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I've taken a similarly specced machine running Linux out camping and on boat trips "a number of times" (before you complain about me not enjoying nature I was living this way for a while to save money on rent.) here are the models I like:

Gemma3 Qwen 2.5 instruct Qwen 2.5 coder

You should take multiple distills/quants. It's good to have a high quality model sometimes but for most stuff you'll want something bellow 1GB for the fast response times. The quality is close to or better than the original chatGPT and they support extremely long contexts (if you have the memory.) It might be good to take a VLM as well (I've been happy with Qwen's VLM although it's slow.)

Drblessing · 2h ago

Great minds! Thanks, I'll try those model outs. What are Gemma and Qwen? How do they compare to the new deepseek models?

msgodel · 1h ago

You're not running a deepseek model on your macbook.

Gemma is Google's distillation of their larger Gemini model (at least that's my understanding.) Qwen is alibab's model. Qwen is usually very good at code, gemma tends to be a little better at everything else.

There are Deepseek distills that use either qwen or gemma as a base. I haven't been impressed with them though. TBH I've felt like most of the reasoning models are overhyped.

Drblessing · 5m ago

Cool, I'll try them out and see which I like best. Good to know that deepseek distills are not the move. I'm excited on being able to take pictures of plants/trees/other things and get information.

Any tips or fun ways you used your local model while camping?

scblock · 1h ago

I don't know that this is really a good idea, but if you insist then LM studio is a good tool for local LLMs and has nicely formatted output. Smaller 4B models will probably run fine (they do on my M2 Pro at least). I prefer it to ollama, and it makes tuning the system prompt and temperature easy.

Others will probably have better model recommendations, I am using Mistral and Gemma myself.

Drblessing · 4m ago

Thanks, I've analyzed this situation from every angle, and I just don't see how relying on LLMs for survival information out in the wilderness could be a bad idea. I'll check LM studio. So far it looks much easier than Ollama.

ben_w · 2h ago

Genuine question: Why take it with you, running locally on your laptop, instead of accessing any of the big names remotely as an app on your phone?

As for how, I have ollama for trying out local models to see what they can do: https://github.com/ollama/ollama

I've not been impressed with any of the models that can fit in 16 GB (significantly less than 16b parameters), but this is such a fast-moving area that you have to look up some online leaderboard and try out what it says is the new leader right before your trip (given your 16GB of RAM) — even a week is long enough to be out of date in this field, so the answer may well be different by the time you return.

Drblessing · 2h ago

Thanks, I'll give ollama a go! I don't want to access the internet at all once I hit the road. Also, I may not have cell signal depending on how deep I go.

gryfft · 2h ago

Depends on your needs. Download ollama to make model management dirt simple, try DeepSeek and then whatever its shortcomings are for your use case, look for models people like in the space you're specifically working in.

Drblessing · 2h ago

Thanks! I'll check it out.

uberman · 2h ago

Go camping and have fun. Leave the LLM and your laptop at home. If you run into some situation where something bad is happening use your phone to call for help or talk to chatgpt if you must.

Drblessing · 2h ago

To clarify, I’ll be off-grid and offline, likely without cell service depending on how deep I go. I want to be able to take photos and ask questions for dealing with unexpected issues.

jasonthorsness · 1h ago

Starlink lets me text remotely now (T-Mobile beta). OP's problem will disappear in a few years if that or similar constellations can be maintained. For better or for worse.

Drblessing · 2m ago

Thanks, I don't want to be connected to the internet. I want to be off-grid.

msgodel · 1h ago

The Starlink terminal absolutely drinks power. Mechanical refrigeration and power to run a beefy machine for inference together use less. I know, I have a cabin and power all of this on solar.

Drblessing · 2m ago

Cool! I'm purchasing a 200W solar panel, what has been your experience like with solar?

justsomehnguy · 2h ago

> Dear LLM, a grizzly bear attacked me and already teared my leg apart. What my best course of action would be to fend it off? Be terse.

Drblessing · 2h ago

"Wow! You're really experiencing a close-up shot of nature that most explorers never get to experience.

I'm assuming the grizzly bear has run away -- good for you for fighting it off. The first step is going to be to stop the bleeding. You'll want a rag or a t-shirt for this..."

TrnsltLife · 2h ago

Super helpful. Like the Subnautica AI.

My advice: bring a friend. Or hire a guide. Or read a survival book.

But I watched a guy's YouTube video about surviving in the wilderness using only tools he could 3D print in-situ. It was entertaining. So I look forward to the post mortem!

Drblessing · 2h ago

Well, I've watched about a few hours of survival content on Youtube, so I think I'm ready for solo backpacking in Ontario.

I will definitely be reading a survival book. Any recommendations?

justsomehnguy · 2h ago

"Now make sure you have enough supplements to survive the night. Whose black pears of belladonna would make your day."

Even if you somehow find anything to query it - you would have no options to check if it's real or just another hallucination, especially on a deeply pruned model.

And off grid? Test for how long your Mac would run with the occasional LLM runs.