“No, no, no, NO! Come on, hold out just a little more!”
We’ve all been there: that horrible sinking feeling when your phone is about to die.
It’s exactly like when you’re driving on fumes, hoping you can make it to the next exit while the gas tank needle rides on “E,” you know?
The thing is, your phone isn’t just a way to play “Flappy Bird” and look at pictures of cats on the Internet.
For most people, it’s your ONLY link to the rest of the world – and if it goes dead, that’s bad.
If it goes dead and STAYS that way for days or weeks, you’re in a world of hurt – and if you think that snazzy “power bank” your carrying will help you… you’re WRONG.
That’s because…
Your Backup Battery “Survival Power Bank” Is NOT Enough
There was a time when people had “land lines.”
The wired phone in your house uses a different power source, so it wasn’t uncommon when I was growing up for the power to go out…
…but the phones would still work!
These days, though, almost nobody bothers with land lines.
Your (wireless) phone is your only connection to the outside world.
And if it runs out of power, you are completely cut off from EVERYBODY – especially during an emergency.
My own mother calls me all the time to make sure I’m okay. Any time there’s a big storm here in Florida, she wants to know that I’m not in danger.
A wireless phone is the ONLY way for most of us to get hold of our relatives, including older kids, who’ve never had “land lines” and think they’re “lame.”
In an emergency, if you had to “rally” your family and you couldn’t reach them on the phone, what would you do?
With a dead phone, there’s no way to tell your family to avoid going back home where, say, a wildfire, flood, or storm has made the area unsafe.
With a dead phone, you can’t “mark yourself safe” on social media, or talk to any of the people you deal with mostly in online messengers or text.
With a dead phone, there’s no way for you to check your “evac routes” when fleeing a disaster, a riot, or other danger… and believe me, amigo, those “safe routes” can change in a heartbeat.
(If you can’t monitor conditions in real time with a smartphone, you’re out of luck!)
And with a dead phone, there’s absolutely no way to communicate with even your closest family or group members – which is absolutely critical whenever there’s an emergency!
Even something as simple as hiking with a dead phone could mean the difference between getting home…
…and having to be rescued by the authorities.
This happened just last week in North Georgia, when an unnamed hiker “with no water and a dead phone” had to be tracked by a K9 unit after he went missing.
The punch line?
He was only 300 yards off the trail, which he could easily have found his way to with his phone’s GPS if he had only had just a little battery power!
Now, I know what you’re thinking.
“But Jeff,” you’re probably saying, “everybody knows how critical communication is in emergencies and for survival, which is why I have a “power bank” for when my phone goes dead.”
Well, I hate to break it to you, amigo, but while having a power bank is not a bad thing…
…your power bank is next to useless in anything but short-term emergencies.
That’s because a power bank has to be charged up ahead of time (it’s just a battery) and can only hold so much power.
Now, I’m willing to bet it’s been a little while since you’ve charged yours… so you’ve probably got less than 100% in the battery right now.
But even if you’ve got a full charge, that power bank will charge your phone, maybe, what – Twice? Once? Only part way?
It will probably get you through a day or so… but if the power stays out for longer than that, or you’re lost in the wilderness for more than that, you’ll go right back to having a dead phone.
That means that if all that’s standing between you and a dead phone in ANY situation is just your “survival power bank,” you are in DANGER.’
So what’s the solution?
Well, there are a TON of “power banks” and other chargers on the market, from ones you crank yourself, to ones that use solar power.
ONLY a “power bank” that actually generates power, rather than just storing it like a battery, will get you through a long-term emergency.
But single dinky solar panel, or a hand crank, won’t do the job either, because that doesn’t produce enough juice fast enough.
(After all, if you’re spending all day just trying to charge your phone to 20%, you might as well not bother – right?)
You need to look for a personal power generator that has THESE features:
1. Big, Preferably Multiple Solar Panels
Solar power lets you charge the power bank repeatedly no matter how long an emergency lasts.
But like I said, a single, tiny panel the size of your phone – what I see a lot of survivalists packing in their BOBs – won’t do the job.
(It just takes too long to charge that way.)
You want solar panels, yes, but you want MULTIPLE solar panels, preferably that fold down small enough to carry in your BOB when you’re not using them.
That will give you the coverage you need to generate serious power.
2. Ability To Charge While Moving
If you’re bugging out, hiking, or moving around at all when there’s ANY light, being able to charge your critical communication device while you’re moving is essential.
That way, you’re basically doing two things at once, and your device is ready when you stop moving.
(Most “power bank” batteries, even the ones with small solar panels, can’t do much while you’re mobile.)
You need to find one that you can hang on your pack, or even mount to your vehicle, while you’re in motion.
3. Waterproof For Outdoor Hiking/Bugging Out
If your power pack can be destroyed by a little moisture, it’s going to be useless if it so much as rains while you’re hiking, bugging out, or surviving.
That’s why you want one that is water-proof.
And by now, you’re realizing just how hard it is to find a solar power generator for survival, hiking, camping, and emergencies that meets all these criteria.
But the folks at Survival Frog make one that has ALL these features:
You can learn more about their QuadPro Solar Powerbank on this page.
What’s important, though, is that no matter what power bank you buy, you get one that meets these three criteria.
Otherwise, when you need power for your critical communications devices, you won’t have it.
It’s hard to find a power source that does everything you need it to – but you’ll be glad you held out for the right one the next time YOU are staring down the barrel of a “dead phone.”
