What happened to OnX this year?

[tdhanses]

My guess is OnX is or has been made aware of these issues. They are a great company and in it for the long haul. Anytime a company is developed by hunters, for hunters and have the great CS these guys have, I will stay the coarse and give them the opportunity to update or upgrade the technology. With technology constantly changing, not only with satellites, but cell phones in general with 5G work and fiber optics continually progressing, glitches with the phones will continue. Have any of you experiencing issues talked to the great folks at OnX about your issues? I would think you’d all contact them before bashing on the web. But then again this is the world we live in now.........

Yup, numerous times before I moved to Gaia. I’ll never go back to OnX, but I do feel everyone should base thear decision on their own experiences not mine.

 

[SecretSpot]

Never had an issue, its shocking to hear all this negativity. Really hoping go hunt gets their mobile maps going. Looks like the direction all the pros are going to take

 

[Che]

I thought twice before posting, figuring this was a pile-on for OnX but, considered that maybe this might help someone reading through this thread. First, I don't work for OnX nor am I paid anything by them. I'm just a user that has been using the phone app almost since it first came out. I pay for if annually, just like everyone else. After reviewing all of the comments thus far in this thread, I thought I would share some things I've learned about the product over the years that has helped me have a consistent performance when I needed it.

It's been stated above several times about airplane mode on your phone while in the field. I can't stress this enough. If you haven't disabled "auto-update" for apps on your phone and you're in a sketchy coverage area, your phone will try to download any new version of the app. This can/will cause issues if not completed before you lose cell signal again. Just leave your phone in airplane mode until you're back in solid coverage. Or, turn off the "auto-update" feature for this app on your phone to stop this from happening.

OnX released a new version this year that will automatically download updates to the map layers for any saved offline maps. Thus, once you are back in coverage or, hit a little bit of cell signal in the field, if there is a new update to one of the layers used in an offline saved map, it will try to download it. Obviously, if you fall out of coverage in the middle of this download, the offline map is going to have an issue. Again, disable "auto-update" in your phone and stay in airplane mode to prevent this from happening until you're back in solid coverage.

Having all of your saved tracks and hundreds of waypoints saved to the app is great for in field knowledge and use however, these details are stored on your phone's on-board memory. Not the added memory chip added in the extra slot (if your device has one) but, the actual memory storage capacity on the core circuit board for your phone. This is also the default storage location for any other apps you have downloaded to your phone along with any material downloaded for those apps. On some phones, you can move any downloaded app to the additional memory chip however, anytime the app is updated, the system will usually move the app back to the on-board memory. This is an operating system thing you can't change without some in-depth knowledge of the workings of your operating system. Therefore, if you didn't get the max memory available for your on-board memory on your phone, you are probably going to run out of memory unless you continually perform some memory management and watch your app usage and the number of apps on your phone. Basically, having all that data on your phone uses alot of memory. Take the time to manage this usage on your device and your experience with the OnX app itself will likely improve.

Finally, plan ahead. Download your offline maps when you're in solid coverage. The download speeds have been improved tremendously and I find they no longer take more than a minute or two. Whereas they used to require 30 mins to an hour for each offline map. This is based on being in a 4G network/home WIFI with good download speeds. If you are trying to download offline maps in anything less than 4G, it's going to take a while longer. Also, if you forget and try to download maps in a poor signal area, this will cause problems. And, watch your phone to see if it is in 4G coverage or not. I've been surprised by how many cell sites in remote locations in our area are not even 3G, they are even older technology. Trying to download maps with older technology will take longer and may introduce issues.

And to simply restate this important point again, turn-off the auto-update feature in your phone for the app and leave your phone in airplane mode. These two will cover "most" of your user issues.

Just thought I would try to help some folks. YMMV. Don't yell at me too much. Just trying to help some folks have a better experience.

This is helpful and turning off auto update would have been very nice hunting elk last November along three boundaries.

 

[trophyhill]

I too use both onX and Gaia. Neither is perfect, but I like features of each and the back-up of having two systems. So, I go thru the trouble of doing 2x of everything (dropping waypoints in each, tracking in each, etc) Its a minor pain but worth it in situations like several described above.

It’s like having plan A, B, C and D when others are hunting the areas you were hoping to hunt. Not only did I have my OnX, but in case I would have an issue or dead battery or something stupid, I still carry my Garmin 60CSX and my InReach that is standalone or Bluetooth to my phone that has pretty damn descent maps. Those who go unprepared kind of deserve what they get. Lesson learned. Have a contingency plan so your hunt doesn’t get ruined. Cuz in the end, it’s on us as individuals. This is part of the problem with dependency on technology. We’ve grown so accustomed to it that many hunters have no woodsmanship because of their dependency on the ever changing technology. I use these tools as a convenience more than an addiction.

 

[Jakerex]

Bunch of trails on my map that aren’t really there. BS


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[JollyRoger]

Bunch of trails on my map that aren’t really there. BS


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I have trails I know are there but that stopped showing up.

I keep it upgraded. Doesn’t seem to help


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[AaronMColeman]

Bunch of trails on my map that aren’t really there. BS


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I have trails I know are there but that stopped showing up.

I keep it upgraded. Doesn’t seem to help


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I wouldn’t blame that on onX. I know a lot about mapping software from a previous career using ArcGIS.

The maps are just USGS and forestry topo, and satellite imagery. OnX just uses other people’s maps and layers they don’t really create that. So I wouldn’t blame that on onX. Where we live BLM hasn’t done an update of maps and trails since 1988. Tons of new and also non-existent logging trails. Can’t trust the maps completely. But that’s not something onX has control over.

 

[mtbowhunter]

BaseMap is definitely worth a look for those of you that are having issues with onX. Significantly clearer satellite imagery, way more layer options, incredible tracking detail and graphics, and land ownership. It can do everything onX can plus a lot more, and at $30 a year for all 50 states. Can't beat it, in my opinion.