user13371

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Taught me a lesson though. Not relying entirely iCloud's Find My device feature - which doesn't do anything until I notice it's lost and try to ping it. My lock screen wallpaper has my email address and home phone number on it now (just like the owner info text on my Garmin)

But back on topic... The folks at Squaretrade did some dunk and drop tests.. Both iPhones survived 10 seconds underwater. After six drops from four feet, iPhone 6 was barely damaged, but iPhone 6 Plus broke. Well duh, it's heavier.

This is pretty much what I do to make bicycle cue sheets for my eTrex 20. Tracks in GOX files are quite a bit simpler and in my experience more portable between different software packages and devices. But you have to watch and follow the line - it's not gonna say " Tuen left in 50 feet." Good enough to follow a bike route, not sure about a plow.

I lost my "GPS" last night - actually, my iPad. Thought I had a pretty good idea of where I left it, backtracked but couldn't find it. As I was closer to public library than home, I dropped in and logged onto one of their computers. Went to iCloud/find page and ... nothing. A head scratcher - gone missing less than an hour before, nearly full battery, cellular data on. No ping meant it was either turned it off or broken. Not good. Regardless, I remotely set it into "lost" mode - to make it beep and display my phone number if anyone turned it back on. This morning I got an email from iCloud saying it was found, with an approximate location. And minutes later my desk phone rang; I made arrangements with the finder to pick it up later today. Asked for her address and the "approximate" location iCloud reported was exactly right. Not bad for an indoor fix with WiFi off. As for why it didn't ping last night? She said she didn't know what the thing was and thinks she turned it off accidentally. Her daughter stopped by this morning, DID know what it was, and turned it back on.

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Indeed. The flip side of that question is how many folks take a Trimble to go biking, hiking, or geocaching? Nice picture - just be careful not to drop your not-waterproofed smartphone over the side...

Yogazoo, you are most gracious! Thank you for allowing the discussion of smartphones to continue in the context of geocaching. There are many apps on iOS that can import and export tarcks and waypoints in GPX format, and there are also lots of GIS apps: http://appshopper.com/search/?cat=&platform=ios&device=universal&search=Gis But for simple folk like me, who never considered "importing my waypoints and tracks into ArcGIS" -- tell me what you have on your GPS to enable that. And while the rest of us were discussing consumer grade gadgets for recreation and other personal navigation - how did professional grade data collection become your key qualifier for true GPS-ness?

This would be the main (only?) draw for me. Unlike many folks, I want to have FEWER toys, not more Interestingly, Apple Watch is listed as working with some older phones (5, 5c, 5s) so would NOT require a 6 or 6 Plus. No mention of working with any iPads though. But if I can use the Watch with the iPad mini I already have, that's one less gadget to buy.

Yogazoo, all of the devices under discussion here are full featured GPSRs, supporting mapping, geocaching, and have a handful of other useful features.

Or this, plain text updated every three minutes: http://www.nstb.tc.faa.gov/incoming/Waas_SV_Status.txt

Someone else did for you; - at least as deep as their bathroom sink.

The newest iPhone includes a separate "motion" processor and a barometric altimeter. New display technology said to improve viewing angles, may improve outdoor readability. Battery life considerably longer than current models - which I don't doubt, but I won't believe any specific numbers until they've been proven in the field. The Apple Watch lets you access a lot of the phone's data (including GPS directional prompts for turns) without taking the phone out of your pocket. It's also a fitness tracker including HRM. But I can't find anything in the specs yet mentioning water-resist or water-proof. The Apple Watch surely needs to be - sure hope the phone is too. Yes, this is a GPS and geocaching related subject because features extend overlap into things the GPSRs do for us now. Main reason an eTrex20 is on my handlebars is because the iThings aren't weatherproof.

Not necessarily. Several mainstream smartphones (Samsung Galaxy S5* comes to mind) are waterproof. And just about anything can be put in an Otterbox or similar ruggedized case. * .

Which Garmin Topo map products?

Red90: Tracks saved as GPX files directly in the eTrex 20, never touched by Basecamp, have a block of data summaries at the top defined in Garmin extensions. All Garmin's extensions are described here: GpxExtensionsv3.xsd, though not every recorded GPX is going to contain every element. Also, some data like timestamps and elevations, are stored with each track point rather than summarized in the header. GPS Visualizer seems to understand many of these and can display a lot of user selected/customizable details. iOS software like Gaia and Motion-X fall short in this respect. Guess what I'm really looking for is an onboard/offline app equivalent of GPS Visualizer. 39_steps: Your point about calculations based on track points (rather than using summaries provided in the extensions) is well taken. Problem is I haven't found any iOS software that will reliably use the track point info either. I took a ride on Monday and the eTrex's trip odometer screen showed a maximum speed of 36.8 MPH at one point and a total distance of 111 miles*. When imported the saved track imported to various programs, they either ignored or showed different values from what was reported on the eTrex's trip screen. * Outer Southeast Portland to Rainier Oregon and back.

provides none of the functionality I'm asking about.

(not specifically a geocaching question, I know, but...) I typically record my hikes and bike rides on my GPS and then import the track to my iPad. I've noted some of the data saved in the GPX files using Garmin extensions (moving time, stopped time, average speed, maximum speed, etc) is not properly interpreted by Motion-X, Gaia, etc. On a PC or Mac, Google Earth does a fair job, and I could probably export the files to GPS Visualizer - but I'd really prefer to use these on my primary device, the iPad. Anybody found good GPX track analysis software on iOS?

Just noticed this morning... But apparently there's been a newer versoon of RavPowers's WiFi disk/fi,ehub thing for some time now... http://www.amazon.com/RAVPower-FileHub-Wireless-Portable-External/dp/B00ICEWB58 Bigger battery but smaller card slot (microSD instead of SD) and addition of DLNA. Wonder if they added/fixed the ability to mount multiple volumes for devices attached via USB (example Garmin internal storage as well as memory card at same time)? I don't NEED a new one at this time, but ...

Well, that's a happy surprise. As I said, I hadn't looked at this for a while - but I just tried both Apple Map and Google Maps while on the train to work. No problem today with the spots that fuddled it when I posted back in April 2013. There's one spot in particular that used to consistently fool it - a spot where a tunnel causes the GPS to lose its fix. When it re-acquired it would always assume I was on the freeway and not figure out it was wrong for a very long time. Followed the track correctly today though. Currently using iPad Mini Retina, iOS 7.1.2.

I haven't looked at this for some time. I'll try Google Maps this morning on the same train commute I mentioned earlier.

"Pin to road" is a known problem, er, "feature" with apps use iOS 6 & 7 location services. I know it's been discussed here before (by me! and others) but I can't find the link right now. Edit to add: aha, here's a good external link to one explanation: http://ilquest.com/2012/11/02/ios-6-is-unusable-for-people-relying-on-accurate-gps-tracks/ And another link here: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=309874

Thanks for that link. It made me look for apps that would work with these on other platforms and I found Vectorial for Windows, Mac, and iOS.

Here we go again: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=323392 See also: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ESF28NK/

I agree the usual style of cable ties look makeshift, and a better clamp to hold it onto handlebars would.be an improvement. But google "low profile cable ties" if a cleaner look is what you're after.