GPS Phones/Software for Backpacking

[croy]

Any recommendations for a phone-based GPS system that would be good for backpacking?

I've never owned a "smart phone", so I'm really in the dark here.

--
croy

[David]

Worth looking at OsmAnd on an Android phone.

This uses Open Street Maps, which are generally free.

It depends on where you plan to go, but you need software which will pre-
load the maps onto the phone so you can still navigate with no mobile
signal.

Choice of phone is vast (try another group), but I would suggest a couple
of things:

(1) Get a phone which will take an SD card (usually SDXC) so that you are
sure that you have plenty of space to store offline maps.

(2) Get a phone with an exchangeable battery, and then buy at least one
extra battery. Plus a charger for the battery when it isn't in your phone.
Just in case you are away from power longer than you thought. An
alternative is to carry a power bank to recharge.

Oh, and still carry a map and compass because you don't want to be out
somewhere totally reliant on your phone to get to safety. It can fail, you
can drop it in a stream, you can run out of power.

Cheers


Dave R

--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

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[Bill Bradshaw]

I am curious why you want want to use a phone instead of a dedicated gps?
Also whatever you do you need contour maps. I carry both a phone and gps.
I also carry batteries so I can a run a continuous track in case I need to
back track. I use rechargeable batteries that I make sure are fully charged
before I leave.
--
<Bill>

Brought to you from Anchorage, Alaska

[Hans-Georg Michna]

On 13 Aug 2019 15:17:17 GMT, David wrote:

>On Sun, 11 Aug 2019 17:50:10 -0700, croy wrote:

>> Any recommendations for a phone-based GPS system that would be good for
>> backpacking?
>>
>> I've never owned a "smart phone", so I'm really in the dark here.

>Worth looking at OsmAnd on an Android phone.
>
>This uses Open Street Maps, which are generally free.
>
>It depends on where you plan to go, but you need software which will pre-
>load the maps onto the phone so you can still navigate with no mobile
>signal.
>
>Choice of phone is vast (try another group), but I would suggest a couple
>of things:
>
>(1) Get a phone which will take an SD card (usually SDXC) so that you are
>sure that you have plenty of space to store offline maps.
>
>(2) Get a phone with an exchangeable battery, and then buy at least one
>extra battery. Plus a charger for the battery when it isn't in your phone.
>Just in case you are away from power longer than you thought. An
>alternative is to carry a power bank to recharge.
>
>Oh, and still carry a map and compass because you don't want to be out
>somewhere totally reliant on your phone to get to safety. It can fail, you
>can drop it in a stream, you can run out of power.

I agree, but I have not personally used OsmAnd. I use Locus Map,
but cannot recommend it to a beginner, so OsmAnd may well be the
best choice.

The recommendations (1) and (2) seem outdated. Modern phones can
be bought with a lot of memory built-in. Mine, for instance, has
256 GB RAM, but for this purpose much less would suffice.

Modern phones regrettably no longer come with exchangeable
batteries, so you may have to give up on that one. To make the
battery live longer, avoid full charges when easily possible. I
see people use their phones with the original battery for quite
a bit longer than two years, sometimes three or even four years.
They do lose capacity, but often they remain usable.

For purposes like the one we are discussing I recommend a power
pack. I have a small one (2,500 mAh) that doubles as a
flashlight. From it I can charge my battery roughly from zero to
60% or from 20% to 80%. This carries me even through a long day
with lots of screen-on navigation. If you need two or three days
without a mains connection, buy a bigger one. Even 10,000 mAh
weigh less than 200 g.

I still own two dedicated Garmin GPS receivers, but they have
been gathering dust for many years now, because the smartphone
is so much better, and I have two smartphones with me anyway,
one as a spare.

Somebody who gets his first Android smartphone should expect a
steep learning curve if he wants to master it. But this is very
much worth the trouble. My life would be a lot poorer in several
ways without one.

Now some concrete recommendations. Look at the Nokia range of
phones. For more intense use I would look at the Nokia 6 or
higher. (May be 6.1 or 6.2 now).

Also look at the OnePlus phones. I use a OnePlus 6T as my
primary phone, and it is pretty good, even though I am a very
critical observer and user.

And finally, if you are not on a tight budget, the best choice
of all may be Google's Pixel phones.

I would say, avoid Samsung and avoid most of the Chinese phones,
OnePlus being one of very few exceptions.

See http://michna.com/smartphones.htm for some details.

Hans

[croy]

On Tue, 13 Aug 2019 09:40:11 -0800, "Bill Bradshaw" <brad...@gci.net> wrote:

>I am curious why you want want to use a phone instead of a dedicated gps?

Weight.

>Also whatever you do you need contour maps.

Always. I call 'em topos.

>I carry both a phone and gps.

A fine option if weight is not an issue.

>I also carry batteries so I can a run a continuous track in case I need to
>back track. I use rechargeable batteries that I make sure are fully charged
>before I leave.

Extra batteries are wonderful.

--
croy

[Bill Bradshaw]

I also carry a paper topo map I download from the web and print out.

http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/basic/?howTo=true

<Bill>