Sometimes my Nokia N95 battery seems to last forever, other times it just dies – it depends on coverage, what Gravity is doing, and if I’ve been using WiFi. Similarly my iPod touch can last days or suddenly die. NEED POWER. Or rather, I need portable power.

I’ve seen both @ilicco and @documentally using powertraveller products (and they had won a Queen’s award for Enterprise), so when I saw a discount code on Twitter for 20% off I caved in. I also wanted to grab the opportunity to reduce electricity consumption (saving on stand by power is going very well so far), so I went for the powermonkey-eXplorer. It’s basically a booster battery which can be charged by mains, USB or solar power.

It’ll live in my rucksack,  so if my phone or iPod go flat I always have a way to charge them, even on the move. On longer trips I’m hoping I can charge them from the powermonkey and then recharge the powermonkey via it’s solar panel.

The whole experience so far has been great – the powertraveller store is really well laid out and nicely written – got to love the way that “i want some” is in the shop url. I got an email when I placed the order, confirmation of delivery, and an email when it arrived (so I knew before I even got home). All very slick. I’ll see how I get on with it… …In the mean time if you want to see some vintage tech, check out Maggie Philbin’s blog post on Kingswood Warren, ahead of the program on BBC Click.