How much electonics is too much?

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Iggy

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Being mobile limits the amount of space that is available for nonessentials. So I am constantly trying to downsize or upgrade the things that fill the space in my van. Right now I have a cheap laptop that I watch movies on and use at a public library, a Nook for reading ebooks and doing crosswords on, a headphones with AM-FM, and an Android phone. I don't have an auxiliary van battery so I mostly recharge the laptop and Nook when at the library. Am I pretty typical on electronics or am I missing anything?
 
Every vandweller will have a different answer, and none are right or wrong. Just different!

I have more than most, less than some. The basics plus:

Wilson Sleek Cell Amplifier
Sirius Sat radio
Direct TV Sat TV & 19 inch LED TV
Canon DSLR camera
Nikon Waterproof camera
Gopro camera
Kindle Fire
Garmin Oregon GPS
AA AAA C D battery charger

Bob
 
Why go to the library?
When the library of the world is now delivered via wireless.

Acer windows netbook ($225) with Digital HDTV USB 2.0 TV Stick with antenna (local TV), Magic jack phone, Bluetooth dongle, wireless mini mouse, two sets of wired headphones, Google Voice (voice mail & text), Bluetooth stereo headphones, Bluetooth stereo mini speaker, Verizon Wireless 4GLTE jetpack w/10 gigs a month, Virgin Mobile LG VM670 3G smart phone ($49 el cheapo) with unlimited data with UppTalk Android app.
 
When you have wireless libraries can even be social sometimes, as well as a good place to get a strong connection and charge up....hard to upload videos at Mickey D's. We've met lots of good folks and made some good contacts. Librarians are most often friendly, and usually have info on "what's about town".
It may not be everyone's cup-o-tea, but we've found lots of cool stuff to do by visiting libraries in towns where we layover...art showings, local theater groups, town park events, museums, and historic sites.
We stay off the interstates as much as possible, and we find some pretty interesting things to do for little or nothing. We're not into just sitting on our asses, but health limits our activities (I'm on oxygen). We get to rub elbows with the locals that make up small town America.
Many of the folks we've met have never met a full time traveler and welcome the chance to chat about it.

I'm sorta getting off topic here tho.
I don't have a wifi hotspot device, so I (more than Margie) use all the free wifi I can find. (she holds the laptop while I find the best signal...its a pain)
I can at least answer my email and maybe post on a site. (thus the library, even parking the lot or lawn)

Other than that electronics are:
2 cheapo cells (charge 1 X week)
2 laptops (either serves in charging rotation..most of the time)
2 cameras
1 old HTC Android (occasional pocket computer-no cell service)

Rechargeable AA-AAA batts are solar charged (made from AC charger sans brick) for 3rd (old) camera, FRS radios, and an old Sony Walkman AM/FM with Sony (no battery speakers.. http://www.amazon.com/Sony-SRS-P7-Passive-Speaker-Mini-Plug/dp/B00005MOZG ). They aren't they greatest, and not all radios/devices will drive them...work for me.

Long post, but we get by quite well with a minimum of electronics.
 
As a minimalist at heart I am on the same journey of minimizing my electronics. I have found that all one really needs is a large smartphone... like one of those Samsung "Notes" (I am currently using the Samsung Galaxy S3, but will upgrade when the time comes). For me its big enough to see the screen easy enough. Use a Y cable with a micro 'male' usb and two female usb inputs. With that cable you can attach a mouse and a keyboard (or you got attach them both using bluetooth, I believe), which makes the phone much easier to navigate. It won't do deep video editing (not to my knowledge anyway), but for 95% of my computing needs it works very well. as both a cell phone and a computer.
 
I can say with a fair degree of certainty that I have more portable rechargeable batteries of all sizes and charging cables that anyone on this forum. It's really a sickness. I need therapy, haha! Someone help me...please! :)
 
mockturtle said:
Yep, I'm a minimalist in everything BUT electronics.

It’s very difficult to take your statement seriously due to the fact that if your truck had commercial plates the weight of your combination would require DOT numbers on both side doors.
 
Left home without the battery charger by mistake 4 months ago. Went to Dollar Tree for AAA and AA when the time came, and they've lasted for months. Don't miss charging batteries at all.

Have 12v chargers for the laptop, smartphone, and mp3 player. Inverter for the electric razor.
 
Unity Gain said:
As a minimalist at heart I am on the same journey of minimizing my electronics. I have found that all one really needs is a large smartphone... like one of those Samsung "Notes" (I am currently using the Samsung Galaxy S3, but will upgrade when the time comes). For me its big enough to see the screen easy enough. Use a Y cable with a micro 'male' usb and two female usb inputs. With that cable you can attach a mouse and a keyboard (or you got attach them both using bluetooth, I believe), which makes the phone much easier to navigate. It won't do deep video editing (not to my knowledge anyway), but for 95% of my computing needs it works very well. as both a cell phone and a computer.


Unity, you might want to check out some no name smart phones. They're a fraction of the price and many of them are every bit as good as the brand names. I recently bought an Alcatel and it works better than my old S2 which only lasted a year. I paid $49 no contract. My next phone will be coming from Chinavision. They have an eight core phone with incredible features and a six or possibly even seven inch screen! You can also use two different phone numbers/carriers. Check it out....

http://www.chinavasion.com/china/wh...-_1080p_HD_IPS_Screen_1.7GHz_CPU_2GB_RAM_NFC/
 
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