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Anybody content with their smartphone and apps over a dedicated handheld GPS unit?

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  • #46
    Originally posted by jblaser View Post
    I just finished 6 days in the West Canada Lakes Wilderness doing the French Louie loop and used Gaia GPS. It worked well and I had it close background apps. I recorded tracks and waypoints. The battery drain was not a problem, I did not have to charge my phone until the 4th day and it was at 54%. I met a thru hiker who had done the AT last year and the CT the year before. He said he uses a free app from REI, so I may look into that. However, I am very satisfied with Gaia.
    6 Days? I'm jealous. Hope you're working on that trip report.

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    • #47
      It was my first time in there and definitely one that I will treasure for many years. Truly the essence of the ADK wilderness. Getting my son off to college and then will get a trip report and photos up.
      "Everyone must believe in something. I believe I'll go canoeing."
      - Henry David Thoreau

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      • #48
        Hey guys (and gals of course!)...

        My wife and I will be doing a little backpacking in Banff next week and I wanted to download Gaia GPS to my latest smartphone. I was interested in the premium membership of that app for the Nat Geo Trails Illustrated maps of Banff but I just read on their site that they don't have Nat Geo maps for Canada available yet. It's $40 a year and since they don't have that I see no reason to buy that. My question is, if I want to know EXACTLY where I am on a trail (or if I mistakenly got OFF the trail especially) will the free version suffice (Can I get good maps?) or should I get the $20 "member" version?

        Appreciate any and all feedback. I've got a million and one t's to cross and i's to dot before we fly on Friday so any help here will be one more thing I feel I got accomplished leading up to this.

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        • #49
          I believe you'll get USGS maps & openstreet -- you'll know where you are, but trail info can be old. Any chance you purchased the original version? If you did, they have a "legacy license" where they will allow you to run the new version, free of charge, with some limits on features, one of which I believe is NatGeo map availability -- but they do have the newer vector-based USGS and some others as available options.

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          • #50
            Hey, in desperate need of help with Gaia GPS...if you are quite familiar with how to download maps...

            I need to know which type of map you recommend I download for offline use to know EXACTLY where I am in the backcountry at any given time. (In this case it will be in the Banff backcountry)

            Please, this is one more chore stressing me out as I check off my "must do" list leading up to flying out on Friday.

            I.know I was helped with this a few years ago but I haven't used it for a while, have a new phone and need to start over.

            Which maps for Gaia GPS (or any other backcountry GPS app that you prefer) would you rely on to know exactly where you were at any given time?
            Last edited by forest dweller; 08-20-2019, 02:48 PM.

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            • #51
              Knowing where you are doesn't depend on the map - the lat and long are displayed on the screen. How that compares with the real world, that does depend on the map, but I assume any USGS or Canadian topo map would be adequate. However, I can change maps on the fly, as long as I have some kind of cellular connection. Once the map is chosen, I don't need the cell connection. I find the default GAIA Topo the most useful, but I frequently switch to one of the older USGS map layers to show older features.

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              • #52
                I have been using Gaia GPS on my Samsung Note 5 for 2 years in the ADKs and have been very satisfied. It has worked fine in the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness, the Siamese Ponds and the West Canada Lakes Wilderness areas.
                "Everyone must believe in something. I believe I'll go canoeing."
                - Henry David Thoreau

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                • #53
                  I use a Samsung Galaxy S7 (old but functional) with Backcountry Navigator. I've been very happy with the results. Every map I've ever needed I've downloaded from CalTopo (free).

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                  • #54
                    I will confess that I was a disbeliever and vowed I would never use a fragile smartphone in place of a dedicated GPS unit. I've changed my tune.

                    A smartphone has a substantially larger and better screen (mine a Galaxy S10) which makes using it more friendly. You can hop scotch from app to app if needed or desired. I use GAIA as my main resource but also have CalTopo, Earthmate, and Google Earth apps on my phone.

                    I find using GAIA much easier to use than my eTrex30. I can create waypoints and routes much easier and and get in and out of GAIA quickly and accomplish everything I want.

                    The achilles heal of a smartphone is its fragility when compared to a dedicated GPS unit. That difference can be lessened with a rugged case and safe practices.

                    Now that I am using my S10, I would never go back to a GPS unit. The larger screen size and more friendly apps mean a better experience for me.

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                    • #55
                      I also use Gaia GPS (yearly subscription) on my phone.

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                      • #56
                        [QUOTE=forest dweller;277396]Hey, in desperate need of help with Gaia GPS...if you are quite familiar with how to download maps...[/QUOTEMy best advice is to learn traditional map and compass.This is a continuing argument, I know. I have been an instructor of land navigation for more than 30 years, For SAR, BSA high adventure and professionally for ( L.E., SAR, fire, EMT) as a hired Land Nav SME through Homeland Security. There are so many advantages to understanding using a real compass and map over a phone GPS I cannot possibly mention them all. Using a phone as an emergency backup locator is fine if you understand how it works, its limitations, and have so completely remote location confused yourself that you cannot self-extract safely that it must be used. I was once training a prospective guide student in bushwhack navigation techniques in a course clearly stating that GPS was not allowed, when I caught him cheating with a GPS. I immediately failed him from the program and he consequently did not get the guide job he was applying for.

                        GPs certainly has its place, and I rely on one as required equipment always during SAR incidents, and as a velocity monitor during canoe racing, sometimes as a navigation aid when racing in unfamiliar or complicated river territory, but thar's about it. I do have a segment for GPS that I will teach for SAR members and licensed guides, but only after I am confident that they understand the basics of navigation first.
                        "Now I see the secret of making the best person, it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth." -Walt Whitman

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                        • #57
                          Yes, Gaia GPS on my Samsung Note 5.
                          "Everyone must believe in something. I believe I'll go canoeing."
                          - Henry David Thoreau

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                          • #58
                            Saw this phone on Amazon. I think this would be a really nice nav unit. Ruggedized, waterproof (IP68), huge battery, GPS & Glonass, Android 10, decent internal memory & expansion SD Card slot for huge map sets. Fairly inexpensive too, on par with low-end hand-held hiking units. Personally, I would go with something like this nowadays long before a hand-held hiking unit. In airplane mode with position turned on, I believe this would long outlast the battery life on any hiking unit. And if not, you can bring an external USB battery to charge it up over night.

                            The capabilities of modern apps are just so far above and beyond the capabilities of hand-held hiking units.
                            Last edited by ndoggac; 09-07-2020, 11:31 PM.

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                            • #59
                              Really unhappy with Gaia GPS...probably operator error but I downloaded the maps and the app was friggin useless in the backcountry - no detail at all. I got a better idea of where I was using Google maps, if the map downloaded. I don't know what I did wrong.

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                              • #60
                                FD, I have a similar problem with GAIA: although the default base map works fine, and my location on that map clear without cellular service, if I want to zoom in to get more detail or to use another layer (such as land ownership), a cellular connection is necessary. As a workaround, if I zoom in and/or load the desired layer in advance (when I do have a cellular connection), then the phone remembers that.
                                My old iPhone with the old GaiaLite would require that I download the entire map and that would work at many zoom levels, but the current Gaia app doesn't work that way (I have the Pro version).
                                Fortunately, most of my hiking is in the High Peaks or the Champlain Valley and there is frequent enough cell coverage to update my map.

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