Best products from r/Ingress

The newest generation Anker 3e (10,000 mAh) actually comes with a pretty decent cable that is reasonably short (long cables annoy me since they just have to go from my back pocket to my phone, which is barely half a meter when I am holding it and walking, and so one meter cables end up dangling and risk catching on things). I have actually tried a bit to figure out where I can buy just this cable (as it does eventually break) and have been unsuccessful. It is a good cable though and supports 2A charging with no issues. In the past I have just thrown out the Anker cables.

I do not care for the monoprice thicker cables. There are plenty of thinner ones that support 2A charging and are much more flexible and thus easier to use. I've discarded most of the monoprice ones I have simply because they were too thick and inflexible.

The best cable I have found is made by samsung. It supports 2A charging, is flexible, lasts a long time, comes in various lengths, and the micro USB connector (that goes into the phone) has just the right amount of feedback as you insert it. Links: [5ft version] [3ft version]

I own three Anker 3E (2 old, one latest gen), a Gorilla 13k mAh (do not like), three Anker 3200 mAh, and two Anker 2600 mAh lipstick batteries (use them with bike). I use these to charge my various devices, plus hotspots and other agents' devices (since someone will inevitably forget a battery). I have spent a long time trying to find the "perfect" cable, and so far certain Samsung-branded ones are the best I've found (that can be bought on the retail market).

A small disclaimer if you buy the cables I linked above: they are often sold by some third party, and they are likely coming from the same factory Samsung uses, but may not be through Samsung. They are inexpensive on Amazon, and the attention to detail in your order will show this... I have ordered 8 of them at one time and had 7 show up being the correct length, one being a wrong length (but still the right brand of cable), and then within a week or so one or two of them died. I have probably bought around 15 of them now, and I've only had two of them die, and only one time had one of the wrong length sent. So my advice is just "buy a few" since they are $4, and consider them disposable.

EDIT: on further consideration, maybe the best gift you could give your partner (or anyone who plays ingress) is a two amp charger, assuming they don't have one. Unlike a cable, where preferences may differ, we all want our phones and batteries to charge fast, and not all chargers are the same. The USB standard is 5V (five volts) and chargers generally follow this (usually between 4.5 and 5.5V), but they output at varying amperages. Voltage multiplied with amperage gives you wattage ("power"). So the amperage is important here. A lot of oem phone chargers will be something like .7A or .8A, and the better ones seem to be around 1.2A. I am basing this off of the 15-20 that I've accumulated and keep in a drawer (never using, but saving for "someday, just in case" because I am a weirdo). There are 2A or 2.1A chargers (I infer 2.1A is the maximum allowable amperage by the USB standard), but almost always they have to be purchased from a third party manufacturer like Anker that is marketing to folks like us. I own a few of these, and would recommend either the Anker one or the HP Touchpad charger, which is one of the few OEM 2A chargers that I've seen. I own two of the latter, one of the former. All work superbly (Touchpad charger also comes with a pretty decent cable that I like only slightly less than the Samsung ones). This is even more important because if you own a big Anker or similar battery, it will take forever to charge at 1A or .8A or whatever the 'random USB charger you have laying around' outputs. The Anker 3E is 10000mAh (the thousands in "10,000" and the "milli" in mAh cancel out), making it 10 amp hour, meaning that if your USB charger outputs at 1A and the battery is dead, it will take 10 hours for a full charge. A 2A charger cuts this to 5 hours. That is a really big difference — one of those means "overnight" to me, and the other means "while I am out playing ingress on my spare battery". In practical terms if you're obsessed with the game, it means things go a lot smoother if you can charge at least 2 devices (e.g. a battery and a phone) at 2A and you have at least 2 batteries. I played this game for several hours a day for months without knowing about 2A charging, and it would have made my life soooo much easier if someone had explained this all to me. It wasn't until I noticed that my phone and Anker battery "seemed to charge a lot faster on my HP Touchpad charger" that I carefully read the fine print on the regular chargers laying around my apartment and then compared those to the googled results for the Touchpad.

