Accuracy of phone vs Garmin gps unit

[T28w]

Does anyone know if there is an accuracy diff between running onx off an iPhone vs a unit like Garmin?

I could see a dedicated gps unit being more accurate but don’t know.

My brother was asking about marking some crappie spots in some pretty open areas and wondered if there was a big enough difference in accuracy to matter.

 

[motts]

I used to work for the State Park Service as the GIS project specialist and occasionally had to check up on things like illegal trails reported to us by the public, which also usually included coordinates they pulled off their phone. My experience is that it was rarely very accurate - it would probably get you into the general area (within 30m or so?), but there were also times that the information they gave me was nowhere close to where I actually needed to be (the worst instance I can recall had me more than a half mile from where I was going).

I've found basic Garmin units to be reasonably accurate (10m or better consistently given ideal conditions), but they're still susceptible to being hampered by weather, line of sight with respect to satellites. etc.. The units I used for work were sub-meter and sub-foot for comparison - potentially highly accurate, but still dependent, to an extent, on the environmental conditions.

I haven't personally used OnX. If it relies on the iPhone for the actual positining, I wouldn't expect it to be exceptionally accurate, but it should be "good enough" to get someone into a general area that they're probably already familiar with. If you can see the shoreline and make some notes to sort of triangulate your position and use in conjunction with the phone, you should be fine. I would prefer the Garmin over an iPhone, but if it's what you've got and you're not trying to locate something too small out on truly open water (think an extended drop off that goes on for 100 yards versus just three old stumps on a tiny hump), I wouldn't hesitate to roll with it.

 

[flyinsquirel]

The short answer is no, it won't matter a bit for getting back to your crappie hole.

 

[T28w]

Thanks

 

[Btaylor]

I only use OnX on my iphone and in the three locations I have checked against a survey marker, it was spot on every time. Very small sample size but it has worked great for me.

 

[parkj5]

My Iphone 10 works great with the GPS.

 

[Mike Islander]

Samsung phone and tablet GPS average between 10 - 20 feet accuracy. If you want to monitor accuracy you can install GPS Status or similar app.

I've compared my S7 against 2 Garmin units at the same time. All three were equally accurate. I was using all three to track my off road motorcycle rides. The main difference was how often they recorded data points, not accuracy. At walking speeds, no significant difference. 10 feet is amazing accuracy. I grew up in an era when the best accuracy you could get from a handheld device was about 300 feet; IF you were within two miles of the transmitter.

 

[Kentk]

I always plan my trips with iphone 10 and have never been lead astray yet. Agreed the odd time you end up 20' from the trail but it never slows me down. I have more issues with old trails marked on map that don't exist anymore (not onX).

 

[T28w]

Samsung phone and tablet GPS average between 10 - 20 feet accuracy. If you want to monitor accuracy you can install GPS Status or similar app.

I've compared my S7 against 2 Garmin units at the same time. All three were equally accurate. I was using all three to track my off road motorcycle rides. The main difference was how often they recorded data points, not accuracy. At walking speeds, no significant difference. 10 feet is amazing accuracy. I grew up in an era when the best accuracy you could get from a handheld device was about 300 feet; IF you were within two miles of the transmitter.

Good deal. If it can get us in the 10-30 foot range then that is all we would need. 300 ft though could take some searching with the depth finder to find a small brush pile.

 

[Steve.WA]

I stopped using my Garmin Rhino and just use my phone now.

 

[Beendare]

I sold off my GPS units years ago. I compared my Garmin Rino next to my phone the first year on an elk hunt- they were essentially the same accuracy.

Accuracy of GAIA on my iPhone 10 is as good if not better than the Garmin GPS units, IME. It depends on the terrain. For example, wide open fairly flat ground open to the sky...its within 5 steps or better. Down in canyons and such its worse...but so were my GPS units.

______

 

[wapitibob]

Comparing my tracks to sat imagery I'm less than 10 feet off.

 

[stratofisher]

Phone and GPS is about the same unless you have WAAS or some other method of enhancement on your GPS. The IPHONE uses GPS and GLONAS (Russian Sats). In general the more sats the better the accuracy . Never any issues with the phone.