GPS Or GPS APP on smartphone

Hi everyone

Im pretty good at not getting lost but if i go to a new spot i would like to know were my vehicle is?
What do you guys use , Any help would be good? A Handheld GPS or if so is there a smart phone App ?

Cheers and TIA

There are some great smartphone apps that work quite well.

Make sure that if you go this method, get an app that works off the Sat directly without having to be in phone rec range!

The only disadvantage with the phone is that once it goes flat while your out in the bush on foot, away from your charger, no more GPS.
We all know what phone batteries are like yeh?

For this reason I carry a handheld purpose built GPS that runs on AA batteries (16 hour continuous use).....and I always have spare set in the backpack!

Regards

I use My tracks for quick stints in the scrub where visual contact is not possible, but I think you want something a little more detailed for long stretches handy app though.

Go4Gold86 said:

Hi everyone

Im pretty good at not getting lost but if i go to a new spot i would like to know were my vehicle is?
What do you guys use , Any help would be good? A Handheld GPS or if so is there a smart phone App ?

Cheers and TIA

Click to expand...

You could have a long piece of string with an inflated fluro coloured helium balloon tied to the roof racks.

Its a nice thought but you would be hard pressed to see the balloon even if it had a massively long rope attached as the bush is just too thick in some places. Perhaps if you could get to high ground it may help but a lot of places I visit are as pictured above and fairly flat. Its easy to get yourself turned around in there and thats when a GPS device really pays for itself.

I think you would be better off going with both a GPS device such as a Garmin eTrex10 with spare batteries and your favourite GPS app.

The GPS is really dependent on the hardware in the phone more than the app. The battery life of phones these days is about a day if using GPS full time.

There are some solar chargers around for phones that work well also that you can carry with you but if you get stuck late in the day you may be waiting until the next day to be able to use it.

Stay safe out there.

I use an iPhone, the GPS still functions perfectly when there is no phone reception. In fact as well as my current 5S I'm still using my old iPhone 4 (without sim card) loaded with High Country Topomaps for off road navigation. Apps i use are AVENZA PDFMAP for the geo ref topos, and the aussie developed MAPS n TRAX (formerly BIMAP) for my GEOVIC map downloads, as well as for geological and old survery map overlays. MotionX-GPS is a popular app that uses your selection of online road maps or terrain maps but phone reception required for this OR if there is no phone reception where you are going you can download the maps to cache before you leave home so they're available when you arrive.

casper

In regards to phones and their use in the bush, I have recently experimented with an old iphone 4 I had laying around. It did not have a sim installed. I also deleted everything off the phone upgraded the OS. Then installed a couple of apps gps related. Put it in a hard case protector, this is now my camera, video and gps all in one.

Results - I only installed free apps and they had basic use in the ones I got, in saying that I was able to get a gps position which I verified with my other gps unit. It was accurate enough and that gave me piece of mind in its ability to locate my position, then reference on a map etc... I also used the compass, and had a back up compass anyway. Which we had to use once when the ironstone was effecting the electronic units ?

If you want to store tracks, way points etc... I am not sure what the best app is for that and the cost involved. I would say this phone worked fine for what I needed.

Battery Life - That seems to be the big question everyone wants to know. Remembering that this phone does not have a sim, anything that wants to search for data is turned off etc... I charged it before I left, which was around the 29/8/2014 AND IT STILL HAS BATTERY LIFE IN IT 24/9/2014 !! less than 20% and needs a charge, but I could say safely with heavy use cutting out all extras on the phone. 24-48hrs should be no problem.

The main advantage of a dedicated hand held GPS is that you can mark your start point/waypoint ie car, then turn it off and go bush. When ready to go back to start you turn it back on and navigate back to the waypoint you want.

I have a Garmin eTrex 20 it takes 2 x AA batteries, I used it this way for 4 weeks in May a week in July and the battery level is still full. I don't know of any phone that will do that.

condor22 said:

The main advantage of a dedicated hand held GPS is that you can mark your start point/waypoint ie car, then turn it off and go bush. When ready to go back to start you turn it back on and navigate back to the waypoint you want.

I have a Garmin eTrex 20 it takes 2 x AA batteries, I used it this way for 4 weeks in May a week in July and the battery level is still full. I don't know of any phone that will do that.

Click to expand...

Yep....my Magellan calls it 'Suspend' mode!

Will keep a record of your track taken from the waypoint, then when your ready to head back simply take out of suspend mode and hit 'backtrack'.

Will only use minimal batt power in suspend (ie No lit up screen etc sucking the juice)

Mine wont do the above in 'Power Off' however.

I keep the smartphone turned off in the field to save the batt ...use for emergency purposes only.

Some of the new software apps for navigation today have a rather large footprint and tend to really suck the life out of your phone batt quickly.

AA's are a dime a dozen these days and a $9.99 pack of 20 from Bunnings would allow you to navigate through the bush on foot for months if you like without the need for a charger!

If you're in an area that you won't get lost the phone may be okay to get you by as there's likely patchy reception. I wouldn't rely on one way off the beaten track like. I carry both a magellan 510 and megellan gc as a back up because even dedicated gps units fail.

