I may not be typical, but here is what I do.
Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
We were surprised at how much our total weight in gadgets was. How do you evangelists deal with these things? I'm talking long tour here, being out for weeks.
Not sure about others but, I deal with them by minimizing them either by taking the lightest of them or skipping many of them.
Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
Cell phone. Really need one to keep in touch, emergencies, reservations, things go wrong, etc. OK, then you also need its charger and cord.
Not an absolute necessity, But I do carry one. I tried to select it to be light and serve as many functions as is possible. The device weighs about 4.5 ounces and has books, documents, and music on it. It also is a GPS, camera, email appliance, web browser, etc.
Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
Kindle. If you're going foreign, or even if you're not, it's nice to have travel documents of various sorts, maps, hotel web pages, lists, reservations, a book or two, etc. Easiest and lightest is to bring along a Kindle. Then you're also going to need it's charger and cord..
Actually it isn't necessarily the lightest way to go. I take documents on my phone. I find much less time to read when on tour than at home, but when I do I listen to audio books on my phone.
Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
Camera. Then you're going to need a spare battery and a battery charger.
Again not a given. Some cell phones have surprisingly decent cameras these days. I have carried a separate camera up until now, but could well see myself using just the phone depending on the trip. My cameras batteries are quite light and last a long time, so going without the charger isn't out of the question even for a couple months. That said I do usually take a charger setup that works with all my devices and the whole deal weighs about 2 ounces. I have a couple different setups depending in the devices I take. One setup uses a aftermarket camera battery charger along with a micro USB cable that plugs into the camera battery charger to charge other devices using it.
I'd be likely to take anywhere from no separate camera, to a 4.5 ounce camera, to 2.5 pounds of camera stuff.
Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
Garmin. If you're touring with a Garmin and camping, you'll need its charger and some sort of battery pack(s) to recharge it when you're in the field.
I don't usually take a garmin, but when I do it is a handheld that uses 2 AA batteries. It weighs 5 ounces and two sets of AA batteries weigh 2.2 ounces if you use lithium batteries and 3.2 if alkalines.
Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
Lamps and blinkies. It's like these don't even exist. We run fore and aft blinkies whenever we're on the bike. In Europe, there's aren't little stores everywhere. If one is not to be a slave to shopping, one will have to carry at least one set of spare batteries for each blinky. Headlamp for the head: gotta have one of those. Headlamp for the bike: gotta have one of those. More batteries. We tried to reduce total battery weight by using devices and packs that used rechargeable AA batteries as much as possible, then carried an AA battery charger, along with 8 AA rechargeables. However our rear blinkie uses AAA and our front uses N.
I really go light on light. I quit carrying a headlamp because I so seldom used it. Rather than dig it out I usually just skipped using it The only camp light I have been carrying on the last couple trips is a 0.2 ounce eGear PICO LED Zipper Lite. It lasts 15 hours and I can easily go 6 months on that since I tend to use it for 5-15 seconds at a clip and not all that frequently. I wear it on a chain around my neck with a dog tag type ID. That way I actually do use it because it is always right there. I used it on my San Diego to Sarasota tour, my more recent 9 days in Colorado, a few days of backpacking, and some use at home. All in all probably close to 2 months and I bet it still has way more battery left than has been used thus far. If in doubt another complete light is only 0.2 ounces and $10.
I seldom use a blinkie on tour, but lately I have been carrying a eGear Tag-It Safety Light. I forget what it weighs, maybe 0.5 ounces or so. I typically don't use it enough to worry about carrying batteries for it even if going for a few months.
If I do worry about visibility I have a hi viz mesh vest that I have taken before, but left home last trip.