One more new gadget to grow out of Kickstarter into reality, the Ampy Move delivers another option for keeping our electronics running on the go. The Ampy Move uses a pair of small proprietary inductors that translate up and down motion into energy stored in a battery to top off things like your smartphone or GPS. Whether it is strapped to a cyclist’s leg or on on a runner’s hip, the more you move the more energy you generate. Spin past the break to take a closer look at the details and to take advantage of a discount in time for the holidays…
On the bike the Ampy Move is intended to be strapped just below the knee to benefit from all the up and down motion of each revolution of the cranks. Although I get the feeling that strapping it around the ankle might be more comfortable for most people. For running just clip the thing to your waistband and go.
The Move needs to be in a vertical orientation, since it works by having a magnet inside of the linear inductors going up and down with each movement. While other companies have used similar tech to convert kinetic into electrical energy, what Ampy has really done is make it small enough that it disappears during regular activity. Power generation isn’t huge, but riding for an hour or running for half that time should generate between 1-3 hours of smartphone use. So it should be enough to boost your phone back up after tracking a ride with some app like Strava. Unfortunately for cyclists, it wouldn’t be realistic to have the device attached to your phone while riding though, since it needs to be on your leg to capture that motion energy.
The Ampy Move itself is just ~6.5cm (2.5″) square and weighs ~150g (in between say an iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.) You can buy it alone for $100, but yo need to spend another $30 to get the clip on carrier and leg band. There is a current 10% discount available with the code AMPYCLAUS for orders ahead of Christmas.
If you are a heavy smartphone user and always looking to get a little more juice to make it through the day, the Ampy Move might be worth a closer look. Charge its 1800mAh battery by walking, running, or pedaling (or even plugging it in just as a battery pack) and then see how many cat videos you can watch.
