I have used it the past couple hunts that I've done and it worked great. If you put you phone in airplane mode and dim the screen down it will last for several days.
I use it with the Topo map app from Phil Endicott. Shows location on a topo map or satellite image. I can then compare to larger paper map if I want to get a bigger picture as it is very easy to pinpoint my exact location on the paper map from the Topo map app. Very helpful in heavy trees.
Options for battery life include turning the phone off when not looking at it. I also sometimes carry a backup battery charger (cheap and lightweight). When truck camping, I recharge phone every night. If backpacking, can carry solar charger and recharge off that.
I've done 1/2 dozen out of state hunting trips, 5-10 days long, using my iPhone and Trimble Outdoors App.
Bring a NewTrent battery charger ($25) and keep the phone on airplane mode when you're not using it and you can get 2 weeks out of it no problem. I also keep one of those big battery packs that will jump your truck/has outlets for plug ins and USB out to charge everything. Very valuable $80 investment.
You have to DL all the maps that you want, including every layer you want, when you have good reception, wifi preferably, but 3/4G is fast enough.
Darren
A NewTrent battery pack will charge the phone from ~25% about 5 times and weighs about the same as another phone, giving you more life than your GPS with backup batteries.
I'll agree with you that a touchscreen GPS is the proper substitute. But I'd rather spend the $600 on other non-essentials as I can do a hunt without a GPS.
My backup cheapy GPS never gets turned on. On bivy trips, it doesn't make the weight cut. I haven't used it in over 2 yrs and some 10ish hunting trips - about the same time I discovered Trimble.
What do you mean by "no pc front end"?
I have the GPS hunt website open on my computer where I can see GE aerials, contour maps, trails maps, etc. I can place all of my waypoint info in at my computer and then it automatically syncs with my phone. The same is true with info that I enter in on my phone or tablet for that matter, they both sync back with my account and all of the information is stored in the cloud on my account.
I also bought the new Samsung S5 Active which is fully water proof just like a GPS would be, so there is no additional weight of a case or anything.
If you are going on a 10 day hiking trip where weight is a major factor, then I can see the need for a secondary GPS, but for anything 5 days and under you won't need anything more than your phone and a spare battery.
JMHO
I just dl'd a topo app from Endecott which I really like. If my phone can someday replace my Garmin you can bet I won't miss it.
Thanks- Dwayne
You save a previously downloaded map to your phone and then put it in airplane mode and no need for cell coverage. Your phone works off the same Satellites as the single use GPS. The map could be as large as the entire state if your card is big enough to hold the info.
I usually just down load the unit I'm hunting to my phone for each trip and store the rest on my computer until I need them again in the future.
Closest I've seen to what I need is Terrain Navigator Pro at $400 and $125 ea addl state.
Nuts?
Thinking you need a GPS on a hunt is nuts.
People have been doing back country hunting without a phone or GPS for hundreds of thousands of years.
I bet everyone on this thread has been in the woods before GPSs were even commercially available.
I've done 14 day 100+ mile backpacking trips without phone or GPS. My first 10 day solo elk hunt I had neither phone nor GPS. I used a paper map and a compass.
I still bring a paper map and a compass on every hunt. Trusting your life to any electronic device is silly, just as thinking that you need one or that you need a designated GPS, is also silly.
But when I make use of this fantastic convenience that puts your location on a map for you, or to mark where my meat cache is, my phone does it just as well as a GPS.
This entire conversation is silly. In the lower 48, if the SHTF, all you have to do is go downhill and you run in to civilization in about a day's walk or less.
Lower 48 hunters, in general, cautious by nature, make so much more of an issue out of back country excursions than is warranted. Two of everything, redundant gear, state-of-the-art... These are not expeditions to the South Pole.
Here's what I'm using. www.gpshuntfish.com It's by Trimble.
You can do a monthly/yearly subscription which lets you download as many maps as you want or just buy the maps and download them. I suppose if you really wanted, you could subscribed for one month $2.99 and download all that you would ever need... I just do the monthly subscription and figure it's not much different than buying a new map every year.
Example... lets just say yesterday I hung a new climber in a tree/area that I rarely hunt. The next morning I could 1) wonder around in the woods with my flash light on looking for it, or 2) I could walk directly to the spot by using my phone GPS. In doing so, I don't have to turn my light on and I make a much more direct path to the climber.
