Originally Posted by
Christo613
The battery pack would actually work well, if they weren't so hefty. The ones I've seen were around 400g, and even then you only get a few phone charges.
This weekend, I actually got to try a Garmin Edge 530. It was steeply discounted at my LBS, and the guy suggested I take it home to play with it and return it if not happy. I was very unimpressed. The poor map made me feel like I was going back to playing Space Invaders after having known Skyrim. I tried every way I could to import my routes from RWGPS, which has fantastic maps, but wasn't able to.
I need this primarily for multiday bikepacking and cross-country ski trips. There's no way I'd want to be stuck in a blizzard trying to find the trail on this unit.
I don't need this for a couple more months, so will keep an eye out for the Explore 2
There's an energy cost for all the things you prefer about a phone - bigger, brighter, higher resolution screen, connectivity, etc. That cost can be mitigated by downloading maps and routes, using airplane mode, using Dark Mode (for OLED screens), and (the biggest battery drain of all) turning off the screen when you don't need it. The OSMand mapping app is supposed to do that automatically (working with your phone's energy saving mode) but I've never gotten it to work reliably.
On the last trip, I had the phone charging via a battery bank I stuffed in a feedbag. I just started researching rugged, weatherproof Android phones with large (10,000 mAh and more) batteries. I saw one that also had a large speaker - I enjoy some music once in a while - so I may try it out.
Whether or not this will work for you depends on how often you will have access to charging.