Shoestring Sailors (Cruising on $500 per month - part II)

[Tx J]

Originally Posted by sailorchic34

NoodHD was the barns and noble high def. color tablet. They stopped making them last year as there were so easy hackable. Throw 4.3 or 4.4 android on it and its pretty sweet. For $130 I've a nice tablet with high res. duel core, etc. Its not perfect, but for me it does all i need it too. Great for skype, video, general surfing etc. I've the kindle app on it along with other ereaders. Kendle has more free books. Plus it offers expandable memory, which is a biggy. Unrooted its pretty hobbled. Throw a nice android build on it and its sweet.

On the hook, laptops use lots O battery power. The nookHD takes about 4-6 amps at 5V-6V ish to charge, which is about a 1/3 of a cheap netbook. Laptop batteries take a fair amount of solar to charge and have limited battery life (in the cheaper units) Having enough power is always an issue on the hook. ...rAmen to that... Smart phones need charging all the time. The Hot spot thingy has a dinky battery so I leave it plugged into the usb port on the inverter all the time.

Tmobile is a bit confusing as they have the month to month plans which add in taxes, fees etc. But they offer many of the same phones on prepaid which is fixed price with no added taxes or fees. Not sure why someone would buy a non-prepaid tmobile phone as it just costs more for just about the same service.. The prepaid phones and hotspots match the price points as Cricket. Its not quite one to one, but pretty darn close. For internet only its better. least wise, out this way. ...oh well, why I wuzn't much in 'sales', heh...

Interesting tablets, looks like B&N are continuing to make/sell them: "On August 20, 2013 CNET reports B&N reversing the decision to eliminate the Color Nook devices:[14]".

New AOS just out on the first Feb.
Nook HD - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


"Smart phones need charging all the time.", that is a drawback, my LG when doing wifi (95%/time) drains its' battery like a vampire, so I keep it on a charger; and the Li-ion battery is starting to bulge, so I'm looking for a new one to replace it before it pulls a Boeing...

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by fjwiley1

Looking at Google Earth..would my assumption be wrong that "Jersey" is east of London on the River ??

South

[Cormorant]

For a good old-timey story about the Channel Islands (mostly about Guernsey, but plenty of references to Jersey), check out Victor Hugo's "Toilers of the Sea." I keep a free e-book copy on my phone and read it whenever I'm stuck waiting somewhere. . . .

http://http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32338

[virginia boy]

Originally Posted by SaucySailoress

Yes.

Two more guesses....

Hahahaa! Thanks for the chuckle!

[fjwiley1]

Thanks DOJ.......found it.........

[Tomi]

Thanks to all for a sleepless night! What a great thread - I know I'll be back to re-read parts. Thought this quote by Chatwin would apply...

"Luxury hampers mobility. The nomad leaders knew that overindulgence threatened their system. Civilized ways were insidious. Attila drank from a wooden cup and Chingis Khan lived in a yurt to the end of his days."

[onestepcsy37]

nice thread about hotspot vendors.

i looked for cricket but discovered today that they do not offer service in central florida, so that's out.

i have virgin mobile and, since i already own the hotspot device, i guess i'll continue along at $20 for 1 gig. if i can find a cheap t-mobile hotspot i'm switching to them, but only if they promise to bring back that ad with the cute girl on the motorcycle....

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

I dunno DoJ. I'm not sure that access to more information necessarily translates into saving more money. Certainly in some instances, but there is a real cost to all this connectivity. Besides, most of our transactions are done at a local level. There are other ways to get that kind of information than going online. Perhaps on big purchases like sails, etc., but these kinds of transactions don't come along that often.

Given the costs of staying connected to the Internet, I think it's debatable regarding the economic value. There are be other reasons, but I have a hard time seeing cost-savings as one.

You have a point - and key will be cost of internet connection, and that might also mean no 24/7 access at 100 squillion gigabits a second (or whatever these things are measured in ) ...........plus how the internet is used. My thinking is that apart from hunting down specific deals when needed and being able to buy beyond walking or bus distance that can be used to plan ahead, both on the sailing / boat stuff and ashore. Whilst time might not be so directly measured in cash nonetheless your time still has a value (ie instead of spending time with boots on the ground hunting down the cheapest source of beans and rice can use the time on preventative maintanence). Plus gives access to a wider pool of folk ashore than are in reach simply from the dock, especially if connections made long before arriving (ie swap a bit of transport ashore / access to some power tools / a few beers for some sailing).

I am ignoring the entertainment value of the internet, especially for the singlehanded sailor .

[Ballenxj]

Originally Posted by sailorchic34

NoodHD was the barns and noble high def. color tablet. They stopped making them last year as there were so easy hackable. Throw 4.3 or 4.4 android on it and its pretty sweet. For $130 I've a nice tablet with high res. duel core, etc. Its not perfect, but for me it does all i need it too. Great for skype, video, general surfing etc. I've the kindle app on it along with other ereaders. Kendle has more free books. Plus it offers expandable memory, which is a biggy. Unrooted its pretty hobbled. Throw a nice android build on it and its sweet.

On the hook, laptops use lots O battery power. The nookHD takes about 4-6 amps at 5V-6V ish to charge, which is about a 1/3 of a cheap netbook. Laptop batteries take a fair amount of solar to charge and have limited battery life (in the cheaper units) Having enough power is always an issue on the hook. Smart phones need charging all the time. The Hot spot thingy has a dinky battery so I leave it plugged into the usb port on the inverter all the time.

You are obviously pretty knowledgeable on this subject. Have you (or anybody else) compared the power consumption of the NookHD to an Apple Ipad II with wifi & cell service?
Thanks in advance.

[sailorchic34]

Looks like the Ipad II uses about the same power as the nook. About 2.5 watts an hour and a 25wh battery. Bit more with 3g. Still way better then even a netbook with a 49wh battery. A full laptop would be twice the netbook with half the run time.

[Ballenxj]

Thanks Sailorchic34, That's what I was hoping to hear. And, that's the reason I picked it up in the first place.

[Cacique]

Originally Posted by Cormorant

For a good old-timey story about the Channel Islands (mostly about Guernsey, but plenty of references to Jersey), check out Victor Hugo's "Toilers of the Sea." I keep a free e-book copy on my phone and read it whenever I'm stuck waiting somewhere. . . .

http://http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32338

Thanks so much for this, I knew I could get books on my phone but didn't realise so many are free. WOW I downloaded your suggestion in a few seconds with wifi (it was in French , but I quickly found the English version and downloaded that as well), I bought a 64 gig micro sd card (for 12 pounds UK sterling) recently so have room for a whole library, so I am now looking forward to downloading a selection of books that I can access when I don't have internet access to distract me.
Does anyone have some suggestions for free to download sailing books, please post your suggestions.

[Cormorant]

Yes, it's crazy how you can now hold an entire library in your hand. There have been a few threads here on CF about e-books. This one mentions some good free ones, plus it has two links to much larger lists:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...oks-66572.html

Here are the two links mentioned:

Nautical

Nearly 600 brilliant sea yarns

Also, if you go to Gutenberg.org and plug in various search terms like "sea or "nautical or "boat," you'll get all sorts of good stuff.

[Cormorant]

Oh yeah . . . you should keep a copy of "The Riddle of the Sands" with you at all times . . .

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2360

[Cormorant]

One more thought . . . in addition to text e-books, check out the free audiobooks at https://librivox.org/

I have a great audiobook app on my Android phone, called Smart AudioBook Player. That allows me to access my library of book audio files separately from my music audio files.

Great for driving or again, when just waiting around somewhere.