NO Smartphone...is it stupid?

[jingle jangle]

Hey there. Just gathering thoughts, opinions: Smartphone or NO smartphone for my thru hike of the pct this year.

I thru hiked the AT 3 years ago with none. Ive never owned a smartphone in my life. However the PCT seems different. It seems like a smartphone is a really good way to cut weight down. I printed out Half Miles maps and its a heavy stack! I will have to mail them to myself along the way, which Id wanted to avoid as much as possible since I like buying stuff along the way. not relying on bouce boes (bounce boxs and pre mailed packages scare me!).

Smartphones seem really convenient. I hate smartphone, but i mean, theyre a phone camera music and maps in one. It would probablyt save me like a pound or more. But I dont own one and they cost a lot of money. Id like to know if its worth it. Are there recent converts out there --people who never used but do now? People who still dont use them and want to make me feel better about NOT buying one? People whod never hike without one? Also: battery life!!?

As far as logistics with HalfMiles maps, I got a question: Do you need to buy a plan to use HalfMiles App? Or can I just run my phone on wifi. As in, do I need 3G or whatever when Im in the woods to view his maps... Or can I simply download them when I have wifi (id rather have a wifi only phone, no plan) and view the maps and use the gps withouth plan.

Thanks yall

[Coffee]

I was a late adopter of the smart phone and only got one less than two years ago. I have found the phone useful on long hikes in the past since it makes communication easier. However, that very fact is a downside for some people who want to remain disconnected. What it *doesn't* do for me is save weight. It adds weight. My old dumb phone was around 2.5 ounces. My smart phone is twice the weight. And I carry a 3 ounce anker astro mini to supplement the battery. I still carry paper maps. I don't trust my phone as a replacement for paper maps.

[burger]

Short answer: you don't need a smart phone at all.

Long answer: Every PCT hiker in history before 2006 was not carrying a smart phone, as they didn't exist. In 2009 I only saw one person with a smartphone the entire trail. There was no halfmile app--it was just her phone/music player. The PCT is fairly easy to navigate, so you don't need any sort of GPS unless you really want it (none of my friends on the trail had a GPS of any sort).

BTW, you are overestimating the weight savings of a phone vs paper maps. If you're navigating solely with the phone, you'll need a charger plus probably a spare battery (it would suck to run out of juice in the middle of nowhere). Those will bring the total weight of the phone, etc. to around a pound.

I just got my first smartphone ever last year. It's nice to have but hardly a necessity. Just because all the other hikers are using apps doesn't mean it's the only way to go! Do you what you're comfortable with.

[Water Rat]

If you are looking for the functions of a Smartphone without the actual "phone" and plan that goes along with it, have you thought about using an iPod touch? No plans, wifi, and you can read your maps off of it. You can also keep a journal, check emails, take pics... You can make calls through Facetime and Skype when you are within wifi range. But, it would add a little weight.

I have a cheap Net 10 cell phone. I am not a fan of phones, so my phone stays off unless I need it. However, I do use my iPod to take pics and hold maps and guide info. I do also carry paper maps, but do enjoy the ease of looking at maps on my iPod during breaks. I wouldn't call it a necessity. I would call it a convenience.

[Malto]

No you don't need one. Yes, you might want one. I personally would never take a smart phone as a replacement for paper maps. As an addition, maybe.

going a bit off topic. Be careful following much of the advice from PCT hikers over the last four years. These have been VERY low snow years and what worked then may or may not work with this year's conditions. A great example. In a low snow year you will hear "the battery life isn't an issue." That's great because most of time you don't need to use it. In years such as '10 and '11 you may have needed to use some sort of maps extensive and then battery life would be an issue at the very time it was needed. I suspect the first big snow year will find many people getting surprised because conditions will be nothing like they expecting.

[colorado_rob]

... Id like to know if its worth it. Are there recent converts out there --people who never used but do now? People who still dont use them and want to make me feel better about NOT buying one? People whod never hike without one? Also: battery life!!?

