Best GPS for hiking ap for my cell

[Jazzbo]

This looks like a great phone. The Amazon ad you pointed to indicates you can replace the battery which is nice feature Samsung used to offer in the Galaxy phone. The other feature which sounds attractive is supposed to be operable with gloves on. That's one thing I don't like about using the Smart phone for GPS in winter conditions. I wonder if you can operate with say light weight winter glove or what.... Smartphone has a larger screen so it is tempting to use it instead of Garmin.

BTW I use Gaia. I like the way Gaia keeps my tracks showing. This may not be helpful to Grid chasers as tracks would be there 12 deep. Heaven help multiple Grid hikers. I can get my Garmin GPSMAP 66i to show past tracks, but I have to locate the track and instruct device to show track to show on map. As bushwhacker type I frequently revisit areas to find more better or different way to get to my objectives so it is nice to have the previous tracks to use as guide. I find the internal file structure for Samsung/Gaia to be confusing or hard to deal with. I find I need to export the track via email to download to my PC. I maintain GPS track files in My Garmin on my PC. I upload my tracks to Caltopo which I subscribe to. I use Caltopo to make and print out maps for hikes.

 

[ChrisB]

Gaia users , how does the app do regarding battery drain?

I did my first hike using the free Gaia app and must say I'm impressed. It works great, is very accurate and quite gentle on my iPhone battery.

I used it on a 5 mile trek in the Belknaps yesterday up Whiteface and Piper via the Whiteface trail. The hike took about 4 hours and with the phone in Airplane mode and Gaia running I used about 12% of the battery. Not bad.

The GPS continually indicated 16-foot accuracy and the elevation values were consistent with map values. The Gaia Topo was adequately detailed seemed up-to-date. For everyday hiking it seemed fine.

The Track Pause feature was handy for the lunch stop and I really liked the user interface in general for being easy to use and logically laid out. Thanks to those here who recommended Gaia.

QUESTION FOR GAIA USERS: The Gaia Topo displays what looks like interval mileage values between trail junctions, peaks, etc. But these don't seem add up to actual mileage measured. Anybody know what these intervals indicate or if they are accurate?

 

[JoshandBaron]

I did my first hike using the free Gaia app and must say I'm impressed. It works great, is very accurate and quite gentle on my iPhone battery.

I used it on a 5 mile trek in the Belknaps yesterday up Whiteface and Piper via the Whiteface trail. The hike took about 4 hours and with the phone in Airplane mode and Gaia running I used about 12% of the battery. Not bad.

The GPS continually indicated 16-foot accuracy and the elevation values were consistent with map values. The Gaia Topo was adequately detailed and up to date. For everyday hiking it seemed fine.

The Track Pause feature was handy for the lunch stop and I really liked the user interface in general for being easy to use and logically laid out.

Thanks to those here who recommended Gaia. I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks! )

There are a few articles on SectionHiker about Gaia that may be useful. This one is specifically regarding battery conservation: https://sectionhiker.com/gaiagps-app-setup-and-battery-management-tips/

 

[peakbagger]

Phil Werner the owner of Section Hiker is or was a beta tester for Gaia.

To answer Jazzbo's question, yes the battery is replaceable.

 

[ChrisB]

There are a few articles on SectionHiker about Gaia that may be useful. This one is specifically regarding battery conservation: https://sectionhiker.com/gaiagps-app-setup-and-battery-management-tips/

Thanks for the links . I picked up some good info.

Turning off the compass and elevation display save a few joules of juice.

 

[DayTrip]

I think a lot of the info on the Section Hiker site is now out of date since CalTopo has launched an app and pay memberships. None of the PDF's I print now are georeferenced and do not work in Avenza. I no longer can print KMZ files in Caltopo to use on my actual GPS unit. Does anyone know if the paid versions of CalTopo still have any of these features? I tried Googling these topics but most of the articles I have come across are pre CalTopo pay model and cover the methods that previously worked but now do not. Seems like all the great free options that used to be available are slowing drifting into the pay-for-use universe.

 

[JToll]

I can still generate pdf maps in Caltopo that work in Avenza for free, but the maps can only be generated in the desktop version of Caltopo, not on the smartphone app. Caltopo also just totally changed the user interface in the desktop version, but everything is still there, just in different places.

