Do I still need my Garmin Etrex Vista GPS or can I just use my iPhone with an App?

score:5

Accepted answer

The core differences between a phone app and a dedicated handheld gps are:

  • battery life - the gps will have much longer battery life, but you have a charger for your phone so as long as you get enough sun you'll be fine. What's the weather like where you are heading?
  • ruggedness - gps devices are considerably stronger than an iPhone. Generally they are waterproof as well. Again, this may not be an issue, unless you fall in a river...
  • sensitivity - dedicated gps hardware is often much better at ascertaining your position. This may or may not be useful for you - in steep sided mountain ravines it can make all the difference.

So if you don't need any of those features, go with your phone. Personally I'd always take the gps unit and my phone. And while I may log my track on the phone as well, my core nav service would be the gps, and my comms service would be the phone.

Upvote:3

I would say no; your iPhone is not replacement for a dedicated GPS unit when you are in rugged outdoor conditions. The biggest reason is sensitivity. I keep my data off on my phone unless I want to use it, and I have frequently run into situations in which my phone will not acquire a GPS location without first knowing its approximate location from the data service. This was most noticeable in Europe (cities not wilderness) when I didn't have any data access and the GPS would not acquire despite multiple attempts over a number of days. Your phone may be more sensitive than mine, but I wouldn't risk it.

At the very least, test the ability of your phone to acquire a GPS position in random areas when it doesn't already have an approximate idea of where it is from the data service.

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