OnXmaps on Cell Phone

[RobG]

If you get into a location dispute with a landowner, I have been told by a game warden states like WY will not recognize the location from a cell as proof. However, location using GPS is admissable in a dispute. I have not researched further to validate.

Therefore, I use the GPS even though would have preferred to use the app.

I'm no expert, but the cell phone can be used to find location with two methods: 1) cell tower triangulation. 2) GPS. Cell tower triangulation isn't very accurate so that must be what he is talking about. The GPS on your phone makes it a "GPS" so unless some GPS performance standards are required you should be legal, which is not to suggest the game warden knows a gps from a wristwatch so you might get a ticket anyway.

Garmin better get its display and interface technology up to modern standards or they will go bankrupt. The iPhone is so much better in that regard I dread pulling out the Garmin. The problem with the iPhone is they shut off when it is cold and can be ruined if they get wet or drop... just my luck I'd fall off a cliff on a cold, wet day... Battery life is also short and unpredictable.

As Randy11 pointed out you have to download the right layers in advance and it is hard to tell if you got it right until you are in the field. There are a few bugs in the App... I was having a lot of trouble downloading more than a couple sections at a time. Still, it is so awesome I now carry my garmin as a backup for my iPhone.

 

[Epfd217]

I personally use the app on my phone and have had no issues whatsoever. I cache the layers I need at home. You can test the layers at home also so there is no worry about getting in the field and finding out it didn't work.

I bring a small portable battery pack and a small solar panel and that keeps in power with no issues. Whether you choose to carry extra AA batteries for your gps or a power pack for you're phone, it's extra weight. Pick your poison.

The only time the GPS wins is with durability, but that's only a matter of "what ifs". I have used my phone with the OnXmap app in 2 states on several wilderness trips with no problems. I did BWCA as well as a few trips to WY. No problems.

I see no point to own a standalone GPS. My phone is my gps, my camera, e-book and game in the backcountry. It's a single machine that is lighter and thinner, faster and does everything a GPS can, only better. My battery pack and solar panel powers my phone and headlamp.

If everything failed and I lost the phone completely, I have paper maps and a compass and every hunter should .

 

[mtmander]

.....

 

[abqbw]

Maybe there is a problem with my installation or I'm just dumb, but on my iPhone (6 with most current iOS) I am having a real hard time caching maps to use in the field. First, it is very difficult to select the derailed scale maps of a large area because you have to zoom in so much that you loose track of where you are on the map. It's like looking at a wall map through a soda straw. Second, if I do manage to get the proper maps selected the download is as likely to fail as not. The onX iPhone premium maps are so unusable for me that I have given up on them. The GPS products work well.

 

[Epfd217]

I have only used the app on my android phones. I have used it on 3 different samsung devices and have had zero issues.

Full disclosure, I'm beta testing the new V3.0 of the app and I had issues caching maps using the beta app, but I went back to my v2.0 app and had no problems adding layers to the phone. I can't speak to the operability on Iphone or why its hard for you to keep track of yourself on the map. I downloaded an entire Wyoming elk zone and it was a LOT of clicking tiles and ended up being close to 2gigs of data, but I got it saved and have high detail maps of my entire elk zone.

I liken it to viewing your hunt area on Google maps. You can see it from a high up aerial view, and then you zoom way in to see individual water holes or ridges or what have you. I can recognize the area at different levels because I've electronically scouted it enough, whether at home or off the grid while hunting.

 

[hank4elk]

Were I am in NM, a cell or such just roams and eats batteries.
Any of them.
911 calls get dropped here too.....personal experience during a heart attack..
The PC device on my "Smartphone" is off all the time.Or I would not have a cell to make a call in emergency & my cell is usually charging. Or I turn it off to save juice.
Outfiitters and others that use handheld devices are always changing batteries or charging.
I don't know what BF uses when he is here,but I think he is always charging anyway...and or has plenty of state of the art ones to switch to.
I use a Oregon GPS here. That and my pc for full screen viewing/scouting.I have a signal booster that just works,sort of.
The GPS can always find about 12 sat.'s,always works. But it will eat a battery up tracking.
I never track with it and I always have a map & compass.
I do know a sat. phone works.

 

[starvingoutdoorsman]

I used both the App and the Chip. This was my first season with the app and have used the chip for years. Personally, the GPS chip is nice in the fact that it works everywhere. The app is nice because of the layers and the nicer screens. I used the app mainly for scouting in time I was not hunting or when I had service to download Montana BMA maps so I could find sign in boxes when/if I had service. I tried to cache some info on my phone but the area I was hunting and wanted to cache was upwards of 6 GB and I had some issues with it and never ended up working. Ill use both again next season as both had some benefits over the other and were very useful depending on my situation.

