Who has left GAIA and what did you switch to?

[GunsAreFun]

***Please, only looking for answers from former GAIA users***

I have loved using GAIA for 6+ years. The immense layer library, the customization of layers and shading and all that has been great. It lacks some features of hunting specific apps but made up for that with the others. BUT, it has been buggy as hell the last month with several different issues, and the whole public data by default thing isn’t right either. But the main thing is I can’t trust it anymore for backcountry navigation so it is time to switch.

I’ve used OnX for Missouri deer hunting for a couple years but have just never really liked the interface and the satellite imagery is poor. My elk hunting friends use it, and every time they try to show me something on their phone I am reminded how I don’t like it. BaseMap is the only other app that I know of using Google Earth imagery (GAIA doesn’t by default but can be added as a custom layer). I’ve played with it some, and it seems to check most of my boxes…only thing it doesn’t have is crop layers but I can get those elsewhere the limited times it’s needed.

The one thing GAIA has that I can’t find anywhere else is cell phone service maps, which have come in handy multiple times, and could be important in case of an emergency.

So what have you former GAIA users switched to?

 

[wapitibob]

Partner switched to basemap then gaia, then back to onX once he upgraded his samsung and onX fixed (seemingly) their too many waypoints issue. He was shed hunting and had hundreds of waypoints and tracks, which would lock up the phone. That was a non issue on an iphone.

 

[Marbles]

I moved from Gaia to OnX and have been happy. Sounds like you already know OnX is not for you though. I find the OnX interface to be more usable personally. I don't use satellite image layers often though.

 

[cnelk]

Ive had both Gaia and Onx for several years.
My subscription for Gaia will expire in a month and wont be renewed.

Onx it is

 

[Thess87]

Had onx then basemap and Gaia then back to onx.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

I have left gaia a couple of times. Tried onx a couple of times, and go hunt a couple of times. Keep going back to gaia, it's my favorite

 

[Beendare]

I had both GAIA and OnX for a year....I dumped the OnX because the maps on GAIA were better.

 

[Jethro]

I had Gaia for 5 years. Let the subscription expire this year. I was never in love with it, thought it was ok. Did not care for the way the layers are worked/shuffled on/off. It became a back up to OnX and then became a backup I never used. Price increased, so I dropped it. I did like having USGS quads as a layer. But my backup now is Garmin Inreach w/Earthmate, so I still can have USGS maps.

Have OnX 4 years and am happy. Topo isn't great and there are a few things that could be improved on, but I don't have any problems with it functioning as it should. OnX imagery has always been better than Gaia on my iphone.

 

[Koda_]

Caltopo for the win...

 

[justin davis]

Gaia is better than onx for me. The maps are
Better and it’s more accurate

 

[MaraviaDave]

Gaia: better for navigating, editing coordinates, and significantly better layers library.

BaseMap: used for the remote marker feature.

OnX: good for people who need a very basic app (without features that they’d find confusing or unnecessary)

 

[GunsAreFun]

I moved from Gaia to OnX and have been happy. Sounds like you already know OnX is not for you though. I find the OnX interface to be more usable personally. I don't use satellite image layers often though.

Thank you.

Gaia: better for navigating, editing coordinates, and significantly better layers library.

BaseMap: used for the remote marker feature.

OnX: good for people who need a very basic app (without features that they’d find confusing or unnecessary)

So BaseMap is probably the next one I’m going to try as it is the only other one I know of where I can get Google Maps imagery.

Have any additional notes comparing the two?

 

[ericacymcdonald]

Had gaia and went to gohunt since I was already paying a subscription. Like gaia more but will continue to use gohunt for everything else included in the subscription

 

[Bobrobheimer]

Me and my hunting buddies have been using Gaia for the last 6 or so years. It have been glitchy at times. Have tried onX and go hunt and overall Gaia is more versatile. It’s spendy now and I consider switching sometimes but haven’t.

 

[GunsAreFun]

Me and my hunting buddies have been using Gaia for the last 6 or so years. It have been glitchy at times. Have tried onX and go hunt and overall Gaia is more versatile. It’s spendy now and I consider switching sometimes but haven’t.

I’m like three serious glitches deep right now…I can’t sync anything, tracking doesn’t work unless I leave the screen on and the app crashes if tracking is on and let the screen go off, and a decent number of times I can’t get any layer to load (it is either stuck on whatever was there last or it is black).

 

[Bobrobheimer]

That’s really bad. Mine was quitting recently while trying to draw a route.

We share an account and had a lot of issues when one of us was loading a bunch of way points with an accompanying photo. I think it was too much data and things got better when those were all deleted and it was working well until recently - which might be that there are too many items again on the account. You might look at how many tracks and waypoints you have and try deleting

 

[GunsAreFun]

That’s really bad. Mine was quitting recently while trying to draw a route.

We share an account and had a lot of issues when one of us was loading a bunch of way points with an accompanying photo. I think it was too much data and things got better when those were all deleted and it was working well until recently - which might be that there are too many items again on the account. You might look at how many tracks and waypoints you have and try deleting

I do have a lot of tracks and waypoints, but I don’t think that is the issue. I did a Google Earth import last month of over 700 waypoints from my eScouting (yes, I go overboard) and that synced in like 10 seconds to my phone and the app worked flawlessly for 10 days of hunting after that.

It was a day or two after I got back from my trip that I was trying to do something and started noticing all these issues.

 

[Alpine4x4]

I went to Onx. I ran Gaia for a few years. I think they have better maps than Onx and a lot more layers, but price and usability made me try Onx and its just better for me.

 

[Grant K]

Caltopo is what you are looking for, not quite as good of a mobile interface as Gaia but miles better than onX, and the desktop functionality is the best in the market, every option/layer you could want plus quite a few more.

 

[GunsAreFun]

Caltopo is what you are looking for, not quite as good of a mobile interface as Gaia but miles better than onX, and the desktop functionality is the best in the market, every option/layer you could want plus quite a few more.

Thank you. I’ll check it out. Does it have Google Maps/Earth imagery?