OnX or GPS

[Ridge Ghost]

I much prefer to use OnX on the phone rather than the GPS. The only way I choose the GPS is if I'm packing in for and extended backcountry hunt and worry about battery life. If I'm day hunting or out for 2-3 days I'm choosing the phone every time.

 

[Shrek]

My phone is nowhere near accurate enough in the mountains to keep me legal and as soon as I lose service I lose the OnX service. If you haven't thought to download the map before you wander off service you're SOL ! My gps with the OnX chip has never let me down. My phone regularly gets lost in mountain terrain, like miles off and missing an exit !

 

[gelton]

My point exactly. I am a huge fan of Waze app for driving since it has real time traffic etc, however the gps in my phone sucks so bad it doesnt tell me to exit or turn until the very last minute, and loses signal in mountainous areas.

Just as I prefer to use a Garmin vs my iPhone, I prefer to use my in dash navigation when driving instead of Waze because it is more accurate and gives me fair warning.

 

[wapitibob]

Might need a new phone.
This old Samsung G3 is within a few feet. Never had trouble with the GPS except in heavy clouds and fog.

 

[Blockcaver]

Used an iPhone 5 and now 7 for 3 seasons with GAIA without GPS backup in the middle of nowhere.......twice to the NWT and around N BC a bunch….....12 weeks or more. Works a heck of a lot more reliably and easier to use than the 5 broken Garmin GPS units in the drawer. Cost.....one time $19 for the app and I have aerial photos whereever I want, and unit still functions as a simple gps if I don't download an area ahead of time.

 

[jm1607]

Used an iPhone 5 and now 7 for 3 seasons with GAIA without GPS backup in the middle of nowhere.......twice to the NWT and around N BC a bunch….....12 weeks or more. Works a heck of a lot more reliably and easier to use than the 5 broken Garmin GPS units in the drawer. Cost.....one time $19 for the app and I have aerial photos whereever I want, and unit still functions as a simple gps if I don't download an area ahead of time.

I am also a big time Gaia Pro fan.. Have to get Pro to get the public land maps but worth every penny IMO.. I prefer it's interface over OnX..

Also, I will never use a handheld GPS again unless I'm geo-caching

 

[FreeRange]

If it's OnX vs GPS I'd say GPS, after you tomahawk your phone off a cliff out of frustration what will you use to navigate? In all seriousness, the OnX maps app has been very buggy for me and I put very little faith in it. I just updated to IOS 11 and updated the app and will try it out on a trip this weekend but last month I was seriously about to chuck my phone when I was really relying on onX to figure out a private land border.

Gaia is far better for everything but land ownership (don't trust gaia at all for land ownership). I feel very comfortable relying on Gaia but no way would I rely on onX. That being said I hardly ever hunt where I'm "relying" on anything electronic for actual safety, more for convenience and efficiency. In a truly life on the line scenario I'd still opt for GPS.

 

[Trial153]

I run Onx and Gaia off my phone, first an iPhone 6 and now a Samsung S8, works excellent every place I been from the subarctic to the lower 48. my inreach doubles as a back up that has yet to be needed.

 

[Btaylor]

Tested the private land boundary accuracy with onx on my iPhone 7 in August in CO. Zoomed in on the line got where the indicator dot was on the line and started walking. Less than a hundred yards on the line I hit a survey marker 100% dead center. This was pretty high up on a ridge with no canopy so it might not always hit that close but the one boundary I could check the accuracy was +/- 0'.

 

[wapitibob]

I'd be trying it at home first. Download a local map on wifi, put the phone in airplane mode, turn off cellular data for the app, then start onx, make sure onx "offline" is red, and check it out.

 

[realunlucky]

I've had onx phone app all season and have had drama every time I really want it to work I'll be ending my subscription when my year expires. Just bought the GPS chip for my up coming Colorado trip. Best to avoid the app if service is spotty and it's private public checker boarded

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[Idaho Sandman]

Just save the hunt area the eve before and recall it. Don't need service for that. Still shows you on the map and all private and public areas and info.

 

[CiK01]

My reason for giving it a try, less gadgets to charge and use.

That has been my driving reason for the idea to dump it. The GPS is getting used less and less and left at home a lot. Might have to sell mine here soon.

 

[wapitibob]

Just save the hunt area the eve before and recall it. Don't need service for that. Still shows you on the map and all private and public areas and info.

You don't need service to run onx. In fact, from my experience I would suggest never using the app with cellular data enabled. It's dog slow and always freezes. My primary onx phone is incapable of connecting to a service provider and has run flawlessly. All you need is wifi to download maps and to sync with the web map, and a login for the App Store so you can install the app.

 

[realunlucky]

I couldn't get land ownership lay out without service

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[wapitibob]

I had that layer turned on when I saved my maps. I believe you have to do that for any of the layers other than the standard topo/imagery ones.

 

[Idaho Sandman]

I had that layer turned on when I saved my maps. I believe you have to do that for any of the layers other than the standard topo/imagery ones.

Yup. I turn on all the necessary layers and save the map of my intended hunt area at home while on wifi. Once I get to hunt area I recall saved map. Works like a champ. You can still save waypoints and such as well. I now have most of my spots already saved and ready to go.

The only time I enable service is if a have to change hunting locations that day and need to save a map of new area. Other than that it's off.

 

[muddydogs]

Not to keep spewing the Earthmate love but you guys should really check it out. There's no turning on layers, saving offline maps and recalling maps.

From the phone app all one does is hit the get map tab, choose what to download to phone and let it do its thing. Once the maps are downloaded their on the phone and it doesn't matter if you have service or not and whether the maps have been made available off line or not as the maps are all saved and ready to go. Once everything is downloaded the map tab is used to see what maps are loaded and to add or remove layers.

While antelope hunting in WY we ran ONX and Earthmate side by side and there was no difference in the accuracy of property boundary's or roads.

Not sure if ONX allows you to run the phone app on multiple platforms but Earthmate does and it was sure nice having my tablet set up in the truck to keep track of ownership's while driving around and my phone in my pocket for use while out hunting.

What gets me is ONX wants $100 a year for all 50 states while Earthmate is $40 a year for all the states.

Does ONX have a web based site where you can go in and look at maps and photo's, set way points, create routes, review data synced from the phone then sync the web site data to your phone?

 

[vanish]

Not sure if ONX allows you to run the phone app on multiple platforms but Earthmate does and it was sure nice having my tablet set up in the truck to keep track of ownership's while driving around and my phone in my pocket for use while out hunting.

What gets me is ONX wants $100 a year for all 50 states while Earthmate is $40 a year for all the states.

Does ONX have a web based site where you can go in and look at maps and photo's, set way points, create routes, review data synced from the phone then sync the web site data to your phone?

One OnX account does work across multiple devices, including laptops.

OnX also has cloud based data saving, so all your devices will sync the data (automatically once on wifi, or manually on any connection).

OnX was a tough call for us but once we found we could run my account on an extra Samsung Galaxy S5 we had (doesn't even have a sim card) for my wife, it pushed the purchase over the top. Now my wife and I can be in separate places and still have boundary info.

We have had 0 issues with the map caching since the major update, and have hunted in 7 different locations. I download the 100 mile map that covers the unit I am most interested in, and either 5 or 10 mile blocks for the locations I plan to focus on.

 

[Chucklehead]

Has anyone tried a external GPS antenna for their smartphone? Like a garmin GLO? etc....