Portables

Radios: Comm Receivers, AM/FM Receivers, Misc
Audio Recorders: MiniDiscs, Digital Sound, Cassettes
Audio Players: Compact Discs, Cassettes
Image Recorders: Digital Cameras, Camcorders
Computers: Laptops, PDAs, Games, Peripherals
Other: Various Stuff

EXCUSES

In my journals I some­times mention various gear I have and haul around, and I some­times get inqui­ries about the stuff. Here's a good place to post capsule reviews and related links, eh?

I'm shif­ting into travel mode; I'll soon either be RVing around North America or living out of a duffel­bag whilst roaming the world, so much of what's here is more-or-less portable. I might include a bit on less-than-portable gear later. Maybe.

I make no attempt to be current or all-inclu­sive. Some of this gear is new and shiny but most is old and com­fort­able. Most of my music gear I'll deal with elsewhere.

ORIGINS

The genesis of this page is a list of gear I hauled around on our Guate­mala trip. Please excuse me if I plagiarize myself.

And I said I'd do this:

"I've planned to do web­pages about the elec­tronic goodies we've enve­loped our­selves with, cameras and comp­uters and such, with reviews of each item detai­ling our long-term exper­iences with them. And since our ext­remely expen­sive JVC miniDV cam­corder is appar­ently no longer working and has had a miser­able service record, I will have very harsh things to say about JVC.

"Contrawise, an awful lot of our goodies bear the SONY name. I guess we're satis­fied with Sony, pretty much. Most of that Sony gear, we bought; some, we inher­ited. I think it all still works. Amazing! Well, every­thing except the BetaMax..."

WARNINGS

This page will be revised & rear­ranged without ANY warning.

Views stated here may not match those of others. Tough.

Links are not endorse­ments, just tools for exploration.

90% of all elec­tric bugs can be fixed with a good whack.

Radios - Communications Receivers

Icom IC-R2: size: tiny; power: 2-AA battery; antenna: whip / external; speaker: yes and phones. X-wideband (MF-HF-VHF-UHF) digital scanner, a little gem. Non-intuitive controls but extreme performance. In my daypack always.

Regency MX5000: size: medium; power: adaptor; antenna: external; speaker: yes and phones. Wideband (VHF-UHF) digital scanner, a workhorse. Klutzy controls but usable. Rather dated now. At my desk always.

Sony ICF-2010: size: large; power: 2-AA + 3-D battery or adaptor; antenna: telescope and external; speaker: yes and phones and line. Wideband (LF-MF-HF-VHF) digital scanner; the best semi-portable shortwave receiver EVER. (Occupies 1/2 of a briefcase.) I bought one, and inherited one. Great usage & performance. Take in RV always.

Radios - AM/FM+ Receivers

Aiwa CR-AS16: size: small; power: 2-AA battery; antenna: telescope; speaker: yes and phones. Western analog receiver. Dependable and fairly sensitive. Take on all trips.

GE 7-1900A: size: small; power: 3AA battery; antenna: headphones; speaker: no. Western digital receiver. Dependable, not too sensitive. Inherited. OK around cities.

Sony SRF-39: size: tiny; power: 1-AA battery; antenna: headphones; speaker: no. Western analog receiver. Dependable, fairly sensitive. Inherited. OK around cities.

Radios - Misc

Walky-Talkies: AudioVox GMRS-1535: size: tiny; power: 4AAA battery; antenna: whip/external; speaker/mic: yes and headset. FRS-GMRS transciever, weather/maritime receiver. Dependable, secure, flexible, fairly powerful. Take on all trips.

Active Antennas: MJF Active Antenna MFJ-1020A: size: medium; power: 1-9V battery or adaptor; antenna: telescope and external. A dandy device for DXing. Take in RV always.

GPS Receivers: Magellan GPS2000R: size: medium. Clunky and hunky, it has never worked well, and now it can't find any satellites to lock onto. Sold on eBay.

Audio Recorders - MiniDiscs

Sony MZ-R50: size: small; power: LIon +2-AA battery or adaptor; speaker/mic: no; mic/optical input. Flexible, durable, usable mono-stereo recorder. Take on all trips.

Sony MZ-R500: & MZ-N505: size: tiny+; power: 2-AA battery or adaptor; speaker/mic: no; line input. Mono-stereo-extended recorders, The N505 has USB interface but digital uploads are disallowed. Really good for playback only. Disappointing. R500 sold on eBay.

Audio Recorders - Digital Sound

D-Link DMP-100: Stereo; size: tiny; power: 2-AAA battery; speaker: no; mic: yes. MP3 player (USB interface, optional SmartMedia cards) and voice recorder. I wore out the record button, now I'll just have to listen to MP3s. Formerly in my daypack always. Sold on eBay.

RCA RP5012A: Mono; size: tiny; power: 2-AAA battery or adaptor; speaker/mic: yes. Multifunction dictaphone. Flexible, non-intuitive, too bothersome to use much. Occasional terrible noise. Oh well. Sold on eBay.

Zoom PS-02: 4-channel; size: small; power: 2-AAA battery; speaker: no; mic: yes and line; SmartMedia cards. Multitrack digital palmtop studio, drum/bass generator, multiple effects. Too small and complex to use without intensive study and practice. Great potential.