I'm a kinda-recent convert on carrying a do-all phone on long hikes. Only because of the sheer convenience of such a do-all device. Communicator to loved ones, and to upcoming hostels/hotels for reservations. Pretty darn decent camera. Excellent Kindle-app reader, and I read a lot. Music. Audible books (sure make a long day go by easily!). Trail guide (pdf format on phone). I leave it in airplane mode practically all the time and the battery will last a week reading an hour or more a night and taking quite a few pictures. I have a 6 ounce Anker recharger that will put 2 full additional charges in case I use it a lot for one stretch, total system weight is 14 ounces. I haven't done my research yet on the PCT, but on the AT, "backup maps" are just plain not needed. I think some sort of paper map backup would be important on the PCT, some larger scale TOPO maps, printed both sides, etc. I would try to keep these to 6-8 ounces or less somehow, we'll see.

Anyway, just my 2 cents. I'm not much of a smartphone person in "real life", but on the trail, it's my handy do-all device. I have a Motorola Droid Turbo Nylon version, supposedly very tough, but never tested this yet (like dropping it, etc). I carry it in a dedicated ziplock.

[Leo L.]

I never had any cell device in the past, but carried all paper (esp. maps and diary).
Got a smartphone last year, and really love the device!
But you have to be very careful using it.
I skipped most of the paper stuff, and use the phone many times a day, mostly to follow my progress on the trail by GPS and Google Maps.
If used really careful and sparse one battery load covers up to 10 days of hiking. When doing nonsense stuff like viewing photos in the evening the battery is done after 2-3 days.
I carry a powerbank thats capable of charging the smartphone 2x, so at the end I dont really save weight.
Its more like an added feature.
BTW, most of the time I don't have a SIM card in the phone, have it in airplane mode and just go online by Wifi when in town.

[Kerosene]

As an IT professional, I've used a smartphone (originally a Blackberry) since the early 2000's, but only started to bring one with me in 2006 as I had to keep up with work demands. You can definitely go without, but you also have to realize that there are very few pay phones out there nowadays. As mentioned by an earlier poster, I wouldn't rely exclusively on my smartphone for navigation, but I did find the Guthook app useful in finding stealth tentsites in Maine last Fall.

If you do decide to go with one, I've found that Verizon tends to have the best connectivity across the Lower 48. Remember that your battery will drain very rapidly when it is turned on in cold temperatures. Learn how to turn off your cellular data, wi-fi, roaming, and even your GPS to help extend battery life.

[burger]

One more thing to think about: from what I've seen anecdotally online, I'd guess that over 90% of PCT thru-hikers carry smartphones now, and a lot of those people forego paper maps for apps. If you end up hiking in a group (most people do, though it's certainly not obligatory), someone in your group will probably have a phone and be using it to navigate. I hiked in a somewhat above average snow year, and a lot of people who were hiking alone or in pairs ended in groups for the Sierra. So you can sponge off of smartphone users if you want to go that route.

BUT: you don't need a smartphone to navigate the trail, even in the Sierra. There is a printed set of JMT maps from Tom Harrison that is excellent and makes for easy navigation (unless you do what I did and accidentally lose your entire map packet halfway through the JMT section). Also, even in '09, it was easy to follow footprints in snow or at confusing trail junctions. There are 10 times as many thru-hikers now (oy!), so I'd bet that it's even easier to follow the herd now.

[Slo-go'en]

Not having a smart phone isn't stupid, but having one sure is convenient. I finally broke down and got one for my AT section hikes last year. Before then I was carrying a tablet and before that a PDA (remember those?).

If you want to use it for a camera, you'll have to get a fairly expensive high end phone or the picture quality will be marginal. I went with a really cheap ($10)phone and pre-paid data/voice plan which only has a 3meg camera and carry a decent 16meg shirt pocket point and shoot to get good, hi res pictures.

[bigcranky]

If you are looking for the functions of a Smartphone without the actual "phone" and plan that goes along with it, have you thought about using an iPod touch? No plans, wifi, and you can read your maps off of it. You can also keep a journal, check emails, take pics... You can make calls through Facetime and Skype when you are within wifi range. But, it would add a little weight.

Does an iPod Touch have an actual built-in GPS chip? They didn't used to, they "navtigated" using wi-fi signals; of which there are few on the trail. That may have changed since I owned one, however.

I was a late adopter of a smartphone, and even kept my old tiny flip phone with a prepaid plan for hiking (just activate for the month or whatever). But we took our iPhones on our LT hike and they turned out to be surprisingly useful.

