aaronroberts•18d agoMost Upvoted

That $60 GPS unit saved my butt on the Kungsleden last August

I figured my phone would be enough for the 65km stretch between Abisko and Nikkaluokta, but the battery died by day two in the cold. Picked up a cheap Garmin eTrex 10 at a hostel in Kiruna for around $60 used, and it got me through the foggy sections where the cairns just disappeared. Now I always carry a backup battery AND a dedicated GPS, but I'm curious if anyone else has had a phone fail on a longer route like that or if I just got unlucky with the temps?

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andrew_baker918d ago

Did I just get flashbacks to staring at a frozen black screen on the Salkantay trek while trying to figure out if that rock pile meant left or right? Yeah, my phone gave up on me too, and I ended up following a llama for way too long before I realized it had zero interest in helping me find the pass. I now treat my phone like a delicate little flower that needs a warm pocket and a power bank attached to it like a life support machine. The eTrex was a good call, though, those things are basically indestructible and sip battery like it's a fine wine. I think I've just accepted that cold temps wreck lithium batteries faster than I can say "why did I not bring a map," so now I bring a paper map as a backup to the backup, just to be safe. Honestly, you probably weren't unlucky, you were just learning the same lesson the hard way that most of us do.