BigBendFishing.Net

Good afternoon all-


This weekend my friend Steve and I went turkey hunting in a swamp that I am fairly familiar with but it changes some from year to year, especially when it fills up with water and some of my landmarks go underwater. I have a GPS that is about 10 years old and it created an issue this weekend. We did a little more exploring of the property that we hadn't checked out before. I knew roughly where I was but we wanted to head back to the truck and I figured the "quickest" way would be to follow the GPS to some known trails that will get us back pretty quick. Long story short, the GPS doesn't update our progress as quickly as we move through the heavily canopied woods (and we don't move fast at all....I'm a bit of a klutz so try not to move so fast that I'll face plant in the mud). As a result, we ended up meandering through the woods as opposed to actually heading to the trail, me getting frustrated and us taking much longer to get through the woods because I seriously began doubting my ability to read a GPS.


So I am in need of updating to a new GPS. Here is the caveat....it needs to be large screened so that it can be read fairly easily without having to dig out reading glasses or wondering where the heck we are trying to go because the screen is so small you can see where you are but you can't tell where you want to go. Are there tablet sized GPSs out there? I'm not overly worried about it being big. We need something to navigate the woods that we both can read.


Thanks a lot...


Danibeth

Oh and it was suggested to me by someone else that perhaps there are apps out there for this kind of thing? If there are, are there good ones that are not geared towards driving but the ability to use them in the woods? Also, I know so little about apps....can a gps app be used if your cell phone loses cell reception?

We use android and iphone if someone has a good gps mapping app they can recommend

I have had good luck using the "BackCountry Navigator" app on my Android phone. They have a free version you can demo - the paid version was only about 10 dollars a few years ago. A GPS app like this will work when you don't have cell service - the catch is the "map" image will be slow to load or non-existent if you don't have cell service. The trick is to download and save map files (I just use free USGS topo maps) for areas you are going to hunt - you can do right from the app. I mainly use its "record a track" feature which records your trail and you can tell where you are going on the map. You can also save waypoints like a traditional GPS. It does use a fair amount of battery power. Some other popular GPS apps out there are Hunt Stand and Trimble but this is what I've used.

If you want a free app, download open street maps and it has 4 free map downloads and just download the topo map for the us.

I am not sure you are going to find one that will work under tree canopy. Even our survey - grade receivers that cost upward of $25k will not get good lock. Also, some types of trees seem to have more effect than others. Pines, even though they are not thick broad-leafed trees seem to bother our receivers more than some other trees. Lightning and (believe it or not) solar flare -ups on the sun also have some effect.

One of the best handhelds I have used for keeping lock is that older style Garmin with the rhino horn antenna. Mine doesn't work any more, but it held lock and locked on quicker than any of the other handhelds I have used. Some of the handhelds have a feature under "Settings" that allows you to increase or decrease the frequency that it looks for position updates. If you are moving slowly, reduce the time between updates to as little as possible.

The Garmin still has a small screen and is not going to help with the eyeglass problem.

- Steve Stinson

I was about to say the same thing about apps. Unless you have a completely uninterrupted signal you will be frustrated. Go old-school with pre-loaded maps like a garmin.

Thanks y'all.

Steve, I had hoped you might chime in since I knew that you do land surveying. I will see if my current Garmin has the ability to change the settings for update time. I am not sure that it does and I never thought of that as a possibility.

If you can't adjust yours for more frequent refresh, check out eBay. Lots of older, simple style Garmin units on there for under $150.