[Coffee]

No you don't need one. Yes, you might want one. I personally would never take a smart phone as a replacement for paper maps. As an addition, maybe.

going a bit off topic. Be careful following much of the advice from PCT hikers over the last four years. These have been VERY low snow years and what worked then may or may not work with this year's conditions. A great example. In a low snow year you will hear "the battery life isn't an issue." That's great because most of time you don't need to use it. In years such as '10 and '11 you may have needed to use some sort of maps extensive and then battery life would be an issue at the very time it was needed. I suspect the first big snow year will find many people getting surprised because conditions will be nothing like they expecting.

In addition to the battery life issue, phones with touch screens are just hard to use in wet and freezing conditions like what I experienced on the south/east side of Muir Pass last year. I had my paper maps as well (halfmile). I got off track at one point and was 90% sure what my mistake was by looking at the paper map but I wanted to check my app to be sure and it wasn't easy to do with gloves on and mixed precipitation coming down. It was useful, however, and gave me more confidence with my decision and I got back on track. Although last year was a low snow year and hikers in early May reported almost no snow on trail, by late May/early June late season snow covered the trail over the passes, especially Muir Pass.

[sliverstorm]

Got my first smartphone roughly two years ago. Really didn't want to. Now I wouldn't go back. I miss the phenomenal battery life, tiny size and low weight of my old dumbphones, but smartphones have made it easier to stay in touch with friends & arrange to spend time together.

If you want an inexpensive smartphone and aren't planning on getting any kind of plan, Verizon sells the Moto E for $80, and Walmart had it on rollback for $50 last week. That's retail price, no contract required, as it is meant to be a prepaid device. It's plenty capable, better bang for the buck than most devices at that price point.

As a bonus if you ever decide to get a plan, Verizon is probably your best bet anyway when it comes to coverage in remote areas.

Slo-go'en is right, inexpensive phones don't have very good cameras. They will take pictures good enough for scrapbooking & such, but not really good enough for printing & framing. Currently a $650 smartphone is probably about as good a camera as a $200 point-and-shoot.

[sliverstorm]

To explain a little further, an iPod Touch would fill the role of smartphone-without-plan, but it is an Apple product, a little niche, and smartphones have been getting cheaper. As a result the iPod Touch starts at $200, while phones like the Moto E I mentioned are much cheaper even though they have all the same features PLUS a cellular radio.

[Coffee]

As far as service is concerned, I've been very happy with Republic Wireless. I just got the new Moto G - a nice phone, although a bit heavy. Plan is $10/month for unlimited voice and text and 1.5 cents per MB which works out to $15-20/month for me. Also worth considering is Google Fi, especially for those who travel internationally. Plan is $20/month for unlimited voice/text and 1 cent per MB.

[Water Rat]

Does an iPod Touch have an actual built-in GPS chip? They didn't used to, they "navtigated" using wi-fi signals; of which there are few on the trail. That may have changed since I owned one, however.

I was a late adopter of a smartphone, and even kept my old tiny flip phone with a prepaid plan for hiking (just activate for the month or whatever). But we took our iPhones on our LT hike and they turned out to be surprisingly useful.

The iPod Touch still needs wifi to be operational for some aspects of Halfmile's app. When you are on the trail it will not tell you "you are here" - The operator would have to use the information they can access to figure out where they are in relation to the trail. However, you can still access the overall map and mileage points to figure out where you are (if you were not inclined to whip out a map). Not sure if the OP would be using the app to get her location on the trail. I simply presented it as a plan-less option. It works, and would update each time the operator accessed wifi, but could also be used to store other backup guide info as well. Also nice to be able to have access to additional town info/notes that you might not otherwise want to carry.

I look at anything electronic as a bonus tool - It's helpful if you somehow misplace the paper copy of the map, need a quick look at some trail feature, or need fast access to trail info. In my eyes, paper map and orientation skills will always be my number one go-to for figuring out where I am. Guess I'm just a little old-school that way.

Regardless of what the OP chooses to do, I hope she has a fun and safe hike!

