The Duo move off the road and into camp to take a look at radios that don't need batteries--they use solar panels or hand cranks (the other sort of digits) for power. Some toss in an LED lamp, and many offer a wide range of radio bands--AM/FM, TV, even shortwave--along with an alarm clock, which strikes Angela as a wretched thing to need on a camping trip.Useful, albeit odd and bulky? Yes, and an important example of why low-tech is often the way to go when you're off the beaten path. Steve and Angela have both noted an increase in people whipping out cell phones on hiking trails and the like, and around the country park officials are dealing with people who try to use their phones for emergency communications after the hapless hikers have bitten off more trail than they can handle. Which is both stupid and weird, snorts Angela--considering that most of us have fairly iffy cell-phone connections when calling from the heart of a major metropolitan area, what possesses some people to think they'll get a line out from the bottom of a crevasse?That said, if it's just power you want, the Duo did see a gadget that pretty much screams "nerd" in the woods--the Voltaic solar backpack. The bag incorporates solar panels and a battery pack, and can pick up a charge either from the lighter in your car or from the sun. It can hold but not power a laptop, but it'll juice an MP3 player or a phone. In fact, if you're out in the sun, you can plug in your dead phone and walk and talk. Odd-looking? Sure, but Angela reported success with her testing, though the bag itself was a bit heavy.For more wilderness-appropriate communications, the Duo spent some time with the current crop of outdoor walkie-talkies, some of which are advertised to work at ranges up to ten miles. Not all ten-mile distances are created equal, though, and in hilly, urban Seattle, Steve and Angela estimate that coverage was more like 3,000 feet. Angela's unimpressed, but Steve notes that on the slopes or the water, these gadgets are popular--and they work. And which would you rather expose to the snow, your $300 phone or a $70 walkie-talkie?If you must haul your phone into unfriendly climes, however, both Steve and Angela enthusiastically recommend using inexpensive waterproof bags called Dry Paks, which are designed to protect various electronic gadgets while still allowing you to use them. Dry Paks use a sealing clip to fasten the waterproof chamber of the bag, leaving enough air for flotation. The seals worked in the Duo's testing, and when they fired up a "packed" mobile phone, the sound was reasonably good. Best of all, Dry Paks go for about $15: cheap insurance for spendy gear. Steve:SAVE Dry Paks, SAVE walkie-talkies, DELETE Voltaic backpack, SAVE hand-crank radios Angela: SAVE Dry Paks, DELETE walkie-talkies (overstated performance claims), SAVE Voltaic backpack, DELETE hand-crank radios (insufficient feature sets)