IdyllwildArcher
FNG
Trimble used to have a nice app that you could use on your phone to DL maps and use them when you didn't have cell reception. It basically was a USGS 7.5 minutes series map that you could zoom in and out and go to lower def maps as well. It allowed you to make bread crumb trails, make waypoints, etc. It was super useful and I used it for several years in lieu of a GPS.
After a year or so, I wanted to DL bigger sections of maps instead of just scrolling around so I payed for the upgraded version of the app. Another year went by and the purchased app was no longer usable to DL apps - you had to subscribe for a month at a time and pay a fee to DL. Ok, so I did that too and would DL the maps that I needed. Then they changed it to a 1 year membership, which I then payed to continue using.
After a couple more years, they canceled the service and said that they were putting a sunset on the service and were instead coming out with their new program called Terrain Navagator Pro. They said they'd honor the subscriptions that were already in place. Now, every time my past subscriptions had expired, I'd been able to continue to use the app and the maps that I'd already DL'd.
That was a bummer, but I'd been using the app for several years and already had DL'd every unit in the west that I hunt or planned to hunt. I had several gigs of maps on my phone, including dozens of hunts that included treestands across the west, locations for stands, locations of cameras, game trails, mountains that I'd mapped out the entire game trail system and marked every wallow, water source, etc: Years worth of data.
While I was disappointed I wouldn't be able to continue to DL maps, I knew I'd continue to use the program because I had so much time and effort and data on the app. My maps were in a folder that the app labeled "Purchased Maps," maps that I'd payed for and DL'd onto my phone.
Fast forward to January of this year: I'm on a solo hunt in Southern Arizona for Coues deer. I'm just a few miles from the Mexican border. It's day two of the hunt and I've set up stands and marked them with bread crumbs and way points. I went into an area that was 2 miles from the nearest road, but 3 miles in how you had to get there, because you had to go down a wash, past another wash, then up another wash, then over a ridge and then up that wash to the saddle where I was hunting.
I climb down out of my Summit stand at dark in the evening and start my hike back to camp. I open my phone and the maps that I go to use that I've had on my phone for a year-and-a-half, have a red words under it saying subscription expired or something to that effect. My maps were still on my phone, but they'd basically put a trojan horse in their own app that made it impossible to access the maps I'd purchased even though they were still on my phone and even though I had no cell reception.
So hear I am, in the wilderness in AZ in an area known for drug trafficking, 3 miles from camp and I have to navigate over a ridge through woods and then find the proper wash to walk up to get back to camp. It's pitch black. I've done the walk one time ever in my life. My paper map and my Garmin GPS are in the truck.
I made it out with only one wrong turn and got back to my truck and drove out, taking notes how to get back to camp since I have no way of even using a map system to drive to my remote base camp. My entire hunt was planned based on that app. Not only that, but I'd lose cameras and tree stands, besides all my data across the west.
I sent a very angry and vulgar email and to their credit, the reinstated the account for a month so I was able to at least finish my hunt (got my first Coues deer at that location 3 days later).
They made it so that I could DL my data and I think I have all my waypoints in a zip file now, but I have no way of using it without buying their new program. The new program allows you to put everything on your laptop and also use the phone. The problem though, is that it's $240 per state per year. I hunt in 5 states per year and vary between about 13 different states that I'll hunt in during any 3 year time span and that could go higher if I pulled some dream tags.
So now, I'm looking at thousands of dollars per year to continue to use their program and my data? And the idea of giving money to a company that's screwed me over? I don't think so.
So for one, I wanted to relay my very bad experience with Trimble but another, I'd like to get anyone's advice on where to go next. I'm probably just going to buy a Montana, but I'd also like an app for my phone. I'd also like to be able to use the data that I have in the file, but I'm not tech savvy.
I ABSOLUTELY HATE onX - worst app ever IMO. I hate waiting for the map to load as I scroll around and I hate clicking on squares to put it on my phone. I liked being able to select a GMU and just DL a USGS map and have my phone's GPS put me on the map. Property boundaries are nice, but I don't need them. My hunts this year are on Kodiak and wilderness areas of several states where private property is not an issue.
