[InFlight]

[DIYSteve]

[schifferj]

Lot of map and compass guys on here. I learned the art of map and compass from my father when I was a boyscout. He, in turn, learned from the US Army during WW II. I perfected my skills during the SE Asia conflict. All that said, I would much rather go afield with a good GPS (my current one is a garmin 600). That GPS provides me with a plethora of information not available on any paper map I've ever seen. It will tell me exactly (and very accurately I might add) exactly how much elevation gain (loss) I will encounter between my present location and my destination. It will tell me when I'll get there. It will leave a track for me to follow back to my starting point. It will allow me to mark as many or as few waypoints as I need along the way. I can sight a spot in the distance and using sight and go mark a waypoint to navigate to. As an aside I've been using GPS as a navigation tool from it's infancy. The first one I used was the size of a carry on suitcase and there were several antennae mounted on my aircraft. It was in it's developmental stages at the time and using it we could and did bomb the eyes out of a snake. Bottom line, I love GPS. I never go out without it. I've never had one fail and I've used a lot of them. I do still carry a manual compass (and know how to use it) but never pull it out as there is one on my gps that works just as well or better as I can be moving along using it.

[Randito]

When GPS devices were a recent invention with little track record for reliablity, the idea that one should always carry a map and compass as a backup to a GPS made perfect sense. These days it seems that GPS devices have built a reputation for reliability than seems sufficent to render the "backup" notion into the "belt and suspenders" category. Sure a GPS unit can still fail (more more likely run out of battery) but it's also possible to for a compass to break or fail (big bubbles in the bezel for example) and have a map ruined. After all how many people still bring flint and tinder in addition to matches and a lighter?

[DIYSteve]

Wait. You're equating map & compass to flint & tinder?

[Schenk]

I think it is more like bringing a lighter or matches as a back up to the piezo igniter on your stove.

[Randito]

[thunderhead]

Anyone use Gaia on an android phone? I have seen a sudden rash of negative reviews for it on the android platform. Looking for a replacement for my garmin map app, which have become a major battery drain in the latest editions.

[Navy salad]

I have it on my Android phone. If you search for it on the site, you'll find a post I made a while back about how you can get GAIA for free if you're in the Mountaineers club. My opinion of it in a nutshell:

• The maps display far better on a large screen, high-res phone than a small-screen GPS -- so this is a big win for GAIA
• Using GAIA, my phone is able to get a satellite lock in seconds, whereas my dedicated GPS takes much longer (sometimes a couple minutes). Plus, GAIA is able to use the Russian GPS satellites, whereas my GPS only uses U.S. satellites. Another win for GAIA.
• The battery life is far worse on a phone (even assuming airplane mode) than a dedicated GPS. To me, this is the major disadvantage, but the app is still a nice backup GPS assuming you take your phone with you.
• There are lots of good maps and routes (almost so many routes that it's confusing) you can download from the GAIA website
• The documentation for GAIA is scanty. There's an old manual, but as I recall, it's pretty out-of-date.
• At least on my unit, ever since I moved the GAIA app from system memory to my memory card, the response time is much slower and sometimes it just crashes. But the App, including maps, takes up too much space to keep it on my main phone memory. Maybe I need a more modern memory card?
• In summary, on my last two multi-day trips, I didn't use GAIA once although I used my dedicated GPS a few times each day.

[DIYSteve]

I downloaded GAIA a couple months ago. It's a cool app. I use if for bicycle rides and some hikes, although I use my dedicated GPSr for bigger trips.

[thunderhead]

[DIYSteve]

Per my rough measurements, my Garmin eTrex 10 with WAAS and GLONASS turned off, no tracking, gets 40-55 hours from fully charged NiMH AA cells: More specifically Eneloop = 40-45 hours, Eneloop Pro = c. 48-52 hours, Powerex = 50-55 hours. My 60CSX battery life is about half of that.

[Navy salad]

[ejain]

Had Gaia, but got fed up having to download map tiles prior to every hike, found the process to be slow and often flaky, especially since I'm using the phone as a backup only. Using OsmAnd now. Since this app uses vector maps rather than image tiles, I can keep all of WA on my phone all the time (~300mb).

[DIYSteve]