 

[DayTrip]

I can still generate pdf maps in Caltopo that work in Avenza for free, but the maps can only be generated in the desktop version of Caltopo, not on the smartphone app. Caltopo also just totally changed the user interface in the desktop version, but everything is still there, just in different places.

I only use the desktop version. Are you specifically selecting something so they are georeferenced? I never had to do anything special in the past and they worked. I don't recall seeing anything different in the print dialog but maybe I missed something. They have done a lot of tinkering to the user interface.

 

[JToll]

I just click on the print icon on the left side of the map. In the print option box that opens on the left side of the screen the top item is a "Format" drop down menu. I select "Geospatial PDF. Hope this helps.

 

[DayTrip]

I just click on the print icon on the left side of the map. In the print option box that opens on the left side of the screen the top item is a "Format" drop down menu. I select "Geospatial PDF. Hope this helps.

I figured it out. That alone doesn't work but I noticed the dialog no longer automatically selects a grid (UTM or Long/Lat). When I select one of those options the maps work. I think it had Long/Lat selected by default in past, but I could be wrong. I usually do UTM when I print for my GPS unit so it was probably always like this and I never noticed because I always picked an option. I don't use my GPS anymore so I haven't been checking a box. Thanks.

 

[bignslow]

I think a lot of the info on the Section Hiker site is now out of date since CalTopo has launched an app and pay memberships. None of the PDF's I print now are georeferenced and do not work in Avenza. I no longer can print KMZ files in Caltopo to use on my actual GPS unit. Does anyone know if the paid versions of CalTopo still have any of these features? I tried Googling these topics but most of the articles I have come across are pre CalTopo pay model and cover the methods that previously worked but now do not. Seems like all the great free options that used to be available are slowing drifting into the pay-for-use universe.

I use the paid CalTopo and have a pro account which gets me up to 36x48 maps in 400 DPI. I use this often to 'print' (to PDF) maps with better than USGS quad resolution (sometimes 1:4000) and then import into Avenza (I use the free option, which is limited to 3 imported maps, so I always have to delete past trips). The formats I use most often are:
* Optical imagery with an overlay for slope angle shading (i.e. avy risk) and contours for backcountry ski routes
* USFS maps (sometimes with slope angle shading)
* Optical imagery with a 35% overlay of USFS maps (our maps out here frequently have info for roads/trails in the wrong place, so being able to look at both the topo and the optical and rectify map vs reality is very helpful)

Here's info on what you get with each account type:
https://caltopo.com/about/pricing/individual-accounts/

 

[DayTrip]

I use the paid CalTopo and have a pro account which gets me up to 36x48 maps in 400 DPI. I use this often to 'print' (to PDF) maps with better than USGS quad resolution (sometimes 1:4000) and then import into Avenza (I use the free option, which is limited to 3 imported maps, so I always have to delete past trips). The formats I use most often are:
* Optical imagery with an overlay for slope angle shading (i.e. avy risk) and contours for backcountry ski routes
* USFS maps (sometimes with slope angle shading)
* Optical imagery with a 35% overlay of USFS maps (our maps out here frequently have info for roads/trails in the wrong place, so being able to look at both the topo and the optical and rectify map vs reality is very helpful)

Here's info on what you get with each account type:
https://caltopo.com/about/pricing/individual-accounts/

Thanks. I had come across that page previously but didn't realize I could click on it to expand the categories and see the details. Seems like I have answers to all my questions now.

 

[iAmKrzys]

It's a bit of a thread drift, but since there is a discussion of georeferenced pdfs I would like to point out that most Garmin GPS units can handle georeferenced jpgs that have map images. I have had quite a bit of success exporting various PDF maps to JPGs and then overlaying them on top of satellite images in Google Earth in order to export them in kmz format that most Garmin devices understand.

 

[DayTrip]

It's a bit of a thread drift, but since there is a discussion of georeferenced pdfs I would like to point out that most Garmin GPS units can handle georeferenced jpgs that have map images. I have had quite a bit of success exporting various PDF maps to JPGs and then overlaying them on top of satellite images in Google Earth in order to export them in kmz format that most Garmin devices understand.

CalTopo does this quite simply and easily in one step, but it is now a Pro feature ($50/year) versus free. That is what I had been doing when I was still using my Garmin GPS.