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One of Us |
I am looking to buy a GPS for a young tech savvy outdoorsman. Its use will be for hiking hunting in NA and in the Africa. Recommendations? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ J. Lane Easter, DVM A born Texan has instilled in his system a mind-set of no retreat or no surrender. I wish everyone the world over had the dominating spirit that motivates Texans.– Billy Clayton, Speaker of the Texas House No state commands such fierce pride and loyalty. Lesser mortals are pitied for their misfortune in not being born in Texas.— Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to Texas in May, 1991. | ||
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He won't need a separate device for GPS, just a phone app and subscription like onX Hunt. | |||
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| One of Us |
Zolio, satellite texting, SOS, can send location and can download maps. works through your phone. I think it does more but that's all we do with ours. ON X is great too if you just want to have a map. | |||
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What about where you’re out of cellular range. Some places we go have no signal and sometimes I still use my sat phone. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ J. Lane Easter, DVM A born Texan has instilled in his system a mind-set of no retreat or no surrender. I wish everyone the world over had the dominating spirit that motivates Texans.– Billy Clayton, Speaker of the Texas House No state commands such fierce pride and loyalty. Lesser mortals are pitied for their misfortune in not being born in Texas.— Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to Texas in May, 1991. | |||
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| Administrator |
There is an app, GAIA, that does not require cell reception to work. Professional hunters in Africa use it all the time to map their routes. | |||
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I used a Garmin Etrex30 to mark these locations, and put them on Google Earth.  | |||
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. Garmin Instinct 2X Solar Watch. Hooks up to Sat without need for any licenses, GPS tracking, vitals, altitude, solar power battery plus charger, also run tracking dog collar off of watch and so much more! I never leave home without it ! Used it in Europe, Africa and Stans! . "Up the ladders and down the snakes!" | |||
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Lana, Saeed is 100% correct on GAIA. I use it for all my off grid cycling, fishing, hunting or whatever. No cellular needed. It is FAR easier to use than X hunt. I've tried it. Formerly "Nganga" | |||
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| One of Us |
Saeed and Steve are correct. Gone are the days of separate handheld GPS units. Gaia (with the Premium subscription) is vastly superior. No young hunter will want a GPS unit. Get him a subscription to Gaia Premium and he'll be set. | |||
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| One of Us |
None of the apps require cell reception to work, they use the GPS in the phone. The critical part is that you need to download in advance the offline map for the area you will be in, if it does not have cell reception. Any decent app has that function. The downside to phones rather than dedicated GPS units is the battery life. If it's critical to rely on that app you better have a backup power bank handy. | |||
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| One of Us |
If it's just for orienting and pinning locations these are great, if you also want to message I'm not sure that's possible. With Garmin InReach you can text message, which can be a life saver at times (and not as expensive as a satellite phone). | |||
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| One of Us |
I just used InReach on a hiking trip to Mt Everest and the sat msging feature worked flawlessly. Although I find the Garmin apps a little clunky and the nav feature is far less user friendly than OnX. When Starlink's direct-to-cell service launches it's going to put a whole lot of companies / products like InReach and sat phones out of business. They just got FCC approval to launch with TMobile. Initially it will only be msging and later voice. It would have launched earlier if ATT & Verizon weren't busy suing them to slow them down as their competing satellites haven't got off the ground yet. | |||
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 Is this the correct app y’all are speaking of? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ J. Lane Easter, DVM A born Texan has instilled in his system a mind-set of no retreat or no surrender. I wish everyone the world over had the dominating spirit that motivates Texans.– Billy Clayton, Speaker of the Texas House No state commands such fierce pride and loyalty. Lesser mortals are pitied for their misfortune in not being born in Texas.— Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to Texas in May, 1991. | |||
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Yes. | |||
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| One of Us |
All this sounds like Greek to me. I'm like you Lane, most of the places I hunt don't have cell service. I'd really like to get one that works without cell service, but does it need a sat phone? | |||
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| One of Us |
My firm has offered to loan me one of their sat phones when I go before and I've always turned them down. Might have to do that next year though given I get back from a 21 full bag a week out from trial. | |||
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| One of Us |
Careful with accepting a company phone as you might find yourself spending most of your time working rather than hunting. | |||
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| Administrator |
I have been taking a Garmin Etrex unit with me for years. Very small, and fits in my pocket. I use it to mark the camp, and each time we stop to follow anything, I mark the truck. I also mark the locations of shooting animals. For communications I do have a sat phone. Used to be very useful. But now all safari camps have Internet access, so communications is easier. Garmin watches have several facilities that can be useful too. I don't like carrying my phone while hunting, as I don't want to lose it. My phone stays in camp, and I carry the sat phone for emergencies in my camera bag which stays in the truck. | |||
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Saeed, Sounds sensible. I share Fulvio's concern which is why I wouldn't carry the firm sat phone in the past. But in 2017 I hunted in Masailand where I had cell service and I implemented some rules that worked, although they wore me out. I had cell service in camp and I took calls once I got into camp, which was generally between 7 and 9 my time, 8 hours earlier US time. I insisted on an hour for dinner uninterrupted and would then get back on the phone until midnight my time, which was an absolute cut off. I'd get up at 5 my time, 9 pm US time and give them an hour before I left camp. Then I was off the grid until the next evening. It's amazing how much folks can handle on their own when they have to. | |||
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Unlike you, I do not like to deal with work while out on safari. My phone is off. I use it to make calls, and then switch it. In the past one, one of my managers kept insisting that he has access to call me. Took him to our pool, where I had an African drum. The one that is almost 4 feet tall. Started beating it in different patterns, telling him to do that and wait for an answer! He wasn't impressed, but got the massage. | |||
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| One of Us |
Saeed, Too funny. Now I need to find a drum. Would good in my office. | |||
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One of Us |
To think that it was not until the 1770s, when Captain Cook proved the efficacy of the K1 chronometer, that anyone could reliably know where he was on the globe. We live in astonishing times. Mike Wilderness is my cathedral, and hunting is my prayer. | |||
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