How do the GPS systems in the most up to date mobiles compare withe the likes of Satmap Garmin et al
How do the GPS systems in the most up to date mobiles compare withe the likes of Satmap Garmin et al
I use View Ranger on a Samsung Touch screen and its very good, I have never used Satmap so cant compare but View Ranger is very slick.
The biggest problems with the phone type systems compared to dedicated units seems to be battery life.
it very much depends upon what you want a gps for. a dedicated unit probably offers far more funtionality than something bolted onto another device.
i have no experience of mobile phone gps but have used garmins and now have a satmap.
Hello Mark,
I have an iphone 4 (which I Love) and a Satmap 10. I have downloaded a free Ap called Imapmyhike which is very impressive but it does need a 3g connection to load basic goole maps but not to recored a route as it uses the built in GPS. I do have an OS ap too but again it needs a phone connection to view the maps and it often isnt available for some reason. I know there are are other aps for Memory map and Anquet but haven't used these. On top of the poor battery life of the iphone i wouldn't have it out in the open in wet weather as it would cost a fortune to replace. I also think the Satmap is fantastic as i have mentioned before I wouldn't want to be with out it. The battery pack that i think comes with the Active 10 sport or as an extra works for hours and quite often i will get a couple of walks out of it before needing to recharge . On top of that its waterproof and I never worry about it getting wet. So summing up in my opinion the Iphone is great but no substitute for my Satmap 10 on the hills.
Hope this helps
James
Thanks guys that is some food for thought.
Haven't made up my mind but if only you could get a weather forecast on a Satmap!
Battery-wise I get about 10 hours out of my Nokia 5800 running Viewranger in tracking mode - on all the time (most recently was last weekend on an overnight backpack where I doubt the balmy temperatures helped).
The phone is more delicate than a mapping unit I would guess; but mobile units that are rugged are appearing.
Personally I mainly use a Geko 301 for navigation; having the Viewranger phone is great (as I take a phone anyway) - and great fun for a quick fix and reassurance. On multi-day trips battery life is an issue - and here the Geko wins out over any mobile unit; not sure about battery life for the Satmap and its ilk.
Again, it is I guess about what you want to do and how you choose to do it. I love the idea of converged ubiquitous technologies.....but they are not quite there yet IMO.
And paper maps are so last Century.
"converged ubiquitous technologies" ...highlight and into dissertation...
Runs plagiarism checker....
Plagiarism is so last century
I too use Satmap and currently it does appear to be the best of the bunch. Granted I like the big screen as my eyesight ain't great when it comes reading but I find it does the job very well indeed.
And as one other poster alluded to, it's most definately waterproof, having taken mine for an unscheduled swim a couple of weeks back!
If it has one tiny weakness, it's the battery life if you don't use the power saving settings, but that apart, I can only praise it.
I don't like the idea of using a phone app as it will shorten the battery time considerably and you never know when you might actually need to make a call, rather than working out where you are. In this case, I'd rather carry two bits of kit.
im a new owner of a satmap and so far think its great though havnt been out for any greatlength of time yet, seems easy to operate its just im not really a techy so having to keep trial and error to get what i want out of it. havnt got a smart phone so cant comment on that. i did try to get satmap owners interested in a mini meet to help each other out but didnt really get off the ground
I don't have a satmap but have used a couple of various smartphone applications.
I used Quo ona windows based mobile with the mapping and in built gps. Positioning was good but drawback is battery life. I've used a free app on my old nokia 5800 but found the in built gps a bit slow. However on my new android htc, the inbuilt gps and a free grid reference locator is great as I take laminated pages out with me. I only need to know my location rather than navigate with a device.
I use Trekbuddy with my Blackberrry Bold, I did a 41km walk with an overnight camp in the Cairngorms on Friday / Saturday, the battery on the phone lasted 33 hours. The battery ran out about 2 hrs before I finished, I foolishly left the phone on during the night,had I turned it off, the battery would have lasted the whole walk.
Using my phone with mapping software is a bonus, I primarily use map and compass, but seeing your position on a screen, and using waypoints to keep you informed of exactly how many meters away your next destination is, is quite coolI installed TrekBuddy on my sons HTC Desire, and it looks a lot better with the bigger screen, I dont think the battery would last as long though.
I have a SatMap (amongst many GPS devices) and am very pleased with it. I also use Quo so would probably look at the Lowrance devices next time around.
Cheers
Steve D
wow
just looked at the Satmap and saw the price of the maps!
living in Belgium the best I could get would be the whole country at 1:50k for £86
then throw in say the Vosges (Alsace £102 1:25k), maybe parts of the Alps (??),and a couple of UK national parks at 1:25k (£102 each) wouldstart to get very expensive, especially for something that is incompatible with anything else and can't be updated
I've used the Satmap since it first came out and think it's a good, reliable, rugged unit that meets my varied outdoor needs [sounds dodgy] very well.
I've started playing with mapping/gps functions on my Android compatible phone. The basic problems for me are the lack of robustness in the build of the phone [a Sony Ericsson Experia X10] for outdoor use, and the fact that the touchscreen doesn't work with wet/cold/gloved fingers. May be less of an issue with other phones, but these two factors rule out using my phone as a gps unit.
Ben
I tend to buy the maps when they are on offer, plus I am a mapping geek and will have maps of the same area on handheld, quo, paper, etc. But it would make sense to standardise on the quo/lowrance system.
Steve D
I see that the Quo maps are still about £60 for e.g. 1:25k Lakes or Snowdonia. Also nothing outside UK except Ireland and Slovenia (!?).
Isdigital mapping often on offer? What kind of discounts can you get?
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