Is the stand alone GPS a thing of the past?

[boutdoors]

Use my Alpha 100 to set waypoints to spots I want to go to while hunting . Comes in handy as a GPS while Drive around also. I also have Onx on my phone but I'm concerned that they will use my data for information on their app. I also have the onx chips for several states that also use on my Alpha 100

 

[Rich M]

We hunt and fish an area about 20 minutes from my dad’s that has no cell phone service and i cant get maps to show on my phone. Stand alone gps still works.

 

[reckonill]

I carry a Light Phone so not for me...looking to get a Garmin 67i

 

[Billdoe]

Biggest thing for me is I can run my garmin with my gloves on

 

[Rommel013]

Use my Alpha 100 to set waypoints to spots I want to go to while hunting . Comes in handy as a GPS while Drive around also. I also have Onx on my phone but I'm concerned that they will use my data for information on their app. I also have the onx chips for several states that also use on my Alpha 100

+1 On the Alpha 100.
I picked one up to manage the dogs on dog hunts and, battery life issues aside, the Alpha has become my main GPS - I just wish they hadn't used that type of USB port since the only other thing that uses it are my old graphic calculators.


I just don't get the gps reception on my phone I do on the Garmin.

 

[Sanchez]

I got a Garmin 86 sci for ocean use outside cell range and emergency communications. It marks all my ocean spots for halibut and other species in a portable unit, it has a quality ocean map and has easy to use In Reach capabilities. It also has an SD slot to load upland maps as I choose.

It is a pain in the neck to do that with my phone when I am usually out of signal range and when I am in range I am consistently being hi-jacked by microsoft, google or who knows who. As they say when something is free, you are the product.

 

[Hondo64d]

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.

No way, at least not until I can replace batteries in my iPhone.

John

 

[pirogue]

Just another boat anchor in today’s world. They immediately took a downward spiral when they never improved the zoom quickness like ON X. I had 3 Rinos at one time, and communication between them sucked, even on level ground in the timber.