Travel Sound Machine

A travel sound machine is simply a sound machine that is compact enough so that you can take it with you when you travel. Clearly, one of the main features you should look for is that it can also be powered by batteries as well as an AC adapter.

The battery power capability is important for two reasons: you may not have mains power readily available where you travel, or you simply want to cut down on travel weight and don't want to carry the AC adapter with you everywhere. We would suggest that you invest in some good quality rechargeable batteries so that you don't have to keep buying new conventional batteries all the time as the cost can quickly add up. A sound machine doesn't use much power, particularly if you set the auto-off function to as short a period of time as it takes you to fall asleep. For example, if you know that using your travel sound machine you fall asleep within 10 - 15 minutes, then there is no point in setting the auto-off function to beyond the next setting available after 15 minutes. Some travel sound machines may have a 20 minute setting, while the next setting on others may be 30 minutes. Either way, you wouldn't set it to 60 or 90 minutes as that would waste battery power.

If you intend to use batteries when you travel then it would be a good idea to first confirm that the travel sound machine will last on a single charge of your batteries for the entire trip. It would be rather frustrating to travel for a week only to discover that your batteries have completely drained after the first two or three nights. Therefore, if you already own the unit then you could simply let it run on a full charge and time it until the batteries have drained to the point that the unit no longer operates. If you haven't bought the unit yet then you could either buy it and try it at home and return it if it is too power-hungry.

Alternatively, you can do a simple calculation to estimate how long the travel sound machine will run on your chosen batteries. Here is an explanation of how you can do the calculation. Check the power rating of the travel sound machine. It should be printed either on the box, on the unit near the power socket/battery compartment or in the technical specifications of the user manual. It will likely be stated as either Power in milliwatts (mW) or Current drain in milliamps (mA). If it is in mW then first convert it to mA. This is done by dividing the mW by the voltage (if it uses 4 x 1.5V batteries then the voltage is 6). Therefore, 300mW / 6 is 50mA. Now, rechargeable batteries will have a printed rating in mAh, which is simply 'milliAmp hours'. So if I have batteries that are rated at 1600mAh, then I can expect this unit to run for 32 hours (1600mAh / 50mA). Please note that these numbers have been used as an example only - check the ratings of your actual batteries and travel sound machine.

Alternatively, if you think that you will never have the need for batteries because you will always be somewhere near an electrical outlet, then you would be better off to choose a model that offers dual voltages (110 and 240 Volts). A very popular travel sound machine that is dual voltage is the Marpac Travel Sound Conditioner, Marsona TSCI-330. Otherwise, if you plug-in a USA 110 Volt unit into a 240 Volt power outlet in a European hotel then you may destroy the travel sound machine.