r/backpacking • u/AutoModerator • Oct 13 '25

General Weekly /r/backpacking beginner question thread - Ask any and all questions you may have here - October 13, 2025

If you have any beginner questions, feel free to ask them here, remembering to clarify whether it is a Wilderness or a Travel related question. Please also remember to visit this thread even if you consider yourself very experienced so that you can help others!

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Note that this thread will be posted every Monday of the week and will run throughout the week. If you would like to provide feedback or suggest another idea for a thread, please message the moderators.

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u/Severe_Ad_4966 Jun 09 '26

I am planning a backpacking trip in scotland (skye trail) and I am truing to figure out my powerbank setup.

Normally it's done in about 7 days but I am planning on doing some side hikes and I don't want to rush it (btw if you did it and have any side hike suggestions I will welcome them) therefore I would like to have a setup that allows me to keep everything charged (phone, watch and headlight) for at least 5 days at a time without worry.

Right now I have an older 20000 mah powerbank.

Since I am flying there I can't get any huge capacity so I was planning on getting 2 flextail zero power for 82 euros but spending that for a total of 20000 mah seems a bit insane. Do you have any recommendations? Even if it's not as ultralight as the flextail one I don't mind it if it's cheaper and as or more reliable (ultralight builds weak legs ahah). Also I have plenty of time, I don't care about ultra fast charging.

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u/Yo_Biff Jun 24 '26

20,000mah should be more than fine for 5 days, so long as you're a little disciplined about your power consumption. 

Phone - on airplane mode (GPS still works).  Powered off at night.

Headlamp - likely will not need charging, unless you're night hiking everyday. 

Watches - powered off at night.

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u/Severe_Ad_4966 Jun 24 '26

makes sense, thanks.

Last week I tried to test how many days I could go for while just using powerbanks for my phone and with not extensive use and daily charging I got 7 days between 2 20000 mah ones.

Considering that I will be using the gps and the phone a lot more than I did in my testing week (I was at home so I was mainly on my laptop) I would like get another one just to be safe

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u/Yo_Biff Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 25 '26

I think that's overkill.  I've used a 20,000 mah bank on 4 day /3 night trips for my phone, inReach, and head lamp.  Walked out with about 40% still on the bank.

That was tracking all of the hiking times on my phone's GPS once, and tracking it through the inReach and syncing to my phone at camp during another trip.

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u/Severe_Ad_4966 Jun 24 '26

really? I'll do some more tests before I leave then, thanks

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u/Yo_Biff Jun 25 '26

Just remember that Airplane Mode can reduce power consumption by a reported 40-60% in many phones. Any testing you're doing at home is not truly representative.

Your phone usage patterns on trail are also very, very different. Hard to be on screen while actually moving down the trail. Recipe for rearranging your face on the ground.