Go4Gold86 said:

Hi everyone

Im pretty good at not getting lost but if i go to a new spot i would like to know were my vehicle is?
What do you guys use , Any help would be good? A Handheld GPS or if so is there a smart phone App ?

Cheers and TIA

Click to expand...

Hi Go4Gold86,

My mate here in gold mining and the dense forests of Brazil I use a ETREX H, excellent companion
journey, never lose me with it and I can find some places on the map using UTM cordenada.
excellent gps
You can purchase a etrex 10, excellent gps

nuggetino said:

If you're in an area that you won't get lost the phone may be okay to get you by as there's likely patchy reception. I wouldn't rely on one way off the beaten track like. I carry both a magellan 510 and megellan gc as a back up because even dedicated gps units fail.

Click to expand...

good advice - Yes always carry a backup and also mark your movements on your paper map when in remote areas. If by patchy reception you mean you cannot reliably make a phone call understand that this is not critical to the GPS function. Its not well understood by many users but efficient GPS function of a smart phone does not rely on cell tower reception. Actually when in the Victorian High Country my smart phone accesses the GPS satellites just as efficiently as my GARMIN Etrex.

casper

Thanks for all your help , My boss gave me a Magellan Explorist 310 so I will have a play with that and see how I go. I was curious about smartphone app though.

cheers
Go4Gold86

I cant afford a GPS unit right now so instead i use my Galaxy S4.

I use a battery case to double the time i can spend in the bush.
http://www.catchoftheday.com.au/product/samsung-galaxy-s4-3200mah-power-case-279210/


I turn of wifi and mobile data only leaving on GPS,doing that saves heaps of battery life.
And then i track where i am with an app called "My Tracks".
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.maps.mytracks&hl=en

That works well enough for me until i can get a GPS.

I went for the Magellan Explorist 710 about 12mths ago... Great investment. I wanted mine for numerous activities... Hiking, 4x4, off and on road motorbike, push bike, kayakfishing, Geocaching, and now prospecting it would seem It does it all, turn by turn, waypoint marking, waterproof, drop kick proof... Came with world maps and Australian topo maps... Love it

Use the phone as a back up. Carry spare batteries for the GPS, and a portable battery cell to recharge the phone, it holds enough for one full charge.

casper said:

good advice - Yes always carry a backup and also mark your movements on your paper map when in remote areas. If by patchy reception you mean you cannot reliably make a phone call understand that this is not critical to the GPS function. Its not well understood by many users but efficient GPS function of a smart phone does not rely on cell tower reception. Actually when in the Victorian High Country my smart phone accesses the GPS satellites just as efficiently as my GARMIN Etrex.

casper

Click to expand...

Your right casper but your confusing hardware with software.

It depends on the software app your using that is important, and what most dont understand.

Some of the free apps do not utilize the phones hardware GPS receiver but rather its 3G/4G capability only...... so beware and do your research.

I admit these are getting rarer these days as people are slowly catching on, however most of the better known 'paid' apps will track from your inbuilt GPS receiver

True that your receiver is only as good as the software installed. Yeah, my I phone app utilized only 3g/4g capability.If my call reception dropped out so did my gps . From what I've read of the new iphones both receiver and software is light years ahead of where it is on my old school hippie model :lol: . I'd consider using one in the golden triangle because I could eventually find my way out of the bush without it. Out in remote WA it's a different story. Durability and battery life is the big killer and i use my phone for calls,text,internet etc which adds to wear and tear over a dedicated GPS unit.

I used the maps on my HTC last weekend to navigate our way out of Myall river state forest on the dirt bikes.

I have never had to use it to navigate in the scrub before and I think it may have been operating on GPS but I'm not sure.

I don't know if I had service either, I didn't even think to look but it worked well and got us back to Stroud.

While advocating the use of a waterproof GPS unit for bush navigation, i have one of the cheap $29 chinese GPS units as a back up .
They allow you to plot 16 coordinates and navigate to them and shows time, number of sattelites and altitude. And of course they are mainly for back to camp navigation.

What i like is that you simply hang them on your backpack with a carabiner or lenyard and they are very small and weigh absolutly nothing.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2014-Min...197?pt=AU_Electronics_GPS&hash=item2a3fe96e6d
cheers RDD

Metamorphic said:

casper said:

good advice - Yes always carry a backup and also mark your movements on your paper map when in remote areas. If by patchy reception you mean you cannot reliably make a phone call understand that this is not critical to the GPS function. Its not well understood by many users but efficient GPS function of a smart phone does not rely on cell tower reception. Actually when in the Victorian High Country my smart phone accesses the GPS satellites just as efficiently as my GARMIN Etrex.

casper

Click to expand...

Your right casper but your confusing hardware with software.

It depends on the software app your using that is important, and what most dont understand.

Some of the free apps do not utilize the phones hardware GPS receiver but rather its 3G/4G capability only...... so beware and do your research.

I admit these are getting rarer these days as people are slowly catching on, however most of the better known 'paid' apps will track from your inbuilt GPS receiver

Click to expand...

Thanks for the input, i wasn't aware that there were navigation apps written that wouldn't use the native GPS receiver :/ - anyway here's the Apps that i can use successfully on both my iPhone and iPad without cell tower coverage....

cheers casper