Is the stand alone GPS a thing of the past?

[utah83]

a lot of info, fun read

 

[zmac]

To me it is.

An OnX subscription is only $30/year and there are probably others that are just as good. I can now carry one thing for a phone, GPS, camera and source of entertainment in the tent (audiobooks/music). Seems that the GPS industry should be very concerned.

Other things are getting better and combining as well (binocular/rangefinder combos). I like it and welcome it. It’s cool to see technology make it simpler to get out and about.

My first experience with GPS was not good. Early 90’s, Okinawa, jungle training. Got turned around in the thick stuff and decided the give the new doodad a try. It was huge, heavy and… we soon found out, inaccurate. According to the doodad we should be treading water just offshore. Back to the map & compass.

Fast forward to the early 2000’s and I had an original e-trex. No visual anything so had to be used with a map. That’s ok because I still insisted on carrying a map and compass. Accuracy was way better than my first experience. I could now hunt very close to public/private land boundaries and could prove where I was was not on rancher Jim’s back 40.

Zoom up to the mid 2000’s and I had a newer GPS with a micro chip that shows topography and hunt unit boundaries. And is very accurate. Still had the backup map & compass though.

Then… phones started having built in GPS and someone in Montana had a lightbulb switch on. The app I am using is so much better than any stand alone GPS I’ve seen. More intuitive, faster to add and edit waypoints, topography plus satellite imagery. Zero weight penalty if you already carry a phone. Naturally, I still insist on carrying the good old map and compass ;-)

For the record. I’m currently trying to sell my little GPS. After discovering OnX I don’t have any use for it. I’ll not be a bit surprised if others feel the same exact way and it sits in my “extra junk” bin until the end of time.

Do you think stand alone GPS units will soon be in the collective “extra junk bin” of outdoorsmen? Unless Garmin and the others do something spectacular I think they will.

With the advancement of technology I do. I use an app on my phone now as opposed to my garmin 64st. As long as I download the maps ahead of time when I have phone signal I’ve never had problems. Odds are you’ll bring your phone anyway, might as well let it take the place of the stand along gps unit.

 

[tracker12]

I always have my GPS in my pack. I have lost a phone twice in the woods. Before I leave camp or the truck I set a waypoint in both units.

 

[RWT]

I spend ROM 4000 minutes per month on the phone. I take EVERY opportunity to not use it. Looks like I am getting a separate device.

 

[Banded_spooney]

How old is your battery? I can get two days on one phone charge. It is on the whole time. I always make sure to put it in airplane mode and set the battery management to low power mode. It stays in my breast pocket except for pulling it out every couple of hours or so to look at it. Then listening to an audio book for an hour or so in the tent. This is in temps down to about 20°. I have an iPhone 7 and had the battery replaced with an upgraded one that has a little more mAh.

I had an iPhone die in my tent over night fully charged on airplane mode. It couldn’t have been below 30 in the tent.

I plugged it in the truck to charge and it didn’t come back on until Salt Lake City, 6 days later on the drive home. Boy was my pregnant wife pissed

Frankly I’ll never trust my life or a hunt to an iPhone battery.

I hunt a lot around private/public boundaries. I’ll have gohunt and onx on my computer in the truck plus have onx on my phone and my Rhino. I need a radio anyway so I’ll probably always run a rhino. It’s so so as a radio and as a gps but it’s good enough for me.

 

[rayporter]

i have been using my phone a lot for the last 2 years to follow trails. it is not fun setting around waiting for the power bank to charge the phone up to half charge so i can continue.

 

[dj1975232]

I haven’t really used mine since i got in the onX train a couple years ago. Between the ap and a map/compass I’m pretty ok. I’m not hiking miles in to my hunt areas though.

 

[Desk Jockey]

For more adventurous trips, I like to have one as a back up If I don’t. Have an inreach.
etrex is 5 oz of comfort if your phone goes down.

 

[Nevada Mike]

I used my Inreach Mini for the first time this past weekend. Paired it to my iPhone with my map downloaded, in new country and it worked as advertised. Way points, tracking and best of all texting my wife for her piece of mind. I have a Garmin Oregon, but have never gotten it to work correctly, (owner/operator issue) LOL.

