[pct-l] Digital Journals - What Device to use

[David Thibault]

I did not bring a cell phone - just the peek.  I had kept a paper journal on
the AT but I had people that wanted to follow along.  I didn't want to spend
a lot of my town time on a computer typing journals.  I really didn't get
much incoming mail as I set up a special email account just for the trip and
so any I got were trip related.  I would typically write my journal at night
in my sleeping bag.  Every few days I would send them out when I found a
signal.  I didn't work very hard at finding a signal.

I recharged the peek in town.  It has an airplane mode and I kept it in that
mode almost all the time.  I'd switch it out just when I wanted to send
something.  The charger was very light.  Ice axe had his charger break and
got a replacement on trail.  I carried an extra battery and used it during
one long stretch but I could have gotten by without that.  I was using the
peek as a book also as I was having dailylit.com send me chapters of a
book.  That accounted for many on hours for the device when not
journalling.  By Oregon I had finished the book I was reading and was too
tired to read at night anymore anyway (I was hiking longer hours).

When I got my peek you could get a month by month service, a six month
service, or a lifetime service.  I think the 6mo service would be perfect
for the trip.  I did find the device was a little slow at uploading your
received email - I never had much and it wasn't an issue for me as I was
mainly concerned with downloading my journal.

The typing wasn't too bad for me.  My wife gave me a cell phone to use for
the trip that had a full keyboard and I couldn't type on the thing when I
tried it before the trip.  I was able to type okay on the peak.

I felt it was better than pockmail because it was less expensive, lighter,
and easier to use -  I didn't have to find a phone.  When I got a signal I
just hit the send command and it was done.

If you expect to surf the internet or have smart phone connectivity the peek
is not for you.  If you want a pockemail replacement I think it is a better
option than the pocketmail.

Day-Late




On Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 1:32 AM, Roger Binschus <roger_pct at yahoo.com> wrote:

> did you also bring a cell phone?
> it appears that this is more or less the equivalent to pocketmail...why do
> you feel it's better?
>
> --.
>
>
>
> >.
>
>

> I have no use for a smartphone, the service cost,  or the 2 year contract.
> I just need email while hiking, for a daily email, quasi  journal to
friends
> and family, and a daily trail conditions report to PCTA,  CDTA, and CDTS
> people .
>   So it's either my present Pmail or a Peek. For 2,  separate, 1-month
> CDT hikes, & WA in Aug to finish the PCT, I'll have to pay  Pmail $105 for
6
> mo of service. That makes the Amazon $290 Peak Pronto and  lifetime
service a
> very good deal. However, the feedback on the Amazon and  Costco sites
> points out that the "lifetime" is that of the device; if you lose  or
break the
> device, you just lost everything; I don't know if they offer  insurance,
but
> I'll ask them. I'll also ask them about extra batteries. Their  site also
> has no "whats in the box" or pics of same.

>   Does the Peek have a "flight mode" function? My  concern in switching
> from Pmail to a Peek is battery life; 2 lithium AAs have  lasted up to a
year
> on my Pmail, which I mostly use only during hikes.
>   I'm also concerned about the far smaller keyboard.  I can type on my
> Pmail while stumbling down the trail.
>    There's a lot of negative, but more positive,  feedback on the Costco
> and Amazon sites. The negative runs a wide swath  from bad devices to
flimsy
> devices to bad email service to bad customer service.
>   Anyone have further input on the Peek?

> Bob  "Trekker"
> Big Bend Desert Denizen, and...
> Naturalized Citizen - Republic  of Texas

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>
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