Maps on your phone (cheap or free)

[Aldaron]

$3 a month? Yeah, that's a deal breaker for pretty much any software for me.

 

[Upgrayedd]

I love Gaia on my iPhone and iPad.

Agreed. Big fan of Gaia. In the grand scheme of things it's dirt cheap and worth every penny.

 

[Vegan.Hiker]

Btw, just for poops and giggles, I recorded my Gaia tracks on my flight last weekend. It was interesting to watch the speedometer during takeoff and orient myself over the Great Lakes.

 

[Stapley]

"U.S Topo Maps" on my s5 has been awesome.

 

[Mike K]

Tried my new setup on my Galaxy S5 for a 3 nighter in the Uintas and I was pleased with the results.

Backcountry Navigator (Pro) (Android) - I downloaded the app, created a track and some waypoints in MapSource, loaded them, used CalTopo and it worked out well. I didn't love the app nor did I hate it. I guess there's always a learning curve with a new app and trying to figure out how to do things. I didn't like the way to GoTo worked - I wanted a better stats screen for the Goto (maybe it's there somewhere). And the app seemed a little clumsy at times. But overall, it got the job done just fine.

Camera - I also used my phone for my camera. Pics turned out ok. I'm a little fuzzy on when to use HDR and when not to. It's best when there's a harsh contrast in lighting, right? Comments welcome.

Book - I downloaded an ebook and read it using the Kindle app. This was a first and I loved not having to take a paperback book!

Tunes - We're always in "get-the-heck-out" mode at the end of our trip. The three of us were hiking FAST and we got a little spread out so I opted to listen to some music. It was awesome and made 7ish mile hike out go quickly.

Summary - Using the phone as an all-in-one backcountry solution is awesome. I should have done it sooner. There are some compromises here and there but overall it was great. I do need to get some extra batteries (or something to charge) for my phone...especially if I want to "track" and leave the GPS on. I loved that the S5 is waterproof. Came in handy while glissading and when we got caught in a hailstorm. =)

Thanks for all the help guys. I'll post a few pics somewhere...

 

[LarryBoy]

That's a cool gadget to charge!

Well, I got a book downloaded, plenty of tunes, I got the mapping app installed, some maps tiles cached (I hope - still need to figure out if it saved on my SD or my phone), got some waypoints and a track uploaded...I think I'm good to go. I'm curious to see how much life I get out of my battery. A spare or two will be good for longer trips. Luckily, this trip is straight forward and I won't even really need the navigation app. Thanks guys. I'll let you know how it goes.

For reference sake, I managed to lose my map pack (long story) in the middle of Beef Basin, miles and miles from anything resembling civilization. Had to navigate about 10 miles overland to get into Dark Canyon without a map. I would have been toast without Backcountry Navigator Pro. Turning on Location (Galaxy S5) a few times an hour to make sure I was on track, I got about 4 days out of 40% of a battery charge.