Gadgets

What can I say, I'm a gadget freak. It's mostly electronics, but anything that makes my life easier or more enjoyable qualifies. My retirement travel plans are a way to get closer to nature, but that doesn't have to mean leaving technology behind. Let's take a look at some of the gadgets I'll take along when I start on my travels, and some I'd like to have when my budget allows.

Before we get started, let me mention that I covered a litany of cooking gadgets in my previous Galley post; I won't repeat those here.

 The most obvious gadget in the motorhome is the radio. I'm sure most readers are already driving cars with radios that have as many or more features than the Sprinter radio has, but it's the fanciest car radio I'll have ever owned:

This radio is a significant upgrade from the previous year's model and I'm glad to have it. That's a color display screen in the center. Besides picking up radio stations, it can play music off SD cards, has an AUX input, and can connect to an iPhone/iPod via USB or Bluetooth. This means you can display and select from playlists using the radio's display screen. You can also dial phone numbers using the keypad on the right. It's all integrated with buttons on the steering wheel, too. A function I'm particularly excited about is the backup camera. Having a camera to see behind the van is almost a necessity, but the one Mercedes provides is particularly nice, superimposing lines to show the distance to objects:

(Marks 1, 6, and 5 are 10, 3, and 1 feet respectively from the back of the van, 2 and 3 are the width of the wheels and the side mirrors.) A built-in navigation system is also offered, but I turned it down. I already own an iPad with built-in GPS and a 10" screen. With the iPad, I'll have a choice of navigation software rather than being locked into whatever is provided.

In addition to the radio, there's a matrix display in the center of the dash that displays all sorts of vehicle information:

Using the buttons on the steering wheel, you can choose what information to display, control the radio, and change vehicle settings such as turing the daytime running lights on or off ( convenient if you're idling the engine in a campground) and how much rain it takes to turn on the windshield wipers automatically.

While we're on the subject of displaying vehicle information, I was surprised how inexpensive Bluetooth/WiFi-connected OBD2 scanners are. These are devices that you plug into the computer port on your car or truck (every recent vehicle has one, they're where mechanics plug in for diagnostic codes) and in addition to getting and resetting error codes, you can monitor a variety of information about fuel consumption, coolant temperature, etc. I'd use it in conjunction with an app on my iPad. I'm sure it would quickly pay for itself by helping me drive for the best mpg.

I've discussed just about every aspect of the radio by now except for the sound it puts out. Eventually, I want to have a really good sound system in the RV. On the visit I made to the Sportsmobile factory, I spent some time with the vehicle electronics guy they work with. He made a number of suggestions about upgrading the standard Sprinter radio, but I realized there were just too many variables for me to make a final decision before I get the van. I do know, from when I was fairly obsessed about sound system quality in college, that the best value per dollar comes from upgrading your speakers. After some research, I decided these 5 1/4" speakers from Focal hit the sweet spot for me in terms of ratings vs cost:

I'd like to go with larger speakers for better bass, but these are the largest that will fit the holes where the stock in-door speakers are mounted.  I may let the electronics guy talk me into a subwoofer - not so much for music as for good, bone rattling bass when I watch action movies.  It may turn out that with good speakers, the stock Sprinter radio is just fine for me - I'm not a true audiophile. Honestly, 99% of my current radio listening is talk on NPR. However, I do intend to listen to more of the music I own when I start traveling: first because I may be out of range of decent radio stations a fair bit of the time, and second because I'd just like to get more reconnected with the music I used to enjoy so much. If it turns out that the speakers above don't give the sound quality I want, either due to their size or their location, there'll be plenty of time to experiment with upgrades. When I'm outside the van, I'll be content to use earbuds with my iPod, or I've got a Bluetooth-connected waterproof speaker.

