GPS Recommendation

[Stephen Bing]

In my experience using Gaia in my Android phone, it takes a while for the map graphics to load if you start while you’re already out of cell reception. Maybe it’ll help if you download a map of the area you’re trying to hike through?

[Beendarenback]

Battery hog?

i went 5 days in Alaska using GAIA off and on [not much]……..but also taking pictures with my iPhone 7+. Then just used a battery pack to recharge…..11 days with only a 10,000 mAh Anker backup.

 

I think the big advantage to  me is using my nice big phone screen over that postage stamp of a screen on my Garmin GPS. I think Garmins biz model is in trouble

[W I S N E R !]

I’m using an older Android device, LG G Stylo, paired with Backcountry Navigator.  I preload map tiles off of CalTopo.  I like the big screen for maps.

I have never needed a continuous GPS track so battery life has never been an issue.  In airplane mode my phone can easily do 6-7 days of photography.  Add in an occasional use of the GPS/mapping to double-check a position or drop a pin for future reference and I’m still good for 5 days.  And I have a small spare battery for my phone (another advantage over Apple).

A dedicated GPS, for me, would be extremely redundant.

 

[BlackHatGuy]

“(another advantage over Apple)”

Tsk tsk. There are no advantages over Apple, only wistful/wishful thinking…. :-)

[W I S N E R !]

“Tsk tsk. There are no advantages over Apple, only wistful/wishful thinking…. :-)”

Of course not!  1/4 the price, expandable memory/removable cards (just added a 64GB card for more maps and music), spare inexpensive batteries ($12 for my phone and lighter/smaller than a power bank!), and inexpensive charging and data cables that also work with my bicycle lights/headlamp, camera…What advantages?

OK, I admit it.  I’m just jealous I don’t have a white apple sticker for my rear car window.  ; )

[BlackHatGuy]

Where did you say you bought that phone? … Do they have any left!

[Dean F.]

I have an iPhone with Gaia and have found it to be a complete battery hog- phone is dead in hours

Yeah, something is not right there.  I have done numerous 5-day hikes where I still had 25% left at the end.  Did you go into settings and turn off everything as the article suggested?  Also, it helps to only turn the phone on when you need it, though I have certainly left it on for a few hours to use the camera more conveniently.

 

In my experience using Gaia in my Android phone, it takes a while for the map graphics to load if you start while you’re already out of cell reception. Maybe it’ll help if you download a map of the area you’re trying to hike through?

Frankly I’m impressed that you could download maps while out of cell reception at all.  That should be impossible.

Yes, you should download local maps of where you are hiking beforehand.

[Stephen Bing]

I’m assuming the maps are being downloaded wherever I am while I still have reception so when I lose it, it doesn’t load whatever wasn’t downloaded. Not too familiar with that process though.

[Miner]

For occasional use, a smartphone’s GPS with a decent app is all you need.  But if I was anticipating heavy use like I did when I hiked the still under development Condor Trail in central coastal California back in 2016, I would still carry my Garmin Extrex 30X.  There is no way my phone would have lasted 5-6 days with how often I ended up needing to use the GPS. Sure the screen is small, but carrying 2xAA lithium spares doesn’t weight much and the total weight of the batteries and the GPS was still less than carrying even a modest size external battery pack to keep my phone charge and it gets a more reliable GPS fix (Gonass and GPS) in deep canyons.  And if you really are reliant on using the GPS due to inadequate maps, having both a small dedicated GPS and your smartphone may be an even smarter thing to do as you now have backup.  I have to admit to watching my phone go over a water cascade about a year ago into a deep pool on a trip when I forgot it was in my shirt pocket when I was using it as a MP3 player when I bent over to get water.

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