What do you guys use? I'm willing to pay for an app. I just don't want to use OnX.
After a year or so, I wanted to DL bigger sections of maps instead of just scrolling around so I payed for the upgraded version of the app. Another year went by and the purchased app was no longer usable to DL apps - you had to subscribe for a month at a time and pay a fee to DL. Ok, so I did that too and would DL the maps that I needed. Then they changed it to a 1 year membership, which I then payed to continue using.
After a couple more years, they canceled the service and said that they were putting a sunset on the service and were instead coming out with their new program called Terrain Navagator Pro. They said they'd honor the subscriptions that were already in place. Now, every time my past subscriptions had expired, I'd been able to continue to use the app and the maps that I'd already DL'd.
That was a bummer, but I'd been using the app for several years and already had DL'd every unit in the west that I hunt or planned to hunt. I had several gigs of maps on my phone, including dozens of hunts that included treestands across the west, locations for stands, locations of cameras, game trails, mountains that I'd mapped out the entire game trail system and marked every wallow, water source, etc: Years worth of data.
While I was disappointed I wouldn't be able to continue to DL maps, I knew I'd continue to use the program because I had so much time and effort and data on the app. My maps were in a folder that the app labeled "Purchased Maps," maps that I'd payed for and DL'd onto my phone.
Fast forward to January of this year: I'm on a solo hunt in Southern Arizona for Coues deer. I'm just a few miles from the Mexican border. It's day two of the hunt and I've set up stands and marked them with bread crumbs and way points. I went into an area that was 2 miles from the nearest road, but 3 miles in how you had to get there, because you had to go down a wash, past another wash, then up another wash, then over a ridge and then up that wash to the saddle where I was hunting.
I climb down out of my Summit stand at dark in the evening and start my hike back to camp. I open my phone and the maps that I go to use that I've had on my phone for a year-and-a-half, have a red words under it saying subscription expired or something to that effect. My maps were still on my phone, but they'd basically put a trojan horse in their own app that made it impossible to access the maps I'd purchased even though they were still on my phone and even though I had no cell reception.
So hear I am, in the wilderness in AZ in an area known for drug trafficking, 3 miles from camp and I have to navigate over a ridge through woods and then find the proper wash to walk up to get back to camp. It's pitch black. I've done the walk one time ever in my life. My paper map and my Garmin GPS are in the truck.
I made it out with only one wrong turn and got back to my truck and drove out, taking notes how to get back to camp since I have no way of even using a map system to drive to my remote base camp. My entire hunt was planned based on that app. Not only that, but I'd lose cameras and tree stands, besides all my data across the west.
I sent a very angry and vulgar email and to their credit, the reinstated the account for a month so I was able to at least finish my hunt (got my first Coues deer at that location 3 days later).
They made it so that I could DL my data and I think I have all my waypoints in a zip file now, but I have no way of using it without buying their new program. The new program allows you to put everything on your laptop and also use the phone. The problem though, is that it's $240 per state per year. I hunt in 5 states per year and vary between about 13 different states that I'll hunt in during any 3 year time span and that could go higher if I pulled some dream tags.
So now, I'm looking at thousands of dollars per year to continue to use their program and my data? And the idea of giving money to a company that's screwed me over? I don't think so.
So for one, I wanted to relay my very bad experience with Trimble but another, I'd like to get anyone's advice on where to go next. I'm probably just going to buy a Montana, but I'd also like an app for my phone. I'd also like to be able to use the data that I have in the file, but I'm not tech savvy.
I ABSOLUTELY HATE onX - worst app ever IMO. I hate waiting for the map to load as I scroll around and I hate clicking on squares to put it on my phone. I liked being able to select a GMU and just DL a USGS map and have my phone's GPS put me on the map. Property boundaries are nice, but I don't need them. My hunts this year are on Kodiak and wilderness areas of several states where private property is not an issue.
What do you guys use? I'm willing to pay for an app. I just don't want to use OnX.
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