I'll be by myself on a lot of my travels. I don't think that will bother me a great deal, though I do look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones. But I'm not unconcerned that I could become stranded, injured, or seriously ill, whether I'm driving or out hiking around. Murphy's Law dictates it would happen outside of cell phone service. So I was relieved to find a signaling device that works virtually anywhere. It's called SPOT:

It receives GPS location information, and transmits messages back to the internet via a different satellite. As long as it has a view of the sky, it can get a message out. It has four buttons and transmits four simple messages: I need help for a life-threatening emergency, I need help for some non-life-threatening emergency (probably a mechanical breakdown), I'm fine - just checking in, or some custom, preprogrammed message (e.g. I just reached the top of the mountain. Yea!). It includes my current GPS coordinates with each message and emails it out to up to ten addresses I've specified. If I choose, it will also send out my GPS coordinates at periodic intervals and plot them on a map so anyone with the website address can track where I am at any given time. I'll have to buy the device itself and then subscribe to a service for about $150/yr, but I think it's well worth it.

The primary way I'll stay in touch while on the road is via the internet. Yes, I promise, once I start moving, this blog will become much more of a travelogue and much less about obsessively detailed planning. I'll also use the internet to Skype with friends and relatives, stream movies, check the weather, surf the tech sites I'm addicted to, etc. It seems like most commercial campgrounds have WiFi available. There are also extensive lists on the web of free WiFi sites across the country. If it turns out that those aren't enough, I'll consider paying for a service like Boingo that makes thousands of other sites available for a monthly fee.

WiFi only goes so far, though. When I'm camped in a national or state park, or want to read up on restaurants before pulling into a town, I'm going to need a cellular broadband service. One that comes highly recommended is Millenicom. Using their hotspot device, they offer 20 Gigabytes per month of data for $70 - that's a great deal compared to the big name carriers. But the kicker is that they buy their bandwidth from Verizon; few would disagree that Verizon has the most complete coverage of any mobile carrier. Here's a map of their 3G coverage:

Granted, a lot of the white spots are precisely the places I want to visit, but you can't have everything. Their 4G LTE map is a lot more sparse, particularly in the West, but I'll be able to use that service too when it's available. Millenicom specifically allows VOIP services such as Skype. For a small monthly payment to Skype, I'll be able to place and receive calls from landline and mobile phones on my computer, iPod, or iPad. I hardly need a cellphone at all. 

Okay, full disclosure - I've never been what you'd call a cellphone aficionado, anyway. Here's the cellphone that I currently use: 

So, when you've stopped laughing... let me just say, it's more compact than yours, can easily go a week without recharging, and... I'm grandfathered in on a plan from Virgin Mobile that costs me $20 for three months. That's right, I pay $6.66 (never mind the symbolism of the number!) for cell phone service per month. Who's smiling now? I just don't make or receive that many calls. That doesn't mean I'm excluded from the app ecosystem. I've had an iPod touch (several in succession, actually) almost since they came out, and it's loaded up on apps. Ditto for my iPad. The iPad even has a built-in GPS receiver, so I can use it for navigation apps. The only thing I haven't been able to do on the iPod that I could do on an iPhone is make calls and surf the web on cellular. Thanks to Millenicom plus Skype, I'll be able to do those things, too. I'll probably hang onto my Virgin Mobile cellphone - it costs practically nothing and I'm fond of the number I've got. Maybe someday I'll port that number to an iPhone, but I'm in no hurry.

As you've no doubt ascertained by now, I'm in the Apple camp. I've got nothing against Android - or even Windows, for that matter - people ought to be able to use whatever device they prefer; it's really nobody else's business. I've heard, and read, all the arguments: Apple tax, blah, blah blah, walled garden blah, blah, blah. All I know is that, in spite of being a technophile, I like things that just work, and Apple products have always done that for me. I can't tell you how many times I've encountered some novel situation that required a feature - hardware or software - that I'd never used before, and found out it was already built in, waiting for me to need it. Not only that, but with almost zero learning curve, I was up and running each time. All this is a long winded way of saying that my computer of choice is a 15" MacBook Pro, and that's highly unlikely to change. I still have the one I owned before my current model, and I'm thinking about bringing it along as a media server (i.e. dedicated to storing videos, photos, music, etc.).