Audio Recorders - Cassettes

Sony TCM-353V & Sony TCM-20DV: Mono; size: small; power: 2-AA battery or adapter; speaker/mic: yes and headset. Journalist dictaphones, dependable, utterly usable. I nearly wore out the 353V and so bought the 20DV, which also has half-speed. 20DV in my daypack always.

Tascam 414-MkII: 4-channel; size: large; power: adaptor; speaker/mic: no, line only. A famous portastudio with mixer and double-speed. I really haven't used it yet. Will carry in RV and evaluate.

Olympic PearlCorder S911: Mono microcassette; size: small; power: 2-AA or adaptor; speaker/mic: yes and line. Inherited (one for each of us), unused (why buy more tapes?)

Audio Players - CD Players

Emerson HD7288: Plays CDRs, MP3s, etc. Don't know how rugged it is, but it's worked so far. (One for each of us.) Take on all trips.

Sony D-EJ616CK: The old workhorse, now outmoded but still functional. Not ready for the knackers yet.

Audio Players - Cassette Players

Sony WM-EX122: Stereo; size: small; power: 2-AA or adaptor; speaker: no. OK for listening to audiobooks, or to music if it isn't moved at all. Take in RV always.

Image Recorders - Digital Cameras

Sony DSC-P20: Size: small; power: 2-AA battery; USB interface; memory sticks; 1.3 M-pixels. Tolerable old low-res tool. Auto-white-balance sucks, every image needs color correction. Has certain specific uses. In my daypack always.

Sony DSC-V1: Size: small; power: LiOn battery; USB interface; memory sticks; 5 M-pixels, 4x zoom, night-vision. Great hi-res tool. In my daypack always.

Sony DSC-P10: Size: small; power: LiOn battery; USB interface; memory sticks; 5 M-pixels, 3x zoom, can fit adaptors & filters. Great hi-res tool. On our travels always.

Image Recorders - Camcorders

JVC GR-DV1: size: medium; format: miniDV; digital. This has never worked right, and now (after shooting about 12 hours) it hardly works at all. JVC's service absolutely sucks. Almost anything else would be better. Sold on eBay.

Sony CCD-TR5: size: large; format: 8mm; analog. I inherited this and used to use it, haven't lately but will try it again Real Soon Now. Sold on eBay.

Computers - Laptops

Compaq Presario 1310: Medium-Large; 166 MHz P1, 1.4 GB disk, 80 MB RAM. A workhorse, but I broke off a key and the CD stopped working. I'll try to network it. (But why?)

Sony Vaio PCG-SR33: Small-Medium; 600 MHz P2, 10 GB disk, 128 MB RAM, little I/O. Great travel computer, needs network to bring out its potential, and more RAM too [GOT'EM!]. But now it's getting old and flakey. Bother.

Toshiba Satellite P25-S487: Large-Huge; 3.0 GHz P4, 60 GB disk, 512 MB RAM. Great wide screen for watching DVDs. Keyboarding requires thick wristpads. Take in RV always.

Sony Vaio PCG-4A1L: Small-Medium; 1200 MHz Centrino, 40 GB disk, 512 MB RAM, good I/O + WiFi, onboard webcam. Absolutely great travel computer, does almost everything. Take on all trips.

Computers - Peripherals

Digistor Slim DVD/CD burner: Small; power: 5v or via link; interfaces: USB, FireWire/1394. Fine combo drive, handles all CD/DVD '-' formats. Take on all trips.

HP psc 1210 xi copier: Huge; power: line; interface: USB. All-in-one printer-scanner-copier; does OCR too. Handy-dandy and not too big. Take in RV always.

Computers - PDAs

Casio PV400+: size: small; power: 2-AAA battery; docking station: parallel interface. A tolerable address-memo-reminder device, with zero software support. Reloading it will be tedious. Maybe just get something newer?

Franklin/Rolodex RF-22192b: A cheap piece of utter crap, like near-all Franklin stuff. I'll have to microwave it one of these days.

Computers - Games

MGA Blockade 248828: 9 games; size: tiny; power: 2-AG10 battery. A gift. Stupid wee thumb-candy device. OK when drunk.

Radica Poker 2801: 3 games; size: small; power: 1-AAA battery. A gift. A stupider wee cardgame device. OK when drunker.

????? Chess: 10 levels; size: medium; power: 1-9V battery. Where did I put that? It beats me every time. Great for long, slow nights.

Other - Various Stuff

Calculator: Texas Instruments TI-25X Solar: Size: small; power: solar. The universal translator. Wore it out, tossed it.

Digital MultiMeter: Soar 3020 DMM: Size: small; power: 2-LR44 battery. Essential tool to troubleshoot electric problems, avoid being fried. Take in RV always.

Radio-Sync Clock: Oregon Scientific ExactSet RM826: Size: tiny; power: 2-AAA battery. Radio-controlled clock ALWAYS has the exact time. In my daypack always.

Stick-Disk Adaptor: Sony MSAC-FD2M Floppy Disc-Memory Stick Adaptor: Size: tiny; power: 2-CR2016 battery. The size and speed of a 3.5-inch floppy. Mandatory fallback for Sony digicam; useful in a crunch; but tedious. Leave at home.