Gadgets

• Autocom Logic, Kit-L1

This lives under the saddle and provides an audio/communications system, including a rider~~> pillion intercom facility - and also conduits the GPS directional voice prompts, and pre-loaded music from the MP3 player within the Zumo unit (see below).

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• Garmin Zumo 660 SatNav / GPS

I bought this unit in January 2012 as the successor to a Zumo 500 (acquired in late 2009, and which never worked well.) Before that - from 2005-09 - I used a Garmin StreetPilot 2610.

This new 660 will again be powered by the bike's battery, but it also c/w some limited internal power (3-4 hours' worth.) It's also vibration-tested, waterproof and built with fuel-resistant plastics to withstand all riding conditions. Seems just the job .. but time will tell.

Software: Maps - (a) Garmin City Navigator Europe NT; and (b) Open Street Maps (OSM), selected European tiles, as back-up on the unit's micro SD card.

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• Acer Aspire E3-111 11.6-inch Notebook (for me) 

Lightweight at just 1.3 Kg. Hard Disc Drive 500 GB. 4 GB of DDR3 SDRAM memory. Windows 8.1 Operating System. Essential for on-line browsing, blogging, Skype-ing, photo developing, eceteras, and is probably my most important gadget. This speedy little 11.6" widescreen netbook also serves as my primary laptop.

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• Asus Eee PC 1005HA Netbook (for Her)

2GB (upgraded) memory - 160GB HDD Storage - 10-inch screen. Battery life of 10.5 Hours from a single charge.

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•  Buffalo Portable USB 2.0 DVD MultiDrive

Lightweight, compact and portable - USB Bus Powered - an ideal partner for our Netbooks. Buffalo's after-sales service is second-to-none too, as I discovered after making a call to their technical department.

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• SPOT (Gen I) Satellite Messenger / Tracker

Basically a personal locator beacon device, which enables anyone to track my progress and whereabouts, almost in real time. Accurate to within six metres (20 ft).

I send regular “Okay” preconfigured email or phone/text messages, that transmit my relevant GPS coordinates and the associated Google map link, to friends and family from time-to-time that gives them some peace of mind.

There's also a “Help” and an "SOS" facility just in case I get into trouble, or find myself in a life-threatening emergency situation. I've never had to call on either of these 'extras' .. thank goodness!!

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•  Olympus OMD E-M10 camera

A mirrorless compact camera based on the Micro Four Thirds standard. 16.1MP, Electronic Viewfinder, HD 1080p, 3” LCD Tiltable Touch Screen.

Fitted with a M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 14‑42mm 1:3.5‑5.6 EZ lens, the world's slimmest pancake zoom lens.

I purchased this 'retro-look' camera at the end of 2014 and I am expecting [hoping] it will be capable of holding its own against entry-level type DSLRs in terms of image quality and handling. I'll soon find out .. as you will/can, by critiquing my photos posted from around February '15 onwards.

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• Olympus XZ-1 camera

This used to to be my main camera, but has now been relegated to my back-up unit.

The i.Zuiko lens is F1.8 at the 28mm equivalent end and a still very impressive F2.5 at the 112mm setting. But the high spec doesn't end at the lens - as the XZ-1 is built around a high sensitivity 1/1.63" CCD sensor, which makes it one of the largest sensors in the compact camera world.

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•  Olympus Pen Sema-1 Stereo Microphone adapter

With this little unit plugged into the cameras' 'hot shoe' ports, the increase in sound recording quality is very noticeable.

• Olympus LC-63A Automatic Lens Cap

Most compact cameras these days have a self-contained lens cover that slips away when you power-up. 'Out of the box' the OMD EM-10 and XZ-1, however, both have old-fashioned basic plastic push-on covers. Power up and they disappear onto the floor. So I bought these lens cap adaptors with automatic opening/closing mechanism, which works just by pushing the ON/OFF power buttons. A big improvment. LINK

• Hoya 52mm HMC NDX8 Screw-In Filter; and 
• 52mm Lens Adapter

Reduces the amount of light to the camera sensor by 3 f-stops. This add-on filter, together with enabling the camera's built-in ND filter (effectively reducing by a further 3 stops) means that I can vitually reduce the light intake hitting the sensor by up to 6 f-stops.

This is especially useful in bright shooting conditions, eliminating washed-out images when the camera would otherwise choose a faster shutter speed or smaller aperture than I require. Also helps to create particular image effects that I'm after, such as a blurred background in an outdoor daylit portrait; or "running water" in a well-lit stream, waterfall or ocean shoreline, creating a silky smooth 'candy floss' effect to the flowing water.

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• Peripheral cables, plugs and sockets, spare batteries, online-banking security card reader, etceteras.

All necessary to support the above equipment

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• Cheap 'n' cheerful Nokia mobile-cell phone, with a local PAYG sim card.

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