Cell phone GPS?

[fasteddie]

I laughed when I read Ohio farms post . It appeared to be in jest . No harm - no foul ! [8|]

[SwampLife]

ORIGINAL: fasteddie

I laughed when I read Ohio farms post . It appeared to be in jest . No harm - no foul ! [8|]

same here.

WW is an oldschool guy and is proud of it.

He is our Local Tred Barta...

oops, hopefully that wasn't more offensive than Ohio Farms' post[:D]

[berudd]

So back to the point, I expect that the GPS performance of the low end cell phones will be poor for your useage.  I have used three high end phones (HTC Mogul and Touch Pro and iPhone) and find that they can struggle to get GPS signal while in the woods.  The iPhone seems to have more challenges in that regard.  As far as out of the box the HTC phone had awesome turn by turn GPS for while you are driving but I never tried to use it to find my way on foot.  With the iPhone you can overlay Google maps to your position and see a satalite picutre of where you currently are.  Also, for GPS functionality I have used the phone screen had to stay on.  This will drain a cell phone battery pretty quick.  I guess you could set a way point, turn it off, walk a bit and then turn it on to check it again later but that can be a pain in the butt if it is low to aquire a signal.  If you have a choice between several phones in your price range and one has GPS give it a spin.  But I think if you way extra for a low end phone with GPS you might be disappointed with it's preformance.  And if all you want is GPS and not the extra features of the smart phone, just buy a GPS.  You can get good ones for under 200 bucks.  I will say my iPhone is a very cool gadget and I use it a lot.  And they are not all $500.  I got a refurbished one directly from AT&T for $50.  It is not the latest model but it is 3G and has real GPS not the similated stuff in the first model.  With the iPhone you are, for now, locked into AT&T but that may change sometime this year. 

[brchestnuts@msn.com]

Its not the buying, but the USEING of a cell phone w/GPS to consider.  Where does it stand in your list of "Stuff" to get to improve your hunting odds?  If a heaviely traveled topographical deer funnel is split by two properties [really low odds of that], and you want to hunt 30-60 yards off of the property line, well so would they.  It will only take one "busted" by them for the area to turn nocturnal, at least for big bucks. DO you want to waste your time?  Instead, as "they" always say, to improve your odds, scout and know your hunting area.   On the flip side, quickly relocating a fishing hole on a large body of water, DOES make for a more enjoyable day.  Eventually cell phones with a GPS will become common, and less expensive.   
 
For me, in the mountains of SW Virginia, I use a map, and spent my $'s at Forestry Supply on a very good Silva compass [+ how too book] and an Oregon Scientific $50-$60 NOAA radio [fits into a shirt pocket].  Attach "ear buds" to it to quietly listen for when a changing-wind-direction front will arrive [= change stands].  Use a map's broader picture & a compass to Id & get you to a Topo-deer travel corridor.  You will know it when you find it.  Deer have been traveling the corridor for hundreds of years, because it is the easiest and fastest way to transverse that strech of land.  Learn all this from "Mapping Trophy Bucks", and "How to Hunt in Any Weather".  I get elevated with a Lone Wolf hang-on.  It is the easiest to pack-in and take-down and put-up, to re-locate when a wind change [ie. thermals and fronts].  Read reviews in "Midway Gunsmith Supply".  Now that I have all this "stuff" I'll consider a small, inexpensive, GPS locator just to shave a few minutes of time off of finding a stand location during astronomical twilight.
Best of luck

[DeanoZ]

I had actually researched this not long ago as I was looking to do the same thing and since I already carried my cell phone (a BB) into the woods with me, I just assume not carry one more gadget if I can help it.  To start with EVERY phone on the market now has GPS..it has to by law to allow law enforcement/SAR the ability to triangulate a call location placed from a cell phone.  The kicker and first thing you need to ascertain is the type of cell service you receive by virtue of the company that supports your wireless plan.  If its verizon, they utilize cell towers, which means your location, utilizing one of the many different wireless mapping applications (Google Maps being one of them)is only good to within a couple hundred meters at best and most often between 900-1200 meters...not exactly the accuracy your looking for.  So if your looking for something that is going to give your location within a gnats a** make sure you go with a provider who offers SATCOM service like AT&T.  As for the actual applications, I-phone apps and Blackberry apps appear to be the most prolific...there are dozens out there some free and some with a modest one time fee(anywhere from $6 -$25)..and some of these are very good, providing everything that a conventional GPS will provide to include waypoints, UTM/Lat/Long coord, topographic maps, and Ariel overlays. The best ones I've seen thus far are the I Phone mapping apps, but as others pointed out its all relative to getting a signal.  For now I'm holding out for an I Phone.