Smartphone Article, blast from the past

robby denning · Feb 6, 2016

Hey all, researching our data base, I noticed this article that was originally ran in fall 2013 is still very popular among our homepage readers. Rokslide Moderator Travis Bertrand wrote it.

I checked with him and it's still current except Delorme inReach has updated their 2-way communicator (the link to that update is in the article) and the iPhone 6 has been released. Of course Phone Skope is still making adapters for just about every phone/case combination.

If you're wondering how an ounce-counting backcountry hunter is getting the most out of his smartphone, this is a good article for you.

Smartphones for Today's Smart Hunter

dotman · Feb 6, 2016

Kind of wondering if he still leaves the GPS at home now that it has been a few years since the article.

Travis Bertrand · Feb 6, 2016

dotman said:
Kind of wondering if he still leaves the GPS at home now that it has been a few years since the article.

Absolutely I do. Since that article, technology has come so far. Now I can keep my phone on airplane mode and still have gps enabled. I run topo maps, land ownership maps, ballistic calculator, and soon will have weather updates without cell service. It does everything my gps did and more.

dotman · Feb 6, 2016

I still take my GPS but did try to use my phone for my late season hunt. It was around 15* and what I noticed is the battery died halfway thru the day. It was weird as in Sep when temps were above freezing it lasted almost 2 days. Have you noticed this issue? I run an iPhone. I didn't protect my GPS from the cold as it was attached to my bino harness and battery life was good and my phone was in a pocket. I thought maybe my battery on my phone was going bad but once back in normal everyday life I get my usual battery life. Have you notice an extreme battery drain when the temps are in the teens or lower?

Travis Bertrand · Feb 6, 2016

dotman said:
I still take my GPS but did try to use my phone for my late season hunt. It was around 15* and what I noticed is the battery died halfway thru the day. It was weird as in Sep when temps were above freezing it lasted almost 2 days. Have you noticed this issue? I run an iPhone. I didn't protect my GPS from the cold as it was attached to my bino harness and battery life was good and my phone was in a pocket. I thought maybe my battery on my phone was going bad but once back in normal everyday life I get my usual battery life. Have you notice an extreme battery drain when the temps are in the teens or lower?

No, did you have it on airplane mode? If not did you have cell service?

dotman · Feb 6, 2016

In Sep I had it on airplane but in Nov I didn't since I had service but maybe that is a bigger issue then I would of thought but usually with service the battery lasts easily all day. I should also say, the cold that day also drained the battery in my camera and GoPro which usually is never an issue. Spot and GPS lasted all day but GPS battery was also lower then usual but still had plenty of life.

Doubt the camera battery was at full charge. Just thinking that the smaller battery size in the phone and GoPro (Session) might be a cold weather issue. Wouldn't of mattered I don't think had I had an external battery pack along.

Travis Bertrand · Feb 6, 2016

That's weird. I always go through and quit all apps to conserve battery life. Maybe for some reason you had an app eating your batt life.

dotman · Feb 6, 2016

Oh, I bet I had the GoPro linked to my phone or the Bluetooth on. Rookie mistake!

TxTrapper · Feb 11, 2016

Travis, would you be willing to start a separate thread detailing how you set your phone up for all these applications?
I have wanted to do this but just haven't made the leap due to not really knowing where or how to get started.......Thanks

Travis Bertrand · Feb 11, 2016

TxTrapper said:
Travis, would you be willing to start a separate thread detailing how you set your phone up for all these applications?
I have wanted to do this but just haven't made the leap due to not really knowing where or how to get started.......Thanks

I'll work on it tonight!

AdamW · Feb 11, 2016

Thanks for bumping this Robby, I'm back researching this for my first elk hunt this year. An iphone w/ a charge pack and onxmaps seems like a pretty powerful tool.

Travis Bertrand · Feb 11, 2016

Tx
I figured this was as good as place as any for your question.

With the iPhone's latest updates (within the last year), it has gps enabled while in airplane mode. This means you can use your map app to pinpoint your location while not sucking down your battery life. To do this make sure your phone has the most recent updated software. Then slide up you should get this-

Make sure you click on airplane mode and make sure blue tooth is on if your connected to an Inreach device or something similar. Make sure Bluetooth is OFF if you don't however to conserve your battery usage. Also make sure you double tap the home screen and swipe all of the open screens up to close down the apps. Sometimes them running in the background eats your battery up.

