Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Anyone think companies making handheld GPS units need to up their game?

I traveled all over the North America wilderness for fifty years using a USGS map and a compass. I was always able to determine my location. The nice thing about a map and compass is that you don't have to worry about running down the battery. So remember that a GPS unit is not a substitute for a map and compass. It's an augmentation.

Sixteen years ago, I got a Garmin etrex Summit. It's simple, easy to use, lightweight, and very user friendly. It provides limited info. So don't ask too much of it. I still loan it to my grandson. Tell him to set camp and the truck as a waypoint and he can always find his way back.

Then I bought a Garmin GPSmap64st. I can't say anything good about this unit so I won't say anything except don't buy one.

Then I bought a subscription for GAIA GPS mapping program and loaded it on a Samsung E Tab. I like the program and I like the big screen of the tablet but it is a little too big to carry in a pocket and a few ounces more than I want to carry when backpacking. Just the same, I used the combination for several years and it always worked fine.

Recently I loaded the GAIA program on my cell phone, a Samsung Galaxy A71. I really like the combination. The screen is more than big enough and the program is very reliable. When I switched from the tablet to the cell phone, all of my downloaded maps and waypoints were automatically transferred from the tablet to the cell phone. I guess the data must be stored on the web.

BTW you don't have to have a cell phone signal for the system to work in the wilderness. You do have to have a cell phone signal (or a WIFI connection) to download USGS maps of where you want to go. So a little prior preparation is required. But you can always get a satellite signal, no matter where you are on the planet and, if you have downloaded the map, know where you are. The program and locator pointer works fine in airplane mode also. One of the layers is GAIA maps, and that info is always available even when you haven't previously loaded the USGS map. They're not quite as good as USGS maps, but good enough in a pinch.

I have no experience with onX maps program. But I suspect that it has similar capabilities to GAIA.

Don't leave your hardcopy USGS map and compass at home. The battery will run out when you need it the most.

Leatherneck:


Yes. About 20-year old technology, but they still pull in new satellites as the system gets upgraded and can avail themselves of WAAS (wide area augmentation system) if need be. Slightly smaller than a bar of soap with a tether and no projecting antennas. Own two and they use two AA's. Fit well down in a shirt pocket. If they've been closeted for 6 months or so, it might take them a minute to come back online, but they're within 3 to 10 feet thereafter. Before retirement I had 7 or 8 of those at work where we used them to deploy and retrieve a variety of instruments in grid patterns across sizeable landscapes. With about 10 minutes of instructions, the techs were always spot on. Same for Boy Scouts and candy bars we put out in the forest. Never lost a single bar or scout.

We rarely use them for hunting given that we're about 90% public land where we hunt in Oregon, Idaho, and Wyoming. Did once have an elk tag that excluded country within our unfenced USFS boundary. With 10 minutes of work at home, I uploaded the boundary as a track with free software and hit the trail. Did take one to Alaska where we were on an alder plain with little topography looking for moose in snow and fog. Locked in camp and was quite comfortable roaming wherever for the balance of the trip.

If one truly understands how the various units work and can manipulate data with his PC, one can get way more out them than even the makers intended.

The only issue I've ever had was attempting to map an extremely narrow chasm for a low tech scout project. With only about 30% of the sky visible, the Etrex could not consistently pull in 4 satellites. Went back with a $5K survey grade Trimble, and still had the same issues.

I'd agree with many here that a compass will suffice on land where one can't range more than 8 or 10 miles in a day. Get out of sight of land or on a sandy Sahara plain with no referencing landforms, however, and one can run around for days with a compass and never find his target or even something as large as Hawaii. Columbus would surely have embraced the technology. Once accurate clocks were invented, Cook did a much better job of navigating and mapping our world. I think he was off by about 3 miles when he came back to England after 2 years at sea. Few of us have mastered celestial navigation, and even if we have, we can't attain the accuracy of our GPS units.

Nearly all GPS units use the same chips that are about the size of a dime or slightly smaller. One can buy those chips for like $20 and assemble his own GPS unit if he has electronic and programming skills. It contains the antenna and all of the software and computer power needed to interpret incoming data. The differences are mostly related to their onboard memory if one wants maps, images, extensive data storage for every satellite and position, flashy displays, lots of battery power, a variety of other useful software, or potentially communication with real time base stations or other units. That's where we step from maybe $80 up to a $10K unit where a PhD might come in handy. For my recreation needs, $80 will do it in style.

I've never had an iPhone fail and I've used them pretty much every day of the year since 2012. By comparison I've had 5 Garmin GPS units fail over about 12 yrs of use, say from 2002 until 2015 when I gave up on them due to lack of reliability...three Etrex 10 yellow units, one little green Gecko and the last was an expensive Oregon 450 with BC Backroads chip on it.

GAIA GPS app has worked 100% reliably on the phones since 2015. When you get a new phone the points transfer, and you can have the app on 5 units...we have it on 3 phones and the iPad right now.

