Nothing fills me with more fear than watching the battery life drain out of my Blackberry or iPod when I'm far from home. Even when I'm near a power source, I don't always have all the right chargers with me. I spend half of my life in my car, so I have car chargers for some of my handheld devices, all tangled together in my glove compartment. It's not a very organized or complete system.

The Travel Survival Kit from Proporta.com is, for my needs, a fairly complete charging solution for anywhere I would go. The USB Mobile Device Charger (which can also be purchased separately), is a USB rechargeabe battery with 3400 mAH of power. It's about the size and weight of an iPod with video, and charges from any USB port. When away from home, you can charge the USB Mobile Device Charger (and also charge your devices directly) with the included AC Travel Charger with USB socket or the Car Power Suppy with USB port.

With the supply of connector tips that came with the kit, I'm able to charge up my Blackberry, my iPods, and my daughter's Sidekick anywhere, and charge up the battery unit in my car, as well as in Asia, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, and "elsewhere" (oh, how I long to go "elsewhere"). Just have to be careful to keep all the pieces together in one place (a little gadget pouch would do nicely).

The kit sells for $75.95 on the Proporta website. If you have a device that doesn't work with any of the tips in the kit, Proporta will send you one for free from their selection of connector heads, though it's noted on the company's website that the USB Mobile Device Charger is not compatible with the Microsoft Zune.