Just trying to figure out if I need to carry a GPS and my compass ?

 

[PNW CAMPER]

Lots of good info here. I have been using onX/smart phone just about since it came out and use it a lot. I also have a Garmin Rhino with the onX micro sd card in it. I like being able to use the Rhino to communicate with my hunting buddy. However I really need to be able to communicate from anywhere, like sending an SOS or to text my wife and tell her I am OK, just running late. (medical history) I had Spot for a couple of years, but it let me down. Not reliable in my opinion. So, I think my next purchase will be garmin inreach paired with my smart phone and onX. I also always have compass in pack in case I have to go old school. Using an Android motorola and have never had a battery issue. I also keep a charging/battery brick at base camp that charges all my stuff.

 

[dribeerfeht]

I carry custom Gaia topo maps printed at Fedex on waterproof paper, my compass, have Gaia on my phone and carry a Garmin 64 with lithium ion batteries. Cold weather (teens) sucks the life out of my phone battery. I charge in the back country with a solar charger, and sometimes it does not want to charge in the cold. The lithium ion batteries in the GPS last longer.
I wouldn't rely on just a phone. My 2 cents...

 

[Tim in Wa.]

what do you guys use for a phone I have a Kyocera because it was the only thing I could find that was supposed to be shock and waterproof/resistant and it is a glitchy P.O S.

 

[Coloradochris]

I think the cell phone as the user interface is the way to go without a doubt. The user experience on the garmin topo devices is hot garbage.

I don't like the inaccuracy of the weak cellphone GPS antennas. To get around this, I just pair my phone with my Garmin InReach via bluetooth. The phone knows to use the better GPS glonas connection - and it works seamlessly.

If you don't want the added benefit of satellite communication - garmin also sells a standalone glonas antenna for about $100 on amazon last I checked. I used that before the inreach and it did the same thing - greatly improving the accuracy of tracks, etc.

I'd certainly agree. Even with the downloaded maps there are places the cell GPS just is not nearly as accurate for location. And with the added capability of the messaging/sos in many GPS units for a nominal cost(like $10 a month or less than can be activated just for hunting time of year) I feel GPS is not quite obsolete yet. Vary rarely do you need the extra features and compunction but when you do it's nice to know you have the ability. We take them hunting, snowmobiling backpacking etc.

 

[Banded_spooney]

I also get bored sometimes when I'm glassing and I'll turn the weather band on just to hear someone tell me what the weather is going to be in Denver the next day (no I'm never near Denver). That seems like reason enough to carry a GPS

 

[SoloWilderness]

Carry a 64st, and an Inreach, had the Garmin a long time, and it's got years of data in it. I tend to navigate with my map more than anything though, just use the gps to mark important spots, and get rough bearings occasionally. Had issues with phone batteries in the backcountry, but I use mine to replace my camera, and it's bluetoothed to the Inreach for texting with the wife, so I carry a small battery pack for it. My hunting partner uses his phone, and I have lost enough expensive sunglasses, knives and other items in endless fields of oak scrub to not want to have a $1200 phone stuck in my bino harness...

 

[bcnorth]

garmin inreach GPS +compass +phone with ihunter (in BC). The GPS inreach is good in all weather and good general mapping and navigating. The iphone i use for phone skope, detailed maps, pictures. The compass is backup or when navigating at night to get my bearing via GPS or phone then use headlamp and compass to go straight. I plan to be out for 14 days at a time so i use each device to its best. 1 20,000mah battery bank keeps me going until last day.

most days i am up at dark and back at dark and no where near roads, nice to have all 3!

 

[Sundy]

Yup, cell phone plus inreach mini are my go to devices.

 

[BradySC05]

Might be a thing in the past but they are definitely a reliable back up!

 

[Shootstraight]

Anyone get the new iPhone 15 and check out the satellite emergency feature yet ? I am curious about it for backcountry use.

 

[Stalker69]

Guys, I will take any of the stand alone gps units you don’t want. Boys club are in need of some.