[ConnorAnderson]

First off, battery life could be a problem, but mophie offers a 6 ounce device that will fully charge an iPhone 8 times before turning into a 6 ounce brick. its about 150$ but could completely eliminate the battery life issue if you are not frivolous with your usage.

at the least you will need the phone, a way to keep it dry, the power cord, and you will probably want the charging block for the cord in town. As well as some sort of battery back up, best figure out how much you would use the phone and only buy the battery you need, there are many options for price and power.

Worth it is only something you could say but I can say that I am going to bring one for the ease of halfmile maps, and water reports, they are also great ways to check email, write notes, organize shopping lists for in town, making reservations, alarm clock for mornings, great cameras, music carrying devices, gps, you can store books on them and movies and tv shows. It all takes battery power though so be mindful of how much you use and when.

Sorry Im not much help on the halfmile question but I know you for sure want to download the maps, and delete when no longer useful as there might not be cell coverage when you need to download a map in the feild, always best to download the ones you need until the next point where you will be able to download more. You could even download all the maps at once before you leave and delete some once they are no longer useful.

Cost all depends on how savvy you can be, shop around a lot and maybe don't look at less than 3 different companies offers before you choose one.

[TKE402]

So here's my experience. Last year I decided to ditch the paper guides and maps in doing a section of the AT in MA and VT. I figure I would depend on my Smartphone. Well the screen didn't work when it was slightly damp, then I had an minor injury. I didn't want to push it so I figure I use my phone to call for a ride. I was at a dirt road crossing but didn't know which one. I checked my phone for my location using the guide but the night before I must have forgotten to turn it off so the battery was drained. It wasn't an emergency so I struggled through the hike until the end (just a weekend trip). So what I learned was to triple check to ensure the phone is on airplane mode or off when not in use. When it's misty out the touch screen will not work. Luckily for me this was the AT in a well mark section so I never felt in danger but it was annoying not knowing where I was to call for a ride. Smartphone or not the battery was drained so it was of no help at that point anyway. I now have a mini battery backup, I use paper guides (just the pages I need), and I'm religious at turning off the phone. Is it saving me weight, nope. I will reevaluate this strategy this summer when I do a week long hike. It would be nice to listen to audio books etc at night for a little while. So my scenario is not exactly like yours but I just wanted to share my experiences.

[Leo L.]

I did some tests with my smartphone and came to the conclusion that actually hard-switching off takes more battery for the re-boot than keeping it in sleep mode over the night.

[WhatWhy]

I'm surprised that no one is making the case for getting one. There are just so many situations in which having one would be incredibly valuable.
Por Ejemplo: (and in no particular order)
1. To take pictures/videos. And be able to send them to friends and family. Also with a smartphone you can automatically upload the pics to dropbox or something similar, so if something happens to your phone you wouldn't lose them all
2. Listen to music - and download new music after you've gotten sick of your old music
3. Download audiobooks and podcasts <--- the best
4. Buying things online (like new shoes, clothes, replacement gear, or a million other things) and have them sent you at the next town
5. Navigate - with Halfmile and Guthook (I havent yet hiked the PCT, just the AT, but it seems like Guthook becomes peoples preferred app)
6. Have an up to date PCT Water Report
7. Online Banking
8. Facebook- hear me out on this one, I never had or used facebook before my AT hike but it is definitely the preferred way of sharing contact info with other hikers.
9. Weather. For me this is one of the most important reasons. It's really important to stay weather aware, and for some reason, people are the worst at spreading accurate forecasts by word of mouth.

Honorable Mention: Email, Google, Google Maps, Anything that you use your computer for at home, backup flashlight, e-reader, getting up-to-date fire/trail closure info, gaming device, personal doctor (that's a weird looking rash you've got), google wallet/apple pay, emergency beacon, gps unit, something to look at when everyone else is staring into their phones, flora/fauna identifier, star chart, alarm clock, texting, actual phone calls.

You could do all these thing in a town on a computer but those are hard to find, and you don't want to be spending all your town time stuck on a computer, when you could be chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool. You could also borrow people's phones every once in awhile, but you might not be around people when you need them. Honestly, If it's gonna put too large a dent in your budget then it's not totally necessary. But If you can afford it, I think a smartphone would enhance your hike.

Disclaimer: I haven't slept in 48 hours and am utterly addicted to my phone.