I also use my while scouting to mark and map deer sign.
Like any new tool, GPS phone devices are helpful BUT they should not be relied upon. If you aren't using them to some degree, you are loosing out.
When I had an Android I used Backcounty Navigator. Hands down best GPS app out there. It does not require you to cache the maps before hand and you can use it on airplane mode which really helps with the phones battery life. It also allows you to save waypoints and shows a red (or whatever color you chose) line where you have walked. I liked that for shed hunting so I wasn't walking the same areas over and over.
I'm very tempted to go back to Android just for the Backcountry app.
Stop disturbing our imaginary mystique, please.
;-)
What 3rd party info are you adding to your GPS?
I agree with you 100%. They're so useful, in fact, that I can never see myself going into the woods without one. Operative word being "one." For your average back country hunt, I just don't see how a separate $600 device with its own batteries is not redundant weight when the phone serves the purpose.
I need a GPS to store way-points and show me where I am on a map. My phone does that.
I've seen guys that carry a designated beacon device so that their families can see exactly where they're at at all times. Couple this with a camera, phone, and GPS and you have two cameras, two GPS devices, and two different ways to phone home, all 4 of which have their own battery needs and upfront costs. Incredible!
(Not saying you shouldn't bring a separate camera, I'm just pointing out the redundancy for irony's sake.)
No wonder I hear about guys with 80-90 lb back packs! All the comforts of home, X2.
I say buy less stuff and go on more hunts. More comfortable hunts, that is.
I can currently get all my different data types into my gps by converting it, I would prefer to do it from a single pc program. Neither Trimble nor BCN will import a geo referenced scan that has been converted to a kml.
I found my way back to last blood and while standing there I whipped out my phone and downloaded the Antler Insanity app. and a compass app.. Had never used either one. I marked the last blood spot as a stand location on the app.Walked off a bit then hit the "go to" just to check that the thing worked and it was dead on. I continued on with the tracking job and found my way directly back to the last blood spot when done and walked out.
I use the app all the time now in lieu of my gps to mark stand locations and other things quickly. Its more accurate than my gps to the foot. I use the two of them in combination to create routes to stands, etc.. Have a backup battery charging pack I bought at radio shack for $15.00 bucks and all is good.
Plus I carry an old fashioned compass...I think I still remember how to use it??
Thats funny right there. But, I hope folks can always find a place to go adventure with no easy contact to the rest of the world. It may not be smart or prudent, but there is a calm and satisfaction in those situations that is hard to duplicate anywhere else. Leaving the phone turned off or in the tent is a taste, but not like the real thing.
I run a droid razor maxx. I dont even bring my gps with anymore. I get about 4 days out of a battery on airplane mode. I have zero signal as well so no need to call or text because I can't. My phone is my camera, alarm clock, GPS/map and my music if I want to listen to some. I have a portable battery from Verizon that I can get a little over a full charge out of. Plus I have my goal zero 10 battery pack with solar charger that keeps me charged up.
With Trimble you dont even need to download. Just open the map to the area your hunting while you have signal. Then put phone on airplane mode.
Do yourself a favor and buy yourself the Garmin etrex 30 or something more expensive and load the onXmaps.
The Colorado Parks and Wildlife uses that and if you are trespassing according to onXmaps you get a ticket. So use what the pros use.
From what I am reading above it appears the Trimble app give gps data in airplane mode but the onXmaps app does not. Is that correct?
Iphones go into and off of airplane mode very quickly with the flip up from bottom feature. Still, if I'm in an area where I'm going to be checking the GPS frequently, I just leave airplane mode off for that time, which is usually short and will drain your battery 1% every few minutes.
Even forgetting to turn airplane mode back on for a while, I've never drained more than 50% of my battery in a day.
I'd encourage everyone to check out the NewTrent batteries. They're basically just for charging things like phones, weight about the same as a phone, cost about $25, and will charge your phone several times, your camera several times, etc.
And as far as downloading maps, I don't even use that function on my GPS. My brain is not good at looking at maps that small. I primarily use it to get me back to the truck, find a down elk to pack out or find my brother using our paired GPSs.
And I am definitely onboard with ALWAYS having a real compass and map in your pack. I certainly don't trust anything totally electronic.
You can scroll in and out with the map and change definitions to look at more and look at less.
The Trimble app also puts a little blue arrow which shows you which direction you're facing. But it's off a few degrees.
