lightweight tech setup for EU trip

[fossana]

Hi all,

I decided to dip into my large pool of unused vacation and airline mileage and booked a trip to Barcelona/Pyrenees for the second half of September. I may have to work a few days, but wanted to keep things light so I'm trying to decide the best setup for navigation and work. I would rather leave my Macbook Pro at home.

What I have:

• Unlocked Moto G5 Plus (running Backcountry Navigator now)
• DeLorme GPS that supports uploading Open Street Maps (have not yet tried Open Topo)
• Kindle

What I need to access:

• VPN client, SSH client (rest of work apps are cloud-based)
• e-books (e.g. guides)
• topo maps
• Preferably Affinity photo editing software

What I'm considering:

• iPad mini or something less fancy/expensive than a Pro
  • Can leave a keyboard case in the city while hiking.
• mini solar charger/battery bank?

Any recommendations?

 

[Michael]

- power plug adapter 230 VAC
- power bank for your devices

Why Moto if you have a MB Pro at home and have an eye on iPad?
IMHO you don’t need your DeLorme GPS in Europe. Use your Backcountry Navigator or take a look on Gaia GPS for Android. They’ve Spain IGN Topo.

Have fun in Europe!


Gesendet von iPhone mit Tapatalk

 

[Perry]

I have an older iPad mini in a keyboard case that I just love. The only way to travel light and still have access to the work necessities.

 

[Perry]

On solar vs power bank... I found solar kind of a pita and has to be reasonably large to charge with any speed. Bite the weight bullet and go for a large capacity power bank.

 

[fossana]

Thanks @Perry.

Why Moto if you have a MB Pro at home and have an eye on iPad?
IMHO you don’t need your DeLorme GPS in Europe. Use your Backcountry Navigator or take a look on Gaia GPS for Android. They’ve Spain IGN Topo.

Have fun in Europe!


Gesendet von iPhone mit Tapatalk

Thanks. I'm just stating what I have. Wasn't planning on bringing it all.

 

[fossana]

@Michael If you been in the High Pyrenees I would be interested in any suggestions. I think the High Route will possibly be snowier than I want to deal with without my boots, so I am looking at the more mountainous sections of the GR10 or GR11.

I got rained out the entire trip in Wilder Kaiser 2 years ago. Otherwise I'd go back there.

 

[Michael]

@fossana,
Sorry never been there. I can’t help. I spend my vacation only in Utah - every year. Maybe you can receive some betas on European websites.


Gesendet von iPad mit Tapatalk

 

[fossana]

No problem. Thanks @Michael.

 

[fossana]

I ended up getting an iPad mini with cellular for the GPS chip (with the associated ridiculous Apple markup). Good news is that I can leave my other electronics at home. Will explore navigation app options; I don't think Backcountry Navigator supports iOS yet. Too bad since they have IGN topos.

 

[Wyatt Carson]

Did you get the latest iPad Mini 5? I have an older Mini 2, slow now and relegated to playing Music Unlimited through a nice WiFi speaker. But it can take a pretty good picture, certainly good enough for photo/journalism and I bet the Mini 5 has a much better camera and much faster processor of course. Usually I do photography with my iPhone and a third party app called ProCamera and do the processing on my 2018 iPad with Raw Power if I shot raw or Snapseed if the file is tiff, jpeg or heif. Procamera has some image editing too. They just added an inversion feature so I can work with some old negatives. I think Affinity should work on that new Mini too though I’ve not tried it.

You can certainly take a load of reference books and other books on your iPad too. Gps works great on iOS so find a good app like Gaia or some other that works for you.

 

[fossana]

thanks @Wyatt Carson. I did get the Mini 5, which Affinity supports. I may still bring my RX-100 camera since I've been happy with it and it's less awkward to pull out for photos. From what I've read the main complaint about iPad hardware is RAM. I'll have to check how much Affinity is using on my laptop. Typically it's Chrome that is the memory hog.