What ever happened to the old days, where you just camped out without the gadgets?
Having owned my patrol in oz for 30+ years and have had fridge and solar panel for close to 30 years. Being in the bush for a few weeks and being able to have a cold one is less of a luxury and more a pure pleasure/necessity
At least with dual batteries and a solar panel you can be reasonably sure that a single battery failure won't leave you stranded in the middle of nowhere.
Over the years, the gadgets have appeared, primarily GPS and laptop/pda etc for decent topo moving maps. Toss in some LED lighting and two way radios, digital camera etc etc and you start to realize that the battery and ability to recharge it is key.
In the good 'ole days, you had gas lanterns, film camera incandescent torches etc. All meant you were limited on how long you had access to that stuff until fuel ran out, film ran out, batteries went flat etc.
Now, we can replace the 'ole stuff, with rechargeable power and self sufficient time becomes longer as long as we can charge. Solar panel is a great way to go.
I'll trade the good 'ole days for the modern stuff any day. Doesn't mean I have a ton of gadgets, but what I do take I can recharge indefinitely during a long trip to the bush.
Where in the 'ole days I felt a thrill to drive a couple of miles through the bush off track with a petrol station map and compass, now I can head many miles into nowhere and have an exact location fix. The beauty of knowing exactly where you are is that you can now see what may be 1/2 mile off to the side of where you are that would be neat to check out. So, the gadgets help you discover things that you would previously have driven by without any idea they were present.
I'm heading to oz for a month trip and a couple of weeks in the bush later today. I've spent quite a few hours with google earth checking out some of the areas I want to visit or re-visit and even cached a bunch of it on my laptop. Then where I'm in the area I can get a bird's eye view of the surrounding area and check out things that appear interesting - outcrops, hills, water courses (obviously dry in most of oz) etc.
So, I agree partially that we seem to take a lot of gadgets with us these days, in my case the gadgets I take help improve my navigation and ability to explore.
When you're 30+ miles from the nearest graded road and the track you're on hasn't got any tyre marks and you're heading into the bush looking for where the track actually is, having gadgets to aid in finding your location and doing it in comfort is not a bad way to enjoy yourself.
etc...
cheers,
george.
.. A few days / 2 a week of storms had the battery showing 11.5 V , but the food / temp always was where I set it. 
