When riding in the backcountry or just in under-developed areas, it can be hard to stay in touch with friends, with cell signals often weak or non-existent. But the new Power Talkie has a solution – connecting to your smartphone via Bluetooth, it creates its own private network where you can text, talk, and even share your GPS location with other friends with the same devices, all up via radio frequency and up to 20 miles away.
Power Talkie off-the-grid smartphone radio communicator
As we’ve become so reliant on out smartphones for communication, it is especially frustrating when you look down to see no signal. Surely that isn’t really a big deal most times (and maybe even a bit liberating). Yet if you are on a group ride somewhere far from home and find yourself waiting trailside but unable to get in touch with riding buddies, it would be nice to claw back that communication.
This is where Power Talkie comes in. By creating its own radio frequency communication network accessible to other Power Talkie users, you can send text messages, group chat, live audio or audio messages, and share maps indicating your GPS location, all via an app on your regular smartphone. You can also send out an SOS emergency signal to all users on the network, which would only include other Power Talkie users, not any emergency services.
The new devices are being crowdfunded on IndieGoGo now, and have dramatically exceeded original funding goals, already heading into production.
Power Talkie smartphone radio communicator – Tech Details
Because of its 2W radio transmitter at ~463MHz, the Power Talkie can keep in touch up to 20 miles away for texts, and half that distance for voice. Because RF communication range varies with terrain and actual environmental conditions, real world communication distances are likely to be a good bit lower than that though. (It looks like in Europe it will have to dial back transmission power to 0.5W, cutting that range as well.)
In most cases though, where you would otherwise have no cell signal for communication, a small network of Power Talkie devices could keep you and your friends in touch, off-network and with no fees for communication.
The Power Talkie sells in pairs, with IndieGoGo deals starting at $129 for the first two devices needed to communicate. Final retail pricing is expected to be $250 for a pair once the crowdfunding campaign ends.
The IP67 waterproof, walkie-talkie sized device is small 7.2 x 2.6 x 19.6cm including the 8cm antenna, and weighs just 233g.
Remember they are not a walkie talkie, and require a Bluetooth connected smartphone to communicate – with either iOS or Android devices via Power Talkie’s smartphone app. The Power Talkie has a battery life of up to 7 days in standby waiting for communication, and include a built-in power bank function that can also charge your mobile phone from their 6000MAh internal battery
Power Talkie smartphone communicator – IndieGoGo crowdfunding
The designers behind Power Talkie have already surpassed 10x their original funding goal and have already begun the process of putting the devices into serial production. There is however still the opportunity to get in on the IndiGoGo campaign for a couple more weeks until Nov 26, 2018, after they extended the crowdfunding campaign due to popular demand.
Delivery of these crowdfunded units are estimated to ship out to backers by the end of January 2019, with some deliveries expected even earlier.
