Using a Smartphone as GPS on the Trail ?

Here are some related posts – or you can search with appropriate terms for your setup…

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=76288&skip_to_post=769912

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=80992

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=80978

following referred to by Amy Lauterbach posts above:

http://adventurealan.com/iphone4gps.htm

http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15393086/BPL/iPhoneGPSapps.htm

I have AT&T iPhone 5 w/Gaia GPS – had iOS 6 and was happy. Went to iOS 7 recently and am very displeased with battery drain in spite of doing everything to limit it. Per Amy posts, Verizon version is much easier on battery.

Gaia works well on my Samsung Galaxy S4. The maps are really pretty good, the screen is easy to see, and the battery drain is not bad at all as long as you aren't using it all the time and you shut down the phone service.

Ben – what exactly do you mean by "shut down" the phone service? I assume you're talking about something other than removing the sim card. I have an S3 and do set it so that Mobile Data is disabled, but am wondering what more I could do short of removing the sim card. Setting it in Airplane Mode doesn't seem to allow the GPS to work, as far as I can tell.

Right…but is everyone using Gaia from just the $20 app purchase or to get any real good use out of it do you have to get the yearly subscription?

I purchased the app for my Android phone (for less than $20, BTW) but I know not of this "subscription" you speak of – perhaps it's an iPhone thang?

https://www.gaiagps.com/gaiapro/

And, did you simply get it on sale sometime for less than $20?

I think it just used to be cheaper. But perhaps it was on sale…I think I paid more like ten for it.

Airplane Mode on the S3 should still allow GPS to work. It does on mine.

Same on my S4….I can turn on airplane mode, then turn on wifi (if wanted) and gps.

I downloaded the trial version of backcountry navigator, and bought gaia….initially, while backcountry does have access to accuterra, since I'm not planning on buying those maps b/c it would be overkill for me, Gaia certainly does have a nicer interface….

"Airplane Mode on the S3 should still allow GPS to work. It does on mine."

Thanks for confirming that. I had thought that was what I'd done in the past, but when I tried it last night it didn't seem to work; perhaps I just didn't wait long enough for the GPS to connect inside my house.

Ok,….maybe someone else has experienced this problem…

So, I have a Galaxy s4…with KitKat 4.4.2.

One thing that I have now researched…is that now with KitKat 4.4.2 apps can't write directly to the SD card…at least not how they could before.

So, with both backcountry navigator and gaia gps, I can't download maps to the external SD card (which is 64 gigs…)..I can only download to my 1.6 gig of available space on my internal memory. It really limits my ability to download maps.

Anyone else have the same experience?