie Bauer. Hows your boot situation? I picked up some La Sportiva's a while back. If you put on a set of gaiters with them they're good for winter use. I haven't tried yet, but they do have notches for crampons.

reply to post by MystikMushroom


My favorite boots that I own are the leather cresta's.

favorite boots

And these are my winter boots, I like the boa cable for tightening even with gloves on

winter boots

Cool stuff OP. There's a few things there I hadn't seen before like the biolite.

I've had a look at being able to charge my laptop from solar but I believe that you need to get a kind of battery to store the solar charge before going into the laptop as it requires a constant charge rather than trickle charge. That's what I was told anyway.

I'm using a phone right now so don't have the link for you but i'm sure you could find more info on it.

Cheers.

reply to post by AlchemistSwami

keep this Samsung Exhibit in a homemade faraday cage ready to be pulled out and charged up with one of the above items

As someone who worked in and owned a battery shop, make sure you charge the battery. If you let a Lithium battery drain all the way and die, you would be very hard pressed to bring it back without Cadex charger. Even then it is nearly impossible. Either that, or buy a new one every 2 years and charge it. You cycle your food right? Why don't people make sure they have fresh batteries too?

reply to post by AlchemistSwami


I picked up a set of solar string lights that have come in handy. The charge lasts a while, you can even read a book by them, though I wouldn't recommend it, unless you have one of the bulbs within a foot of the book.

www.target.com... easonal&kpid=12958839&LID=PA&ci_17588969&ci_sku=12958839&gclid=CNSz6oHkl7oCFSVBQgodSgoA4Q (flippin' link!)

But as a overall diffuse light in which to organize yourself at O-Dark thrity, they work great.

reply to post by superman2012


Excellent point, I guess since I am always pulling it out of the faraday cage to pull out the MicroSD card, so that I can pop it into the adapter and then pc, as I am always updating files, I'd say twice a week, (where I let it fully charge after before going back in the cage) I hadn't really thought beyond having 2 spare lithium batteries on hand. I wonder if storing it with out the battery would make a better difference long term, do you know?

reply to post by AlchemistSwami

Long term the battery does self discharge, but it would do it much more slowly then being hooked up to the phone (internal clock, etc.). I would just get a set up that would be able to connect to a car battery (cigarette lighter adapter?) so you could charge it using any 12v battery. They are found everywhere from emergency lighting to cell phone towers to the obvious use, the vehicle. Better memorize everything within a couple years though, the battery will not last indefinitely with heavy use and cycling.

reply to post by superman2012


Yes, thank you for your reply, and very valid points. The battery pack above has a cigarette lighter type outlet, and can charge off my solar panel, and I also have all the files on my Ipod also, which charges off those above items. If I haven't implemented what I need from those PDF's into my life with in two years, I'd surely be dead anyway, right. I am attempting to learn how to shoot a bow & arrow now, and will be buying one soon. Also, have started looking into home brewing and would plan to stock up on ALOT of those ingredients. Could come in handy after a stressful situation! Ha ha

It just occurred to me that depending on the situation, you may still be able to/want to produce electricity in a long term situation (over a year) for certain applications, however chances are that it will only have one outlet. So a very long, sturdy extension lead would be a useful to have in your home kit.

reply to post by AlchemistSwami


Home brewing is an excellent way to store food and calories when you have an excess of starch available. It also makes many foods more digestible. You can brew just about anything into beer-like drinks. Animals are another way to store these too but in certain situations brewing is more appropriate.

Never EVER start your apocalypse without your trusty, dusty R-390A-URR. And for Morboe's sake, don't forget to zero the BFO (Not the same as narfle the garthock!)