01
Best Portable Power Stations for Home Backup: A Practical UK Guide
How to choose a portable power station for UK home backup, with current examples from Jackery and EcoFlow.
Read the article →Preparedness, refined
Ready for the day that doesn’t go to plan.
Practical UK guidance for power cuts, travel disruption and everyday emergencies — with clear explanations before product recommendations.
Calm, useful guidance for ordinary households.
POWER
LIGHT
Preparedness without panic.Start with power, water, light and information.
01
UK-focusedAdvice built around UK households and travel.
02
Plain-English guidanceUnderstand the problem before choosing equipment.
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Products indexedRecommended gear stays easy to find in one library.
Start with the problem
Understand what you need — and why.
Everything is organised around six clear sections. Start with the situation, move into plain-English guidance, then compare the equipment that fits it. Products are tagged by purpose and collected in the Gear Library so you can find them again later.
01
Power & connectivity
Backup power
Power banks, power stations, UPS systems, solar and keeping essential devices online.
Understand backup power →02
Household readiness
Emergency kits
Lighting, radios, first aid, grab bags and a practical 72-hour household plan.
Build a useful kit →03
Storage & treatment
Water
How much to store, what filters do, and when treatment is a different problem.
Understand water options →04
Prepared on the move
Travel safety
Compact power, lighting, offline information and practical disruption planning.
Prepare for travel →05
Tech & communications
Emergency technology
5G backup, SIMs, VPNs, radios, satellite communications and useful emergency electronics.
Explore emergency tech →06
Roadside & collisions
Car emergencies
Crashes, breakdowns, motorway incidents, flood water and calm step-by-step roadside action.
Know what to do →Useful tools
Work out what you actually need.
Two practical tools turn the guidance into a plan: estimate battery runtime, or build a kit around the situation you are preparing for.
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Power calculator
Power Station Runtime Calculator
Enter battery capacity and device load to estimate usable runtime with conversion losses and reserve included.
Calculate runtime →02
Preparedness planner
Build Your Kit
Choose home power cut, 72-hour home, car, travel or backup internet and build a practical checklist around the situation.
Build a plan →Featured guides
A sensible place to start.
Three cornerstone guides covering the areas most households can improve first: portable power, a basic emergency kit and travel backup.
02
72-Hour Emergency Kit Checklist for UK Homes
Build a practical 72-hour emergency kit for a UK household, calculate water planning and print a comprehensive master checklist covering hundreds of individual items and checks.
Read the article →03
Can You Take a Power Bank on a Plane? UK Rules for 2026
The current UK rules for taking power banks on flights in 2026, including carry-on rules, the two-power-bank limit, 100Wh threshold, mAh-to-Wh examples and FAQs.
Read the article →Latest
Global Cry articles.
Recent explainers, checklists and buying guides from across the Global Cry library.
Satellite Phone vs Smartphone Satellite SOS: What’s the Difference?
Dedicated satellite voice, smartphone emergency SOS and satellite messengers solve different problems. Here is what UK users should know.
Read article →Do You Need a Satellite Phone for Emergency Preparedness?
Who genuinely benefits from a satellite phone, when a satellite messenger or smartphone SOS is enough, and what ownership involves.
Read article →Should Your Backup SIM Use a Different Mobile Network?
Why network diversity can matter for backup internet, how MVNOs complicate the picture, and why no consumer setup guarantees service in a major outage.
Read article →Best PAYG Data SIMs for Backup Internet in the UK: What to Compare
How to choose a UK PAYG or prepaid data SIM for a backup router, including coverage, inactivity, data expiry, 5G access and network diversity.
Read article →PAYG SIM vs Contract SIM for Emergency Backup Internet
PAYG or contract for a backup router? Compare standby cost, inactivity rules, data allowances, renewal and the value of a second mobile network.
Read article →Can a VPN Help During an Internet Outage?
Why a VPN cannot fix a dead internet connection, and where it still fits when you switch to mobile data, a hotspot or another…
Read article →Why Global Cry
Preparedness without excess.
The aim is simple: explain the problem clearly, recommend only what earns its place, and keep commercial links obvious.
Useful firstNo filler products.
Clear specificationsWhat matters, and why.
Commercially transparentPaid links are labelled.
Start here
The 72-hour household checklist
Light, power, water, food, first aid and information — organised into one calm UK-focused guide, with relevant gear kept together.
Read the checklist