TV, or not TV, that is the question. Sorry, had to get that out of my system, but it's a serious question. It can be seriously expensive, too. An in-motion satellite TV receiver (one that can track signals while you're traveling) can run from many hundred to several thousand dollars. But, seriously, why would a guy traveling by himself want an in-motion receiver. Not a good idea. A stationary satellite receiver is still several hundred dollars, but that's just the start. You're also committed to the satellite service (Dish or DirectTV) for upward of a hundred bucks a month. Considering the limited utility I get out of extra cable TV channels now, I'm betting that if I forgo satellite service, I won't miss it. For relatively little expense, I can have a rooftop antenna installed that will pick up broadcast TV ( the three networks, PBS, and a few more ) and that should be enough to keep me entertained. Of course, I'll want to play streaming video from the web ( Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, etc.) and DVDs (Redbox) too. I'll use my computer (or media server) to do that. While I'm at it, why have an actual TV at all? Instead, I think I'll have a high-resolution computer monitor. I can use it as a second screen for my laptop when I'm sitting on the couch, and as a TV by using a tuner connected to my computer. The one that many people recommend is the HD Homerun Plus:

It connects using an ethernet cable, and if you've got a wireless router ( I will ) then you can access it from any nearby location, inside or out, using a computer, an iPad, or an iPod. With two built-in tuners, you can be recording one show while you're watching another.

I debated whether I'd really need a printer when I'm on the road, but decided it would be useful for printing out hiking maps if nothing else. When it went on sale, one of the first things I bought for a mobile lifestyle is this cute little printer, barely larger than a sheet of paper:

It's the Canon Pixma iP100. I also plan to get a compact document scanner like this one:

One thing I can't do on the road is accumulate files full of paper, so everything will go through the scanner and then be discarded unless there's a compelling reason to keep the original. Eventually, I think it'd be great to have a 3-D printer, too. Besides being fun to noodle around with, it would be ideal for custom gifts or making hard-to-find replacement parts for my own or other RVs. The field is developing so quickly, I think it's sensible to wait a while before making a choice, but here's one that's compact and capable enough to consider:

I'm going to be seeing fantastic scenery on my travels, domestic and foreign, natural and constructed. I intend to take a lot of photos as mementos and to share on this blog. Honestly, the camera I currently own is no better than a point and shoot, and not a particularly good one at that. So it's essential that I upgrade. Since I haven't owned an SLR in 30 years, and there's so many to choose from, it's hard to know where to start. Luckily, my good friends, the Mancusos, had a recommendation for me, the Canon Rebel T3i:

It has all the features I want, seems to be a good match for an aspiring photographer, and hits my sweet-spot for price. 

The problem with a good camera is that you want to stop and compose a really nice shot. I can't tell you how many times, whether I'm driving or walking, that I've stopped to get what I thought would be the most scenic angle, only to realize a few minutes down the path the view is even better. So, in addition to having a DSLR, I want to have something that's recording continuously. There's two ways to go: a dashcam, or what's called a life logging camera. The dashcam sits on the dashboard of your vehicle and takes a continuous video recording out your windshield; it runs off the vehicle's 12V supply. You've probably seen example videos taken from police cars. A life logging camera is smaller and completely self-contained with its own battery. To conserve battery power, the life logging camera can be set to take a still photo at periodic intervals - say every 30 seconds. Hoping not to have to buy both, I'm going to see if the life logging camera will provide satisfactory results from the dash of my van while I'm driving, and from my lapel while I'm hiking. There's a few models to choose from; I like one called the Parashoot:

Yep, that's all there is to it, and there's many other case designs that are interchangeable with the wolf. You can use your smartphone or tablet to view live images via wifi. And don't worry, when I'm talking to people, I'll either turn it off or let them know up front that it's running. At the end of the day, you upload the images to your computer and cull out the best ones to keep.

