GPS phone

Iv been reading the threads bot using your phone as a gps as iv been thinking bot getting a gps for a while, but now I think il up graded my phone to a smart phone as I only have an old school one. I want good gps so im not going fuck round with the free apps il buy the viewranger one after what I read on the other thread what I want to know dose all the gps on the phones get the same seivse (ie a $300 phone) in the bush or are some phones gps way beter (ie a $1000 phone) or brands to stay away from. I don't want go to the expnce of buying a phone then found out the one I broght dosnt work in the bush. The other thing I want to know is how hard is it to work the gps on a phone as im not very good with tec. If its easy talk to me bot it than write bot im happy to ring you thanks Hayden

Hayden, in my experience the GPS receivers in mobile phones are much of a muchness.

HTC Explorer and Samsung Galaxy. The software I use is:

Oruxmaps, with the NZ Open GPS topo layer for bush
Osmand for road nav

What phone are you using ? Make sure it has a real GPS, not just A-GPS (which requires mobile signal).

when in the bush, switch your phone to flight mode to save battery power :D

Hayden don't take this the wrong way but you sound like a tech tard(just like me)

I have a map thing on my phone.
I don't really know how to work it but use it to discuss areas with people in civilisation.

I have only just upgraded to a gps with maps and still working out how to use it but have what i want it for sused.(almost:D)

In my experience the touch screen on my phone will not work if wet. And even on flight mode will eat battery power(3 days if you don't touch it(so why even take it?) and about 2 days trying to use the app occasionaly.)

On the other hand my gps works with wet fingers and is still goin on the cheap Arse dicksmith aa batterys it came with months ago.
God knows how long it would last with some decent batteries.

Plenty of people on the forum use there phone as gps.

Not for me thanks i am too retarded, i want something i can drop,get wet, work with frozen fingers.

ebf I haven't got a smart phone yet so im open to idears on witch one to buy

If you have the money I'd say buy a gps seperate.

veitnamcan nar I woulden take that the wrong way couse it the truth lol but all my hunting is a sat & half of sun so battery life isn't a probl

My Smart phone is smarted than me...............

Samsung Galaxy S4 Active, I think comes in a water resistant version

VC, my phone lives in dry bag specially made for phones, you get them from macpac. Touch screen works fine thru the plastic.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Toby

If you have the money I'd say buy a gps seperate.

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Toby's onto it. A gps is a gps. A phones a phone.

They're not there yet with putting a decent works in the hills GPS into a phone.

You can beat decent old school garmins.

Buy a gps if you want a gps.


Tim

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ebf

VC, my phone lives in dry bag specially made for phones, you get them from macpac. Touch screen works fine thru the plastic.

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Having gone threw 3k worth of phones in less than a week and averaging less than 6 months out of a phone i think i will stick with a separate gps :D

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Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Having gone threw 3k worth of phones in less than a week and averaging less than 6 months out of a phone i think i will stick with a separate gps :D

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First name basis with insurance auditor?

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Originally Posted by Nibblet

First name basis with insurance auditor?

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Have never insured a phone.
Can't be worth it?
I insured my ski for the first year.
20k cover 1800 a year only fire and theft and only covered when chained inside a locked garage with no windows.

Thieving Cunts the lot of em.
I wouldnt insure my house either if it wasn't a condition of my mortgage, i would pay off another mortgage instead!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Have never insured a phone.
Can't be worth it?
I insured my ski for the first year.
20k cover 1800 a year only fire and theft and only covered when chained inside a locked garage with no windows.

Thieving Cunts the lot of em.
I wouldnt insure my house either if it wasn't a condition of my mortgage, i would pay off another mortgage instead!

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This makes me feel cheap. My life insurance is under 500 a year easy.

I just did some math its acutally over 520 a year but would be under 550.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Toby

This makes me feel cheap. My life insurance is under 500 a year easy.

I just did some math its acutally over 520 a year but would be under 550.

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They must recon you have good chance of not dieing:thumbup:

I just reduced mine and the wifes cover to just clear mortgage and other debt and cover a decent Piss up and hole in the ground.

Insurance is killing us literally.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Have never insured a phone.
Can't be worth it?
I insured my ski for the first year.
20k cover 1800 a year only fire and theft and only covered when chained inside a locked garage with no windows.

Thieving Cunts the lot of em.
I wouldnt insure my house either if it wasn't a condition of my mortgage, i would pay off another mortgage instead!

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If your going through that much on a phone it could be worth it. I have never worried but I take better care of expensive items if I can.

Just had a play with that app that ebf mentioned and it works with fresh maps. Pretty cool but I guess it would much the juice faster than cookie monster chewing down hash cookies.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Having gone threw 3k worth of phones in less than a week

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You are not supposed to through them at passing cars. There are rocks for that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kiwi39

Toby's onto it. A gps is a gps. A phones a phone.

They're not there yet with putting a decent works in the hills GPS into a phone.

You can beat decent old school garmins.

Buy a gps if you want a gps.


Tim

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I would argue that point! I've used a mates Garmin and in my view the app I use on my iPhone shits all over it.

