I suppose everyone going on a long tour asks this question. I'm posting the thread in hopes there has been some brand/model/configuration that works well and works reliably.

There are lots of threads about different setups. Some read like an electrical engineering textbook while others seem to be 50/50 on user satisfaction. Some are so old there must be better equipment available by now. The rest seem to be a mixed bag of home inventions or fringe setups that never got any follow up on whether they worked well or not.

Some use solar, others use dynamos, some talk about wind power...who's on first, what's on second, I don't know's on third. Where does it end?

So for touring...is there a good "mainstream" solution to provide battery charging for any electrical device likely to be taken on a long distance trip? In the United States is it necessary or a "nice to have"?

I'm planning on taking the following with me:

• Canon EOS Rebel digital SLR camera (uses a special 7.4v 1500 mAh battery pack)
• Blackberry (maybe a Droid as an alternate)
• Cerevellum Digital Rear View Mirror (this is supposed to released in Spring 2011) and I assume will have rechargeable batteries.

I guess what I'm really asking is if anyone has ever consolidated all of what's available into a single resource of information since that appears to be what's needed to answer the question.