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Boo-Yah
08-01-2015, 10:32
New to hiking and camping, wondered what thoughts were on GPS system for hiking and camping, I notice a lot of coordinates posted on sites about good campsites, etc. How important are they, and how little could I pay for an effective one?

Boo-Yah
08-01-2015, 10:43
New to hiking and camping, wondered what thoughts were on GPS system for hiking and camping, I notice a lot of coordinates posted on sites about good campsites, etc. How important are they, and how little could I pay for an effective one?

Also is there way to use phone as GPS app
out of service area?

Another Kevin
08-01-2015, 13:57
Also is there way to use phone as GPS app out of service area?

I have no experience with iPhone's, so don't know about them. For Android, I find that BackCountry Navigator works well in 'airplane mode' when you have no service. You have to download the basemap in advance, of course, but it makes that reasonably painless. It also takes longer to acquire GPS signal.

GPS is a battery hog. I find that if I run it all day (which I often do, since I record tracks for mapmaking) I need to recharge the phone daily. Since mapmaking is one of the things that I'm Out There to do, one of my luxury items is a 14000 mAh ruggedized battery pack to recharge the phone. That has certainly kept it charged through five-day sections in the past.

There are multiple options for what map set to use. Other apps also have multiple options, and the BackCountry Navigator people have a nice summary of the tradeoffs (http://support.crittermap.com/entries/22449208-Choosing-a-Topo-Map-in-the-USA). I've wound up choosing 'none of the above.' Since I'm both a mapping aficionado and a computer geek, I wind up using GIS (Geographic Information System) software and a variety of government and open-source data to produce my own topo maps. That's kind of the path of least resistance, since I'm contributing map data back to Open Street Map (http://www.openstreetmap.org/about) anyway.

Offshore
08-02-2015, 07:37
New to hiking and camping, wondered what thoughts were on GPS system for hiking and camping, I notice a lot of coordinates posted on sites about good campsites, etc. How important are they, and how little could I pay for an effective one?

Its much more important to have a map and compass and learn basic navigation first and use the GPS as a convenience, whether stand alone or on your phone. Handheld GPS units start at around $110 (Garmin eTrex 10) and go up as you add features. Phone is OK for occasional use, but GPS use will kill the battery pretty much faster than anything (no more than 3 - 4 hours continuous use). Compare that to the eTrex 10 which gets 24 hours on a set of AA batteries.

Another Kevin
08-02-2015, 10:31
Its much more important to have a map and compass and learn basic navigation first and use the GPS as a convenience, whether stand alone or on your phone. Handheld GPS units start at around $110 (Garmin eTrex 10) and go up as you add features. Phone is OK for occasional use, but GPS use will kill the battery pretty much faster than anything (no more than 3 - 4 hours continuous use). Compare that to the eTrex 10 which gets 24 hours on a set of AA batteries.

GPS is not primary navigation. Totally agree.

I manage to get 8-10 hours of GPS use on my Galaxy S4 if all I'm doing is recording tracks, entering the occasional waypoint, and maybe doing a half-hourly progress check. Keeping the display up to date and the light on is a real power-burner, so I look at the GPS as little as practicable. I also make sure to keep the phone in airplane mode, with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned off, the display as dim as I can still read it, and everything in power-saving mode. Of course, you need a GPS app that can run disconnected. Google Maps is a horrible power burner. It literally overheats the phone unless I take it out of the case, and discharges the battery even when running the phone on the charger.

Turk6177
08-02-2015, 14:02
I guess it really depends on what kind of hiking/backpacking you are going to do. Most of the established trails that I have been on (Appalachian Trail, John Muir Trail, Grand Canyon, etc) have been very well marked with no need for any GPS navigation. If you are just going into the back country, then I would suggest a handheld Garmin unit (Oregon). If you are new to it, I would recommend staring out on some well maintained trails where you don't have to worry so much about navigation.

Another Kevin
08-02-2015, 14:39
If you're talking about established trails, you're right that GPS is seldom necessary.

For bushwhacks, there's really no substitute, also, for going on a few trips with an experienced orienteer who can watch you and correct your mistakes - or even better, let you make them and then show you both how to do it right and how to recover.

The important thing to learn in map and compass navigation is how to identify backstops and handrails on the map. You can approach a bushwhack with a lot more confidence if you know that you can recover from errors with something like "down goes to the river. The cars are parked by the bridge downstream." Almost anyone can follow that sort of direction, so it becomes an out if you get lost.