It's faster, clearer and has many more options but you don't have to use these either if you're techtarded. I've also never not been able to get a signal, and from some things I've read people can get signals on their phones where they struggle with dedicated GPS'.

As for battery life I bought a portable juice pack that can charge the phone from 0 to 100% about 5 times, as well as be used to recharge my torch or head lamp or anything else USB. One of these plus a phone is still smaller than a GPS.

For durability buy a shock proof, water proof, dust proof case.

But we've been over all this in the other thread the original poster mentioned, so I will pipe down now haha.

Whats the name of the app ?


Tim

What was his GPS? Mates etrex is a pos lost signal so much it wasn't funny compared to my 60s

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Originally Posted by kiwi39

Whats the name of the app ?


Tim

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Viewranger - I must've convinced hunt08 in the other thread haha. About $40 for 1:50,000 of whole NZ. Amazing maps.

Check out the other thread for discussion about various apps and screenshots of them in use, etc - http://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co.n...95/index6.html

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Toby

What was his GPS? Mates etrex is a pos lost signal so much it wasn't funny compared to my 60s

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A 62S I believe. There was nothing wrong with it, it never lost signal or anything. I thought it was amazing before I used Viewranger. They're just clunky and slow with poor interfaces by comparison to a $1200 phone, that's all. Again, just my opinion.

As much as I wanted my phone gps to work as well as my Garmin, it didn't. I tested them both extensively side by side on a hunt the other week using view ranger vs Garmin rhino and while the app was ok it certainly didn't retain signal as well under thick cover.

If you are comparing to an etrex or an earlier Garmin then the phone will shit all over it, no contest.

I'm sticking to the gps, by the time I bought a fancy case, spent money on buying whole of nz maps on phone, bought a power supply pack ect ect it all adds up.

Fair enough - what phone?

If I had an expensive GPS then I wouldn't bother either. But if you have an expensive phone and no GPS....well.

Samsung galaxy s3

Yeah mate I no what you mean, I do wish Garmin would pull finger an make the units a bit more responsive ect but they are certainly tough.

A couple of phone recommendations. The galaxy note 2 had best in class battery life and a replaceable battery for a around $500 which is good buying. I keep mine I drybox and I hadn't died yet.

The other recommendation is to look at the Xperia z line of phones. No removable battery but the big plus is they are fully waterproof. The z1 is the latest model with a big battery and 21mp camera. The z is the cheaper older model.

Don't buy a xperia z! I'm using one as a work phone atm and hate it. So slow and clumsy compared to a Samsung s3

Sent from my C1904 using Tapatalk

Must be pretty bad, because clumsy is how I think of Samsungs!!!

Haha.

Using Backcountry Navigator on a Samsung S4. Have run it on an S3 and another water proof one. When in the hills, put it in Flight Mode and the battery will last for days.

As for the GPS chip itself, these track better in the bush than the new Garmin Quad Helix chips. I work for the designer and make of the US GPS system and largest manufacturer of precise GNSS (all sat nav satellite systems) products, the chips in the Samsung for the past few years are right up there for autonomous positions. I test GPS systems for a living.

Be carefully when buying a phone, make sure it doesn't have an assisted GPS like most Apples. Once you are out of cell phone range, the GPS will not work. Needs to have native GPS.

Yeh I read these threads over Xmas and down loaded view ranger for my I phone and the whole Nz topo maps.... And the gps won't work in flight mode:( . Back to the garmin unit. I can pretty much throw to at the ground and it'll work, I phone will divorce me if I did that to it.

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Originally Posted by ANTSMAN

Yeh I read these threads over Xmas and down loaded view ranger for my I phone and the whole Nz topo maps.... And the gps won't work in flight mode:( . Back to the garmin unit. I can pretty much throw to at the ground and it'll work, I phone will divorce me if I did that to it.

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Yeah, turning an iPhone to flight mode also disables the GPS. All I do with mine is turn off wifi and 3G (bluetooth is always off). That will give you a couple days battery time at least. With my setup now i'm good for about 2 weeks, and doubt i'll ever need that long. Probably a week or so if we watch the odd movie under the stars!

"Yeah, turning an iPhone to flight mode also disables the GPS. "

Apparently not with the samsungs .

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Originally Posted by ANTSMAN

"Yeah, turning an iPhone to flight mode also disables the GPS. "

Apparently not with the samsungs .

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Which is why I said, "iPhone." What's your point?

I use backcountry navigator on a Sony Xperia Active (couple of years old, waterproof shockproof model). GPS works in airplane mode (as it should, its only receiving a signal not sending. Not sure why some phones don't) and has generally been pretty good, but has struggled at times in bush when a 62s was having no problems getting a lock.

I wouldn't go buying a smartphone over a dedicated GPS for that use, but if you have a smartphone already then its worth trying it out to see if it does the job well enough to spend your GPS budget on something else. :)

yep thats the thing Ben, those that do have smar phones can, and those with Iphones in particular may not be able to,,,

Those who can, do, those who can't, use an iPhone.