Now that I've produced a wall of text, the last thing I'll mention is that several devices on the market have a fast-charging technology built into them. They can go from empty to 60% or 80% charged (or something like this) in a very short time, like 20-30 minutes. When I first heard this I assumed it was some crazy new carbon nanotube technology or whatever, but it turns out they are just cranking up the voltage outside of the USB spec. (Remember the equation for power? Voltage times amperage.) It means producing a "smart" charger that senses a device capable of handling the higher voltage and cranks it up, while delivering a normal (5V) voltage to every other device. (These chargers are typically delivering 15 watts, compared to the 10 watts of a 2A charger, so they are 50% better than the best charger you could previously use — but remember that the charger you've had laying around for 3 generations of phones now and continue to use may only be something like a 4 watt charger, making the fast charging 375% faster). The newly released Motorola Turbo (a Verizon exclusive phone) in the US is advertising this quick charging, but it turns out that a significant number of newer phones have the technology built in and you just need to buy the right charger (around $30 online). If you own a Nexus 6, Note Edge, Note 4, Desire Eye, (newest) Moto X, Z3 (tablet, compact, and regular), Z2 (regular + tablet), HTC ONE M8, or HTC ONE remix, I cannot recommend this enough. Playing ingress near my apartment means I no longer need an Anker with me. I can play for an hour or two, be at half charge on my M8, come home to get warm for a bit (+plug in my phone), and in 20-30 minutes my phone's battery looks like I'd never played any Ingress.

If you don't use NFC, check out one of these. It's served me quite well (assuming you've got the S4, but there are other models for other phones). So much easier than carrying around extra batteries / external battery packs.

I honestly don't mind the weight or size. It's definitely heavier and bulkier, but after using it for about a year now, I can say it's still one of the best purchases for my phone I've made. Doesn't even bother me at all.

There's another smaller version if you do need NFC, but I wasn't a fan of that case.

Hey, I've seen some guys rock the hell out of make-up. And, y'know, women who know their tech.

However, your assumptions about me not knowing tech is somewhat founded in this case. I did a google search on which Micro USB's were best and I was reading something about how 28/28 was bad and how 24/28 was better. So on Amazon I found "Extra-thick 21 gauge charging and 28 gauge data transfer cables" and made an educated guess that 21 gauge was good. Also, it came with warranty and had great reviews. Coincidentally, it was Anker!

Thanks for your comment and happy holidays :)

Where are you going that a Zip Lock Bag or one of the many 20 dollar waterproof bags would not suffice??

I mean, To each their own, but I hope you got this on ebay used for a decent price.

I throw my 6P in a Zip Loc or One of these When I'm at the lake and it works perfectly fine.

I have these gloves, recommended by The Wirecutter. Not super thick, but they do fine for my area. They have very good grip on the palm so I'm not scared of dropping mine phone, and I haven't had any problems with the touch screen responding.

One con--the shape doesn't quite fit my hand somehow, so they bunch up a little on the pinky side right at the base of the fingers. It's just a slight annoyance though.

Ninja edit: They have a thicker version of them too,

When buying tech stuff make absolutely sure you're buying the correct stuff. It's like having a guy buying you make-up. Even for cables different lengths and qualities mean different results. If you buy a low quality cable it may not charge the phone while playing (slowly draining it instead), or break them quickly.

Maybe try checking for unbreakable cables or the like.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1223643988/snakable-the-strain-relief-iphone-and-android-usb
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003V42O6K/
http://mosorganizer.com/spring-micro-usb

Anker products are always good as well (although I don't know if the cables last a long time or are just good chargers), if he doesn't have one yet but if he's any active then he will probably have one already.

I know it is over $35 but I've been happy with this one. I think they have a smaller capacity version that costs less as well http://www.amazon.com/PowerGen-12000mAh-External-Battery-Capacity/dp/B0085OB0IE (USA Amazon link)

I'm using the Polanfo 20000 mAh currently and I think it works really well. I can get a full charge on about 15% drain on the power bank while playing. I'm also using an iPhone 6. I would be able to get 6 full charges on it.

Definitely worth looking into. I've never used Anker but I'm really happy with this one.

I'm just going to update this comment with anything interesting I find now that I'm on my home computer. Figured you might appreciate, too. But it's mostly going to be a personal list.

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These are all just laser etched, but pretty.

I love the look, but not what I'm looking for

Found something similar to what I wanted, but no longer available....

But why is it so expensive???

Meme break!

I walk around with one of these on me: Vinsic Tulip 3200mAh Power Bank

And this cable: Minature Right/left/straight MicroUSB cable (get the angle that lets it plug into your phone and go straight into your sleeve.)

It's so cold long sleeves are always needed lately so I just let it rest in there.

If you actually want to bother routing the cables through your clothing or from a backpack: 6ft right angle cable

I've had some long 3 hour walks and my battery is pretty much toast(>5%), plug this in while I play and it has about enough for 75% recharge or so, it's cheap so I'm rather pleased with the results.

