GDMBR Electronic Devices

“I must create a System, or be enslaved by another Man’s.”
-William Blake

GDMBR Electronic Gadgets

Power Supplies- All GDMBR gadgets are powered by AA batteries or the Brunton Solaris 6 solar panel. I went to considerable effort to standardize batteries to all AAs and added the solar panel to remote charge internal battery devices. The solar chargeable devices all have different power-in adapters, which has proved to be a challenge.

Music and Entertainment – Creative Zen 30 GB multimedia player. Somewhat heavy, but I have over 20 GB of music, comedy, and audio books uploaded to it. The Zen also has a nice radio function and is set up to charge with the solar panel. Testing has proved the Zen to run for about 2 riding days on a full charge.

Data Entry and Communication – HP IPAQ WiFi enabled PDA. Small, light, and chargeable via solar panel. Ports in SD memory cards for video, data, and photo management. All email, journal, data, and blog postings will be managed via this device and I will be plotting free wi-fi hotspot locations along the route for future riders. Charges with the solar panel.

Camera – Panasonic Lumix DMC- LS70 7.2 MP Digital. Runs on AA batteries and stores data via SD and SDHC memory cards.

Cell Phone – This real world torture device is coming along for emergencies and call-ins in the 10-15% of the route that will have cell coverage. Charges with the solar panel.

Data Storage – I have several 2GB SD memory cards and one 4GB SDHC card for interchangeable data storage and transfer. The GPS has a 2 GB micro-SD card with full SD adaptor for tracklog storage and transfer. I am also bringing along an SD card reader that can plug into a USB port, which treats the SD card as a flash memory drive in any PC. As the opportunity presents itself, I will be using this at library computers along the route to upload photos and other data items to the blog.

Navigation- Garmin 60CSx handheld GPS. It has a huge memory capacity relative to these type of devices and I have all the route area topos and the actual route (except for Canada) uploaded to it. I will use this to keep track of mileage and moving times per day as well. The GPS runs on 2 AA batteries. It is really more of a data collection device as I will primarily rely on the well designed Adventure Cycling GDMBR maps for navigation. My trust level of the GPS is limited based on army experience. I have my orienteering compass plus a compass on the bike handlebars as backups.