use old smartphone as gps

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wmihunter
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use old smartphone as gps

Unread postby wmihunter » Thu Nov 17, 2011 2:25 pm

Its my understanding that you can use an old smartphone as a GPS. You can download the maps for free onto an SD card then use the built in satellite on the phone. THis is cheaper than buying a 200 GPS and buying map software. Anyone done it? other suggestions?


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Dewey
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Re: use old smartphone as gps

Unread postby Dewey » Thu Nov 17, 2011 3:08 pm

Interesting idea. I love having the aerial maps on my iPhone because the resolution is unbelievable compared to the maps on my Garmin Oregon. As far as for navigating in the woods I still prefer my GPS especially for managing all of my waypoints. I also love the track log on my GPS for tracking where I walk and it works great to zoom in to 20 feet for backtracking out of your hunting spots in the dark. A smartphone just does not have enough capabilty like a dedicated GPS unit has.

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Re: use old smartphone as gps

Unread postby bowhunter15 » Thu Nov 17, 2011 3:32 pm

I have both a GPS and a smartphone. And I'm glad I have both because the GPS features on my phone are TERRIBLE. Seriously, I'll have it sitting on the dash driving on a highway and it'll take 15 minutes to acquire a signal. Forget about getting a signal in the woods.

One of my buddies has an iPhone and it works better. Not sure if my phone has a bad GPS or what. The other thing about having an actual GPS unit is that you don't burn through the phone's rechargeable batteries while in the woods. Replacing AAs in the field is much easier than carrying a portable battery pack and hooking up a USB to slowly recharge a phone.

Plus, with a lot of newer GPS units you can put any .jpg map (topo, aerial, custom Microsoft paint, bird's eye, etc) you want on the unit for FREE using Google Earth. There are tutorials on youtube that show how to do this. I know it works for Garmin's but not sure about other brands.

The biggest thing for me though would be the lack of signal gathering ability of a smartphone in heavy cover vs a GPS.
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Re: use old smartphone as gps

Unread postby mnbowfisherman33 » Thu Nov 17, 2011 3:45 pm

I use Backcountry Navigator on my phone, and really like it. It is $ 9.99 on the android market, so its not cheap when it comes to apps. The downfall is it kills your battery pretty fast. Other than that you can switch between arials and topos, use waypoints, download map tiles for use when you have no cell phone coverage, record tracks, keep statistics on your tracks, theres a compass, ect....
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cornfedkiller
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Re: use old smartphone as gps

Unread postby cornfedkiller » Fri Nov 18, 2011 2:04 am

Dewey wrote:Interesting idea. I love having the aerial maps on my iPhone because the resolution is unbelievable compared to the maps on my Garmin Oregon. As far as for navigating in the woods I still prefer my GPS especially for managing all of my waypoints. I also love the track log on my GPS for tracking where I walk and it works great to zoom in to 20 feet for backtracking out of your hunting spots in the dark. A smartphone just does not have enough capabilty like a dedicated GPS unit has.

[ Post made via iPhone ] Image


Couldnt agree more!

Not sure what you are using for the mapping on your phone, but I guessing just the map application that comes on the phone?? If you buy MotionX GPS (NOT the drive one - which is really good for driving though) you can mark waypoints and stuff, which comes in handy sometimes.. Like you mentioned, I still prefer my handheld gps unit for marking waypoints, trails, etc, but sometimes its nice to be able to mark stuff on your phone in case you want to see the gps coords of something on an aerial photo... Definitely worth the 3 or 4 bucks they charge for it..

Sorry to the OP for hijacking..


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