I live and hunt in BC, hunt in the Canadian Territories, down in WA, OR and AZ etc. I've travelled as far away as Australia for work. I can download satellite photos, topo maps, road maps, whatever and have them on the phone for where I am going. Works great for me!

On back country hunts, which many of mine are a battery pack alleviates the issue of running out of phone charge. I have a small charge unit good for a couple charges (was free from a work vendor), a $20 unit I got at Walmart, and big battery pack that can jump start my auto and would probably keep the phone charged for many months. Anyway, I've not had charging issues. I also replaced the 4 year old phone battery this summer...was $35 with installation. The iPhone showed the battery health was at 85%....but in my opinion it lies. The new battery lasts nearly 2X as long as the 4 year old battery was.

I always carry the phone in my shirt pocket...button cover, and in a zip lock pint freezer bag if its rainy out...although the phone is supposedly good for a dunking. The pocket keeps the battery warm and the phone usable for a while, although out on the ice out of Resolute Bay when polar bear hunting in February at -40* you could not take it out for very long or it would freeze up. A hand warmer stuck to it would alleviate that issue...I just stuck it back in my shirt pocket.

Also control battery draw by putting the phone in airplane mode when off grid, and even shutting it off at night or during long periods you won't use it. Makes a huge difference in battery life. Blue tooth should be off, cell, WIFI, etc.

I have been using the same Garmin GPSmap 62s since it came out in 2010 with no problems and prefer it over my iphone with the app.

the Iphone has a bigger screen but in the winter which is when I do most of my hunting the Garmin is easier to use with or without gloves on with my iphone I a constantly taking my gloves off to use it.

For those using a cellphone, can I mark a waypoint without reception? Can I navigate back to the waypoint without reception using the phone compass pointing the way?

Yes, I did that this past season tracking a wounded deer, marking "last points of blood" and various circle routes. I could see where I'd walked in the dark, all with zero signal.

Once you'd downloaded a map, it will do everything offline that it can do online.
With Onx, the biggest deficiency I've found is that it won't store offline maps on the SD card. I'm limited for space so I sometimes have to delete some maps to make room for a new one. My SD card has room for the whole state but Onx can't access it.

Handheld GPS units are going the way of the muzzle loader whip; soon they'll only be found in the hands or houndsmen and throwbacks. Why? Because the gps chip itself is just as good in a phone, and the interface is vastly better. Phone apps can update on the fly. The topper is that you're gonna have your phone with you anyway. For $200 or so you can add a device that makes a smart phone a satellite comm. I run OnX and don't look back.

Can't figure why you'd want to store offline maps on an SD card when OnX keeps them for you. If you don't need it for that hunt, dump it from your phone and pick it back up when you do need it. I've hunted Alaska and Arizona without coming close to using up storage space.

It will do all that stuff, subject to the limitations of a battery-powered device and the satellites above. Just like a handheld GPS.

Muzzle loader whip? The should read muzzle loader.

I finally tried OnX this year in Wyoming and it was great. I'm certainly no tech guru, and it was easy enough to use. I was hunting in an area with a lot of scattered private. I had a Garmin go bad. It was literally 150 miles off. I sent it back and they warrantied it, but it pulled that crap on a hunt.

We do a lot of offline 4 wheeling. We can cover enough territory that we need several offline maps. It's a pain having to keep downloading them.

Nothing uses batteries faster than the friggin' GPS. Don't understand your satellites and cellphone reference, a phone can't use a satellite. Or am I misunderstanding you ?

The satellites the phone uses for GPS.

I'll continue to carry/use both.

I used an older Garmin for years and like the accuracy of the way points, recently upgraded to a newer model. I agree the user interface can be archaic. However in the dark or white-outs it makes a big difference. I hunt some areas where a GPS helps alot at night, faint or no trail - make a wrong turn and you find yourself lost in the dark, no moon, deep in the nasty stuff. Led headlamp and flashlight both on full burn. Not fun at all.

I can recall a few times I left my handheld GPS to save weight and wound up regretting it. And I can recall many times a GPS saved me alot of grief.

Onyx maps is great for property or boundary lines but I usually leave my phone off most of the time if away from the truck more than a day since it eats the charge. Could try one of those solar chargers, more costs and weight to pack though. I just turn my phone on periodically if needed to make a phone call, some places no signal.

I could see where a GPS with inReach sat comms would be convenient for way off the grid adventures.

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/699779

IMO, battery packs are a better solution than solar for charging phones. I have $15 one from Amazon that will charge my phone 3X. There are also chargers that use AA batteries.

Use offline Onx maps and put the phone on airplane. The battery will last MUCH longer.

Next weekend I'll be laying out a snowshoe orienteering course for a some Trail Life troops. I have the points set in my Garmin as it will locate them within 3'. Onx on my phone isn't accurate enough for this job. I honestly don't think doing this in snow will accomplish much. The boys will just follow my tracks.