Mobile Phone vrs standalone GPS?

[The3Earligos]

I've been caching using my mobile (cell) phone, a HTC Desire HD.

 

To be honest the phone is a bit of pain, seems to be inaccurate, slow to get GPS lock, maps take forever to load if at and it kills the battery really quickly.

 

What are the benefits of using a standalone GPS unit?

 

It seems like the trouble of not having an internet connection would make it more annoying than any benefits?

 

Is there a way I can hard load maps into my phone, rather than use an internet connection for them?

 

I'm currently using the free android app, is the pay for one any better?

 

I'm due for a phone upgrade, any recommendations for something along the same lines that would be better for caching?

 

Many thanks.

[+Chief301]

I've been caching using my mobile (cell) phone, a HTC Desire HD.

 

To be honest the phone is a bit of pain, seems to be inaccurate, slow to get GPS lock, maps take forever to load if at and it kills the battery really quickly.

 

What are the benefits of using a standalone GPS unit?

 

I think you just answered your own question (see red quote above). Those are some of the things a dedicated handheld do better than a phone. Additionally, they are made to take a tumble, get dunked in water, and generally survive rough handling much better than a phone.

 

It seems like the trouble of not having an internet connection would make it more annoying than any benefits?

 

If you get the proper type of GPS with paperless geocaching capabilities, and learn to use it properly, you could have thousands of caches loaded into the GPS for whatever area you are planning to be in. Yes, it does take a little more planning and forethought before you go out, but once you have it set up and loaded with caches it's almost like using the phone...except that you won't be able to log from the field.

 

Is there a way I can hard load maps into my phone, rather than use an internet connection for them?

 

I'm currently using the free android app, is the pay for one any better?

 

I'm due for a phone upgrade, any recommendations for something along the same lines that would be better for caching?

 

I got started with an iPhone 4 and it works great...very accurate, gets a satellite lock pretty quickly, very good UI on the Groundspeak official app. Battery life and lack of ruggedness are the only real drawbacks, IMHO.

 

Many thanks.

[+crunchewy]

I have an iPhone 4 which I had been using for geocaching, and I just got a Garmin GPSMAP 62sc. The official iPhone app is actually really great. It's awesome for finding caches on the fly, reading logs, etc. You can store caches, maps, etc, for offline use. The only problem with it, and it's significant, is that the GPS accuracy of the iPhone isn't great, especially in the woods, and the battery life is terrible in comparison to the 62sc, although you can help that with external power packs, which I used. Still, this 62sc seems to run forever. I like the 62sc a lot and clearly the accuracy is a lot better, but truth-be-told, I'd much rather have an iPhone with a GPS module that rivals standalone units. Unfortunately that doesn't exist. I even got an external bluetooth GPS module, but it's actually worse than the iPhone's GPS.

 

The 62sc requires a lot more preparation. You can't just find caches nearby that you haven't already loaded onto it like you can with the iPhone app. The satellite maps on the iPhone app are way better than Garmin's Birdseye maps, and are free. Birdseye costs money and downloading the maps is super freaking slow. Also you need to learn where to get free maps and how to install them unless you want to pay for Garmin's expensive maps. But I have found good topo/road maps for Maryland and NY, at least, from gpsfiledepot. And when it comes down to it, the most important thing is the greater accuracy.

 

I will continue to use the iPhone to log finds, to read logs, and to find caches on the fly (which I then can type the coordinates of into the 62sc). So it's not like the official app has lost all of it's uses.

[+Chief301]

Oh, one other advantage of the handheld GPS...although the batteries will last longer than the iPhone battery, if they do happen to die out on the trail, most units operate on regular AA batteries...pop in a fresh set and you're good to go...

[+Lieblweb]

We started with the Iphone (both my husband and I have one each)....and it didn't take long to buy a handheld. After 1 year and 2 months - we now own 2 handhelds, one car GPS, and still carry & use the iphones while caching. Primarily, logging finds immediately, taking pictures, looking at log notes/hints/previous logs,etc.

 

After using the iphones and going to a handheld, I'd never go back to using the iphone to search for caches/GZ. The only time I use the phone to actually search for a geocache, is for FTF's.

[The3Earligos]

Thanks for all of the replies.

 

truth-be-told, I'd much rather have an iPhone with a GPS module that rivals standalone units. Unfortunately that doesn't exist. I even got an external bluetooth GPS module, but it's actually worse than the iPhone's GPS.

 

So none of the bluetooth GPS units are any good? I've had a quick look around and some seems to get good reviews.

 

Which one did you get?

[+Hot Pepper Crew]

Both my wife and I use an iPhone 4s to cache. We've found 95% of our 600+ finds on an iPhone. The only time we even take our dedicated gps caching with us is when we are going caching deep in the woods because the gps isn't very accurate with a heavy tree canopy above. Even then, we use our iPhone to get us in the general area of the cache and then use the dedicated gps to narrow the search.

 

If I had to pick between my iPhone and my gps (eTrex Vista HCx) as my exclusive tool for caching, I would pick my iPhone hands down. The maps are better than anything out there for a gps, no downloading caches, ability to read logs on the fly, etc. make it worth it's weight in gold when caching. Plus I log every cache when I find it, before I set out to find the next one.

 

The only drawback is the battery life. It does eat a lot of battery when caching, but if I'm caching in the car I just plug it in between each cache and it'll go all day and night. If we're in the woods caching I do have to do some battery management, but can make it last for a 4-5 hour hike pretty easily. Today my wife and I went for a 5 mile hike (4 hours, 1000 foot elevation gain) and found 9 caches on the hike, logged them all from the field, and had over 40% battery left when we got back.

[+Hot Pepper Crew]

Forgot to add, a lot of people bring up the fact that the iPhone isn't waterproof. If we're going to cache in the rain, I put it in a snack size ziplock Baggie. It is now waterproof, the touchscreen still works fine, and you can even talk on the phone with it like that. It's what we do when we take our phone on our boat too. Works like a champ!