I don't intend to have my face buried in the viewfinder of a camera all the time, but there are occasions when you'd like a closer view of wildlife or some geological feature. That's why I really appreciate the Christmas present my daughter, Amanda, and her husband, Ben, gave me: a nice pair of Bushnell 12x50 binoculars:

I especially like the "grippy" rubber coating and quick see-saw focus control.

Okay, I admit it, the next item is a toy - but a toy with a purpose. Quadcopter. What is a quadcopter? Think of it as a helicopter with four rotors set at the corners of a square. Having four rotors makes it much more stable and easy to fly than an RC helicopter, or even a model plane. Honestly, this was just a wish list item for me, but then the Parrot A.R.Drone went on sale at nearly half off for a refurbished model, and I gave in to the impulse. I called it a toy with a purpose: what purpose could this have? Well, you see, it's got not one but two video cameras, pointed forward and down. It's controlled from your smart phone or tablet, and streams back live video as it flies. So, when I can't get the view I want with the binoculars, or I just want a quick aerial survey of someplace I've pulled into, up goes the quadcopter. Anyway, that's how I justify it, and I'm sticking with that story. The on-line videos make it appear easy to fly. Just touch a button on the screen of your smartphone and the battery-powered A.R.Drone pops up off the ground to hover at waist level. Tilt your phone forward, the drone moves forward, tilt it back, the drone moves back. Same thing for side-to-side. It comes with two interchangeable foam bodies: the "indoor" that encloses the rotors in protective bumpers ( no, I do not intend to fly it inside my RV ), and the "outdoor" that is more sleek and lightweight:

             

There are a couple limitations. Its connection for control and video is wifi, which only has a range of about 165ft in an unobstructed outdoor environment. Still, that means I could stand in the center of a football field and patrol the end zones. Also, the stock battery only lasts 12 minutes and then takes an hour and a half to recharge. That sounds pretty restrictive, but in that 12 minutes, it could cover 2 miles of linear distance, which would be a pretty thorough survey within its 165 ft. range. It records video while it's flying that you can review at your leisure. There is a high capacity battery that can provide up to 20 minutes of flight time; I might buy that if the drone proves to be as much fun as I expect.

On the subject of moving air, here's a much more mundane gadget: an electric fan. I mentioned the Fantastic Fan ceiling mounted vent in my previous Galley post. The same company makes a free standing version called the Endless Breeze.

Perhaps I should say "made" instead of "makes", because the company website went through a revision recently and now offers only vent fan models. When I saw that, I made another impulse buy of an Endless Breeze from Amazon's remaining stock. Why get so excited about a fan? Well, mostly because everyone that owns one raves about it, saying it moves a ton of air and is very quiet. Running off of 12VDC sets it apart, too. There are many 110 VAC fans to choose from, but converting an RV's 12VDC to 110VAC is an inefficient process, so the less 110VAC used, the better. Having lived in dwellings without air conditioning for the past 40 years, I can testify that the gentle breeze from a fan is often all it takes to make a sweltering night bearable. My bed in the RV isn't positioned near the ceiling Fantastic Fan, so I'm sure I'll appreciate the circulation provided by the Endless Breeze.

Let's move outside the RV now and look at some items there. I'm not sure it qualifies as a gadget, but it will definitely contribute to my quality of life: an awning:

(Over-dressed couple and donkey statue not included.) As you can see, the Sportsmobile-installed awning offers a substantial area that is sheltered from the sun and light rain (It's recommended to retract the awning in really stormy conditions because strong winds can damage it.) As I've said before, the iconic image of my retirement travels is sitting under this awning in a camp chair, taking in the view and sipping a cold beverage. Motorized awnings are offered as an option, but I won't mind getting out the hand crank. My goal is to have chair and awning deployed, beverage in hand within five minutes of pulling into a campsite. There are kits available to attach a screen around the three open sides of the awning, but I'm going to take a wait and see attitude on that. If you look below where the rear of the awning attaches to the van, you can see where the porch light is located. Further down, below the windows, is a 110VAC electrical outlet. Below that, near the skirt of the vehicle, I hope to have a propane hook up for my grill.