 

[WapitiBob]

Some day, somebody will create a pc front end for these phone apps so you can do your internet scouting, map tile transfer, and way point transfers on the laptop/computer just like you currently do with Basecamp and TopoFusion for a GPS. At that point I'll be interested. 5 mouse clicks and I have any type of map, mytopo, ustopo, shaded, sat, etc on my GPS to the limits of the GPS. While I like the idea of the phone, the detail, and the map/layer choices, picking tiles on my phone screen is a non starter.

 

[RobG]

Maybe there is a problem with my installation or I'm just dumb, but on my iPhone (6 with most current iOS) I am having a real hard time caching maps to use in the field. First, it is very difficult to select the derailed scale maps of a large area because you have to zoom in so much that you loose track of where you are on the map. It's like looking at a wall map through a soda straw. Second, if I do manage to get the proper maps selected the download is as likely to fail as not. The onX iPhone premium maps are so unusable for me that I have given up on them. The GPS products work well.

I can figure out which section easy enough - each section is a mile square and when I go to select them I probably have 25 square miles on the screen which is plenty. I'm not sure what the issue is with you on that.

However, I had similar problems with downloading maps after the new release. I reinstalled and did the other stuff the support crew asked and still have the issue. Many times it stalls at 99% download. The only way I've found around it is to only download 3-4 sections at a time. Support was stumped on why it wasn't downloading properly. I'd sure like to get a fix for that.

 

[Epfd217]

Were I am in NM, a cell or such just roams and eats batteries.
Any of them.
911 calls get dropped here too.....personal experience during a heart attack..
The PC device on my "Smartphone" is off all the time.Or I would not have a cell to make a call in emergency & my cell is usually charging. Or I turn it off to save juice.
Outfiitters and others that use handheld devices are always changing batteries or charging.
I don't know what BF uses when he is here,but I think he is always charging anyway...and or has plenty of state of the art ones to switch to.
I use a Oregon GPS here. That and my pc for full screen viewing/scouting.I have a signal booster that just works,sort of.
The GPS can always find about 12 sat.'s,always works. But it will eat a battery up tracking.
I never track with it and I always have a map & compass.
I do know a sat. phone works.

To the comment about needing service. the app allows you to save the map layers you need form home so you don't need service in the field. When I'm out hunting, I keep my phone in airplane mode. This turns off every "antenna" except for the GPS. I follow the maps all day, including tracking and have never run out of battery yet. What ends up killing my battery is reading a book or playing a game while sitting on stand because it keeps the screen on all day.

I don't have a GPS that is compatible with the chips or I would try it. I have an older LOwrance with the Lakemaster chips and I see the usefulness of it, but the screen is tiny and the buttons are not intuitive. A touchscreen cell phone is so much easier to use in the field.

 

[hank4elk]

Heard that.
I have not used the pc part of my phone since I got it and adding an app(whatever that is)would take strong signal to download,which probably will not happen.lol
My flip phone worked fine but finally died.
It would probably take a second for someone to do it..... and probably a 5yr old.....
I'll ask outfitter buddy who works for Intel to see what he can do as he uses his all the time.

Never see the bro in law (or any family really) that was Senior HP language system designer for 30 yrs to do it....hah. My number doesn't seem to work on their Handheld Devices anymore....lol.
,.....as I live the Olden Days!

 

[vanish]

However, I had similar problems with downloading maps after the new release. I reinstalled and did the other stuff the support crew asked and still have the issue. Many times it stalls at 99% download. The only way I've found around it is to only download 3-4 sections at a time. Support was stumped on why it wasn't downloading properly. I'd sure like to get a fix for that.

I was all ready to purchase this app before my last pronghorn hunt. It was very checkerboarded and I needed to know those property boundaries, so I gave the 7 day demo a try. Unfortunately, I could not get map caching to work. They lost a sale for the time being.


(luckily we got signal for most of it, plus I printed a blm ownership map)

 

[RobG]

I was all ready to purchase this app before my last pronghorn hunt. It was very checkerboarded and I needed to know those property boundaries, so I gave the 7 day demo a try. Unfortunately, I could not get map caching to work. They lost a sale for the time being.


(luckily we got signal for most of it, plus I printed a blm ownership map)

You have to monkey with different things, maybe reboot the phone, try downloading only two sections at a time a couple times. I sure wish they would fix this. I've been downloading stuff this morning. I was having problems with the TOPO (USGS) layer but had a little better luck with imagery+topo.

I also have a bunch more sections than I downloaded. Mystery.

 

[WapitiBob]

Map cache isn't included in the 7 day trial if I remember correctly.