Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting GARMIN GPS WATCH

Thinking on getting one of these watches. I have a older garmin Montana I really like it but thinking maybe a watch gps would be handier and they can be solar powered and Bluetooth to a phone. What's everyone think? Yes or No or other brands of watches?

How are your eyes? IMHO - Big difference between navigation on a handheld screen and a watch face - probably not for the “over 40” crowd, or the vision challenged. I haven’t linked one to phone, there are ways around the small screen.

I’ve owned three Garmin GPS watches, and still using my third. The current one is Tactix Charlie - I picked it strictly on battery life and durability reviews. It’s been beat around in and outside, worn daily, and hasn’t had a problem.

Of the three, this one has definitely been the best on battery life overall. It’s probably two-three years old and still holding a ten day charge IF I don’t get too deep into the functions, and don’t GPS with it.

GPS use takes the battery life down to about a day, maybe a day and a half. Charging is fast off of a battery bank, but I have charge about daily if I’m going to use the GPS for navigation. I’d want to see what linking the Garmin and the phone did to the battery life on both - you may end up carting a bigger bank to keep everything running.

I tend to use other features more - heart rate, steps, etc than the GPS. For same cost, I can carry a small handheld, and enough AAs to get me through, easier than the watch.

YMMV

No. Had one. Lost it. Not for hunting. Way better ways to do gps.

Does said watch use batteries, and if so, are spares available and easily installed.

I haven't seen one with any features that I'd use other than the clock. Heart rate? Mine's pumping so that's good. Steps? Used to be there, now I'm here. Close enough.

I have the 6x pro and love it. It is good for setting a waypoint and emergency nav....but it does A LOT more. I use it very frequently.

No - 99% of these type of watches are rechargeable only, you'd be changing batteries weekly if they weren't.

HuntX app on the cell phone has some excellent capabilities, if you are in a position to keep it charged. Land boundaries are worth the yearly fee. Waypoint tracking and the location images are excellent..Most times it beats the handheld Garmin GPS, especially on the visual of seeing what is around you.

I have a Garmin Instinct Solar. I really like the watch, but it's gps capabilities are strictly backup to the gps on my phone (gaiagps). It's a very light and comfortable watch with good batter life (the solar extends the battery life some if you have sun).

What I do use it for a lot is the altimeter. It's really handy when you're navigating to a certain spot and you need to keep pretty close elevation wise, quick glance at the watch lets me know how I'm doing.

The fitness capabilities are pretty nice too- gps tracking, hear rate, etc.

But in the end, it's major job is keeping time

I have a Garmin 5+ series or something like that. No way I'd rely on that for hunting. The battery in GPS mode lasts a day, at best. There are five buttons around the case of the watch, and all the menus and start/stops, navigation features are controlled with these buttons. Saying it's not user friendly is a severe understatement. I think it took like three hours at my desk trying to get the very basics down - like how to get to the map menu and turn the GPS on. It's great for a day hike, trail running, biking, that type of stuff. Marking elk beds, rubs, sightings, the truck, camp, etc. would be a PIA. No way. Just zooming the map in and out is a like a 6 sequential button process and you better not get the combination wrong.

I like the Rino series of GPS units as they allow all of us to share our position; it was a life saver (almost literally) when one of our guys tore his ACL in the woods. If you don't need the position sharing feature, I'd go for something that allows the download/purchase of a detailed Topo and aerial map. Onxmaps on my phone is really good and I find myself using it more often than the GPS for regular navigation during the day. In the morning/evening walking in, in the dark, it's full on flying under the hood, in instrument conditions and the GPS get 100% duty for that. The GPS is also better at miles/hour, elevation gains, headings, bread crumb trails, that type of stuff. ONX is more of a moving dot on an aerial photo. You move, the dot moves. It does not track your routes to/from, or leave bread crumb trails.

I am from the era where there were ZERO electronics unless you could call a flashlight an electronic device. While somewhat convenient, I still see no need for any of it in a hunting scenario.