Goal0 Denali Equipment Report

Before I went to Denali in early May, I dropped by the office of Goal0 (pronounced like Goal Zero) to grab a Guide10 Kit - that's the Guide10 charger, and the Nomad7 with charging port.

I spent a few days doing some oddball testing, including charging and discharging the battery pack out in the yard and on the hood of my car, with a couple of mp3 players, a droid phone, a usb-charging camera, a kindle and a droid tablet. Seemed to do well, lots of power.

When I got to basecamp at 7200' I pulled out the Nomad7 and did a quick refresh charge on the Guide10 in case a storm came in and I needed a few days worth of power.

I had put some 2mm nylon cord in the little loops (previous to this trip) to make this easier.

Here it is with the mountains behind in cloud - even then the charge light was on.

After the Guide10 was full I recharged my mp3 player with my audio books on it after listening to it on the plane. Wanted it full in case there was a storm and we were tent-bound for a few days.

Busy base camp on Denali.

Here it's on the tent at the camp below Kahiltna Pass at about 10,000' on Denali, charging a guide's iPod. I had a lot of positive input from a lot of climbers and guides on this trip. For one thing, I discovered that many thought it was "Goal Oh" so I fixed that ;) We hauled about 140 lb of gear each on these sleds and in backpacks. Light weight and durability are key features here.

Later, when I was brought down being sick, one of the kind volunteers asked if he could charge his iPod Classic while waiting for the plane, so I let him hook it up resting on my duffelbag.

Thoughts:

1. light, easy to travel
2. worked good in the type of light here (thin clouds to blazing blue sky)
3. angle not extremely important
4. durable, handled packing well
5. plenty of power over the week - no worries about it if I'd stayed the whole three weeks
6. very reasonable price for what you get

Suggestions:

1. the thin plastic face can scratch - when it's open please be careful
2. be sure the usb/charger plug is on tight and dry
3. use the velcro pocket for your device/battery pack - don't let it hang by the cord

One wild thought - the Nomad7 was the perfect size to protect my Kindle in the bags/packs while traveling.