Now for something really low-tech: leveling blocks. Many RVs have built-in hydraullic jacks that level the vehicle at the push of a button, but that seemed like overkill for my plain and simple Sprinter van. Technically, I don't need the van to be level. The common reason for leveling is that propane-powered refrigerators work best when level, but my refrigerator is electric-only. I do, however, want the van to be level enough for the shower to drain, and I think I'll sleep more comfortably too. So, here's the solution:

These go together like Lego blocks to make ramps of various heights. ( I actually don't think this particular product is the best design - the bottom could get pressed down into the mud - but this image shows the blocks, their use, and the carrying case.) Even lower tech would be to carry blocks of wood that could be stacked to various heights, but I know I'd be constantly tempted to use them as firewood. The plastic blocks are cheap and lightweight, so why not?

I've saved one of the best gadgets for last. I intend to be as independent as possible, sometimes wandering well off the beaten path. I asked myself, what happens if the van has a mechanical breakdown in the middle of nowhere? The SPOT described above alleviates a lot of that concern, but response to a SPOT distress call could be expensive, and what if the van's electrical system croaks and the SPOT battery is dead? I really ought to have some alternate means of transportation. That will also come in useful for getting into places where it's difficult to park the RV like downtown areas, or back roads where the RV can't go. The common solution to this issue is to have a toad. No, not a magical flying toad; RV'ers call a towed vehicle, usually a small car, a toad. But I specifically excluded trailers from my RV search because I don't like towing something - for the trouble it makes backing up, if nothing else. So for non-towed vehicles, I'm down to a motorcycle or a bicycle.

Truthfully, I haven't fully come to a decision, and I don't think I will until I've been on the road for a while. The advantages of the motorcycle are greater speed and range, the ability to use highways and interstates freely, and the ability to carry a passenger. The disadvantages of a motorcycle are the disruptive noise it would make in otherwise peaceful areas, its weight when mounting or dismounting it from the van, and the need to manage a different type of fuel - gasoline vs diesel for the van. The bicycle would be quiet, lightweight, and needs no fuel, but has speed and range limited by my endurance. The bicycle has the added advantage that it would be a means of aerobic exercise, and one I think I would use regularly. There are compromise solutions possible, such as a moped, but my self-image isn't prepared to surrender to that.

Another compromise solution, and my most favored at the moment, is an electric bicycle. Of the many makes and models available, the Evelo Aries is the choice I prefer:

The uncommon feature of Evelo bikes is that the electric motor drives the pedals, not the wheel directly. This means it can take advantage of the same gearing system that the rider does, which leads to more versatile, longer-lasting performance. On one charge, using an upgraded battery, it can go 30 miles using only electric power, or 60 miles if you help out by pedaling.  You can also use pedal power alone with no extra resistance. The frame is built for rough terrain, and has cushioned suspension on the front and rear. Another upgrade available is to get the Nuvinci gear-shifting system, which means no more clankety-clank, and you can shift at any time, whether you're pressing up a hill or standing still. 

I'd store the bike on a carrier mounted to the rear hitch, or I could roll it inside, in the shower area, if I were going to leave the van unattended for a significant length of time. I also want to look into getting a hitch receiver on the front of the van. I think the bike would be more out-of-the-way there. I've also thought about using a mountable winch on the front hitch to pull the van out if it gets stuck.

I don't blame you if you've got gadget fatigue by now. The next post will discuss a more practical concern: how do I receive mail while I'm on the road? There's several good possibilities, and the one I select may have larger, long term implications as well.