I got this for my iPhone back in the day and I now use it for my Nexus 5 as well. Works great and fits well.

A7-A8 did seem like a drag but what helped a lot was realizing building gives more AP than breaking.

• Find an area with very high portal density - about 50 portals in a 5-10 minute bike/walk. Make sure they're either opposing team or neutral when you visit or find another area that is. Historical sites are good; our national arboretum has a "memorial plaque" on every second tree so you get 100 portals in about a 15 minute bike ride. (too big to walk quickly though)
  
  
• A bicycle phone mount helps.
  
  
• Deploy all resos, add two mods (ideally a rare/VR heat-sink and a multi-hack) and then hack and walk. The heat-sink and multi-hack are needed to avoid cool-down and burnout while you're repeating your rounds.
  
  
• You don't even need to glyph though that'll add to the AP and give you more resos; not doing this, you might run out. IMO, if you have a "war chest" of necessary resos, glyphing will slow you down. If you don't have the needed resos, glyph.
  
  
• Keep circling this area.
  
  
• When you finish a loop, put all keys into a capsule so you can keep hacking and getting more keys without the "get more keys" glyph command.
  
  At some point you'll get enough keys to do overlapping fields (YouTube for overlapping field tutorials) for some more big AP gains.
  
  You can do all that in a small geographic space, without a car. You could get from A7 to A8 in a weekend, maybe even a day.
  
  After that, you have access to L8 tools (XMPs, resos, etc) so you can tailor your play style to suit you: play as a builder, linker, destroyer, whatever.
  
  You can't be completely mono-tasking though as you need badges to advance. Recharge, hack, deploy, link, field etc... it can't be ALL one thing.

I built my own setup. https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/t1.0-9/10469048_802616879762394_7511436800829330098_n.jpg

I have since set it up so that I can use anything 4-40v and charges at 3 amps max.

buck power converter http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BYTEHQO/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
solar panels
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CBT8A14/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
rechargeable batteries
5 of these
http://www.amazon.com/Exell-5000mAh-Rechargeable-Battery-Button/dp/B00JPPLJTM/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1405218205&sr=1-1&keywords=1.2v+rechargeable+d+batteries
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Battery-D-Cell-Linkable-Battery-Holder-D-Set-of-5-/181205540311?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a30b11dd7

This setup has allowed me to go all day. I'm sure there are areas where this could be improved and i'm open to anything someone smarter knows. I have walked and biked around all day with no issues. Normally I will see a 3% drop every 1hr of play. This also actively charges the battery pack. I'm still trying to up my amperage so if someone can tell me how to do that let me know

Only if you want to get perhaps a half charge on your battery. I carry around 2 Lenmar Helix 11000 mAH packs in my bag so that I'm never without a good slingshot (Actively playing ingress and increasing my battery percentage) of power for me and 5 friends.

A Ingress branded phone recharger?

https://www.amazon.com/Ingress-First-Official-cheero-12000mAh/dp/B00SDY3RLO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511160868&sr=8-1&keywords=ingress+charger

T-shirt with the correct Faction is nice also.

You can't go wrong with an Anker charger. I find that a 10,000 mAh unit like this one is about the right balance between weight/size, price and capacity.

You may be interested in this :)

Link

Get the phone you want for general use. Focus on the features that are important to you for your uses (screen, battery, size, "bells and whistles," etc.) and make your choice accordingly. Use that phone for Ingress. If you are running low on charge too frequently, get a portable battery charger. They come in many sizes and prices to fit your needs.

I took apart a 12-volt to USB adapter and wired it to a 9V Battery, doing a field test this Saturday. Not sure about cost efficiency unless you used rechargeable batteries, but I'm not in a position to buy a real charger.

EDIT: Are these really that cheap? I expected these to go in excess of 50 USD, but I can get this one for way less than that. Anyone have one of those?

http://www.amazon.com/Ingress-First-Official-cheero-12000mAh/dp/B00SDY3RLO

There is the link for you

It's the Ingress Power Cube.

http://www.amazon.com/Ingress-First-Official-cheero-12000mAh/dp/B00SDY3RLO

Screw Anker, I went with this and I love it.

http://www.amazon.com/Ingress-First-Official-cheero-12000mAh/dp/B00SDY3RLO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459030505&sr=8-1&keywords=ingress

also comes with an ingress code to redeem a few viruses and power cubes.