One of the major challenges of going camping for me is feeling cut off from the world. Yes I know, on some level it’s great to unplug from daily life and simply connect with nature. But if you’re a 21st century digital mama, it’s hard to review a camping festival when you can’t Tweet, Instagram or blog your experiences on the go. Worse still, when you run of out juice to even take a photo or video!
I haven’t yet found a solution to the poor wifi signal while camping problem (all of my pix from Camp Bestival were #latergrams). But after my last two festival trips when my iPhone battery kept dying on me, this time I took some serious back-up in the form of a Braven BRV-Bank portable charger.
We were sent one to review* on our festival camping trip and it turned out to be a fantastic accessory for our weekend away. The Braven BRV-Bank has a rugged look and feel which is cool when you have little hands grabbing to be the first to use it! The reason the boys were so keen to handle it is because Braven BRV-Bank also doubles as a torch. Simply charge it up, attach the USB torch gizmo and switch on.
Of course I made sure we had glowsticks as our secondary source of ‘light’ because I wanted to preserve the Braven BRV-Bank’s battery power for my phone.
How does Braven BRV-Bank Work?
Easy peasy. First charge it up fully (takes about hours) and then you can use the Braven BRV-Bank for up to three full cycle charges of your iPhone or two charges for your Kindle or other tablet. It’s also Bluetooth enabled and comes with a free app for remote monitoring of your devices. Apparently the app can also initiate morse code if necessary – very Bear Grylls!
I wound up using the Braven BRV-Bank only twice to charge my phone fully and I still had enough juice for the four-day festival and the journey home.
The big revelation for me at Camp Bestival was discovering airplane mode as a solution to not only charging your phone faster, but keeping your battery from draining. Since I could barely find a wifi signal, it didn’t bother me to have all the extras switched off and at least I could still take pictures!
I would definitely recommend Braven BRV-Bank as a durable, waterproof and multitasking portable charger that’s great for camping or other outdoor holidays. It’s light enough to carry about and doesn’t take up much space in your luggage.
If you’re looking for something even more compact, here are some other chargers and juice packs to consider:
Smart Portable Chargers for Phone or Tablets
Mophie Power Reserve Lightning (£39.95)
Get a 50% recharge for your iPhone with this nifty device, available in red, black or white.
Twelve South PlugBug World (£39.95)
Converts any MacBook Power Adapter into a dual charger that works in any major country.
Kanex GoPower Pack (£44.99)
Able to charge two devices at once, with enough power for multiple phone juicings and a tablet charge. Also features an integrated, pull-out stand for your phone.
Cygnett Charge Up Executive (£49.99)
Super compact, dual charging for your your phone and tablet.
Just Mobile Gum++ (£69.99)
Sleek, sexy and stylish with super speed charging for phones and tablets too.
Mophie Space Pack (£129.99)
The first iPhone battery case/charger that also gives your smartphone extra
memory (16GBand 32GB versions available).
Braven BRV-Bank is available from Amazon and leading tech retailers, £119.99
*free review sample
