Why using a computer while bike touring?

Yes, bike touring means living in the nature, far from the crowd and disconnected from the networks. It’s great to enjoy a simple life without those screens everywhere. But as I’m travelling, even if bike touring is the cheapest way to discover the world, I must keep working, making websites, updating this one and writing articles for the magazines I’m working for, editing photographs, videos and much more… It means that I need to have my macbook air charged even with no wall outlet for a few days. It’s the hard life of being a freelance but I like the idea to be able to work all around the world even while travelling on my bicycle.

I could have used an Ipad or an equivalent type of tablet but it would have make harder to develop websites locally and edit photographs and videos. In addition I feel more efficient working on a computer than on a tablet.

Macbook Air with the Battery Box

Why is it so hard to find a good solution?

It’s been really difficult to find a simple and reliable solution. Indeed there is many solution for the tablets as you just need a USB plug to charge them but for the computer you need a power source that can deliver a specific amount of Watts to be able to charge or power it. And not too many people will take their computer with them for  bike touring or backpacking around the world except you are into Photography or video making.

recharging the batteries while traveling by bike

I’ve been searching on a lot of different websites for different solutions and there is actually a few power banks that can power a computer but I’ve been choosing the Battery Box because it is compact, simple to use and very reliable. All the other solution I’ve found needed a few Mac Gyver adjustments in order to work. With BatteryBox, You open the box and it’s ready to plug in to your computer.

Working straight out of the box!

How does it work?

Charging it

In order to charge it, you’ve got two options:

• Using a wall outlet.
• Using the sun thanks to a solar panel.

It takes up to 8 hours to charge it fully wether you are charging it from the sunlight with a good solar panel and no clouds or from an outlet. In both cases, it’s interesting.

Charging the BatteryBox with the sun

If you are staying for a night at an hostel you can plug it before sleeping and in the morning you will get 13 hours of battery life that you can keep topped up every day with a Solar Panel on the back of your bike or backpack. Can you imagine, 13 hours with Battery Box + 12 hours with your MacBook Air built in battery? A total of 25 hours autonomy in theory. This is huge!

Yes I said in theory because if you use photoshop, or Final Cut Pro, you will obviously use more energy than if you are just watching a movie or writing an article on word and you will drain the battery quicker.

So finally it’s like having a new spare battery in your Mac Book Air with the option to charge it in USB. This is definitely the best setup ever when travelling.

Using it

It saves the battery of your Macbook

This system doesn’t actually charge your Mac, it powers it. It’s like having a spare battery on the side of your computer and this is really good. Why?

• When it’s really cold, your Macbook can not turn on even if the battery is still half full and ask you to plug it to an energy source. I plugged it to the BatteryBox and it turned on straight.
• It doesn’t double the cycles of charge/discharge as it power your MacBook straight without charging the battery.
• Battery box will hold the charge better than my two years old MacBook Air.

In addition of the MacBook charging port, there is a USB 2Amp output to charge your tablet or phone while charging your computer.

Conclusion

With this solution, I can get power from everywhere in the world, even in the most remote areas. We are speaking here about power not about data connection even if there is solution for this too, it’s way too expensive to use it on my travels. The plan here is to be able to create content, edit photos or videos on your computer even after several days in the desert then to publish it when you get a chance to have a datas connection.

A little gift for you… US$15 off!

Ok so I contacted the company and asked them if they were ok to give you a little discount on their products… and they said yes! So if you plan to buy this product, click here to access their website and make sure to insert the following coupon code:

PIX’NBIKE

and you will get US$15 off the current retail price. Enjoy and stay powered all around your adventures to create amazing content!!