These are my hunting apps. I don't use them all of the time but to give you an idea.

I use topo maps the most. I really like it. Here is a screen shot.

I use neotreks for land ownership but I just learned onxmaps is taking over neotreks so....

Here's a screenshot.

Sorry if this is too basic for you, I figured your not the only one with this question and it can cover the most broad range of people doing it this way. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

TxTrapper · Feb 12, 2016

Deff not to basic

Thanks for taking the time Travis....
Very much appreciated!

2 quick questions...
What devise do you now use to charge your phone while your out?
And in the Topo maps app after you download the map can you switch back and forth to satilite view or is that another app all together? Thanks.....

Travis Bertrand · Feb 12, 2016

Depending on the hunt, I run a charger similar to this, it's not exact but...

Portable Charger,Uniwit®10000mAh Power Bank-Aluminum External Cell Phone Battery Charger, Powerbank For iPhone and Smart Phones,Tablet PCs(Blue) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017R2ZPPS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_yqFVwbGJJ06F9

Usually I can get 3 days out of my phone if not more without a charge.

Topo map can switch views but all it does is open up google maps and you have to have service for that.

TxTrapper · Feb 12, 2016

Drhorsepower said:
Depending on the hunt, I run a charger similar to this, it's not exact but...

Portable Charger,Uniwit®10000mAh Power Bank-Aluminum External Cell Phone Battery Charger, Powerbank For iPhone and Smart Phones,Tablet PCs(Blue) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017R2ZPPS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_yqFVwbGJJ06F9

Usually I can get 3 days out of my phone if not more without a charge.

Topo map can switch views but all it does is open up google maps and you have to have service for that.

Thanks.....

COlineman78 · Feb 12, 2016

dotman said:
In Sep I had it on airplane but in Nov I didn't since I had service but maybe that is a bigger issue then I would of thought but usually with service the battery lasts easily all day. I should also say, the cold that day also drained the battery in my camera and GoPro which usually is never an issue. Spot and GPS lasted all day but GPS battery was also lower then usual but still had plenty of life.

Doubt the camera battery was at full charge. Just thinking that the smaller battery size in the phone and GoPro (Session) might be a cold weather issue. Wouldn't of mattered I don't think had I had an external battery pack along.

If you have 2 bars or less cell phone service will certainly hurt battery life a lot. Your phone will constantly be working to try and find a better tower as well as needing to request resends for packets that don't make it which happens more often in poor service. If you ever accidentally forget to put your phone in airplane mode when going on a flight it will be mostly or all the way dead by the time you land because it will have spent the entire time attempting to connect and switching between towers.

The GoPro being connected will certainly hurt as it uses WiFi which uses more battery than the newer forms of bluetooth that are designed to save battery. It's also quite possible to get a run-away app sometimes eating battery. I have had to restart my phone a few times when the battery is draining faster than I think it should. Lithium Ions do not perform quite as well in cold conditions (one of the reasons they weren't used in space until redesigned and reformulated specifically for it eg lithium-carbon). The performance of all batteries drops drastically at low temperatures; however the elevated internal resistance will cause some warming effect (meaning that the batteries themselves generate more heat as they are discharged therefore warming themselves back up to an extent). At –20°C (–4°F) most Li-ion batteries stop functioning.

Travis Bertrand · Feb 14, 2016

Tx- I made it home and checked my power supplies.

I have an realpower 10,000 mah bank that I use for all of my extended hunts.

I bought it off amazon for like 20$. (Most of them have the same internals)

If I am only going for 2-3 days, I run smaller one like this, I picked up this as a two pack from Costco. It is 800mah and gives me around 70% charge on an iPhone 6+ from fully dead.

My charging cable is super light, it is made by incharge and my mom got it for me off of a Kickstarter campaign. This this is awesome!

It is magnetized so you can fold it in half or put it on a keychain or anything else you wanted to for that matter.

Amazon sells stuff that are similar and they also sell a 4" cable made by them which is what I used to run. I hope this helps.

TxTrapper · Feb 14, 2016

Yes, thanks for the details....

Smartphone Article, blast from the past

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