Mobile Phone with GPS

[Skalman79]

Read an article recently on how more and more travelers are ditching their gps units and just using their mobile phones for navigation.
Just wondered what is the difference between using just a pure gps unit like a garmin model or whatever or using a mobile phone for your gps needs for the basic user...
Obviously advanced trackers and navigation people would use a garmin or similar as i guess it would have a lot more navigation options than a phone?

[Leon]

Read an article recently on how more and more travelers are ditching their gps units and just using their mobile phones for navigation.
Just wondered what is the difference between using just a pure gps unit like a garmin model or whatever or using a mobile phone for your gps needs for the basic user...
Obviously advanced trackers and navigation people would use a garmin or similar as i guess it would have a lot more navigation options than a phone?

I use my phone and it works well, a phone pda is also good for downloading books onto and field/ID guides etc. Downside is battery life, upside is u can usually turn the phone bit off and just use PDA and GPS ;) memory map works very well.

[JonnyP]

I use my phone and it works well, a phone pda is also good for downloading books onto and field/ID guides etc. Downside is battery life, upside is u can usually turn the phone bit off and just use PDA and GPS ;) memory map works very well.
What field guides have you got..? I have Collins e guide for birds, but do not know of any other guides. But then I have not looked..:rolleyes:
Memory map does work well, like you say, but I cannot link my gps to it..??
Mobile phones are a good safety thing to have with you when out and about, so why not have one with a GPS built in..

[DKW]

I find the multigadgets, like phones with gps (eg. nokia or sony ericsson), or them pdas, absolutely useless for navigating purposes, if you want to go offroad.

They are slow, very low precision, very low battery lofe, and they are not designed to be used as a "true" gps system, but merely as a "navigator" eg. road.

I have had numerous of them, and truly wanted to use them instead of my old workhorse, the trusty old yellow garmin. And my honest opinion: if a 300£ brandnew navigator cant beat a 10 year old 70£ garmin etrex, then i simply won't bother.

yeah. you can have topographic maps in the phone or pda, but you shouldn't be walking about armed only with an electronic gizmo, you should at least have a good updated map and compass on you anyhow. And the "true" gps, like the eTrex, can do only one thing, but one thing very good: give you the direction to a waypoint you have coded in, with an average accuracy of 7-12 meters, i sometimes have an astonishing 2,5 meter accuracy on it.

It will run for 1-2 days, nonstop on 4 standard AA batteries. You would normally turn it off after you walk, every day, so it will give you a week or more on 4 batteries. And this is 10 year old technology, for a bargain price, i would think modern day gps's would be even better and last longer.

If not, go for an old school gps 12. Does the job, the simplest way possible.

Just my few penneth worth ;)

[Skalman79]

Good points....never thought of the idea of the phone also being a small information library as well, thats a great idea there. Bring a longs one of those silva solar chargers and you should last out in the boonies for a while....so how good is the gps exatly with a mobile phone or does it vary a lot depending on the phone?
Im not big on navigating around, just need the bare neceseties so thought a phone gps would do me well, any ides on a good one? Also like the idea of being able to store information on there, wild plants, animal life etc....great idea, cant see me carrying around a ton of books for that....
And as long as theres a little sunshine, should be able to recharge the phone every other day or so depending on usage?

[Leon]

I have a Tytn phone and the GPS seems to be accurate,.. although i would never set off without a paper copy and a compass. Never let me down in the time i have tried it but at the end of the day its more liable to fail than a single unit GPS.
I wont ever go anywhere bushying or walking somewhere i dont know like the back of my hand... if not its a compass and map. The guides i have downloaded in pdf from a few places, mainly just other peoples guides. I will have a look through them and post links, mainly wild food bits and bobs.
You can cache whole ID kind of websites to view offline which can be handy.

[JonnyP]

I have a Tytn phone and the GPS seems to be accurate,.. although i would never set off without a paper copy and a compass. Never let me down in the time i have tried it but at the end of the day its more liable to fail than a single unit GPS.
I wont ever go anywhere bushying or walking somewhere i dont know like the back of my hand... if not its a compass and map. The guides i have downloaded in pdf from a few places, mainly just other peoples guides. I will have a look through them and post links, mainly wild food bits and bobs.
You can cache whole ID kind of websites to view offline which can be handy.
I have never thought of putting pdf files onto the phone.. Cheers for that.. :)