GPS and Personal Locators Question

[TomPierce]

Scott: As I mentioned, I have the upgraded version of Gaia, so that's my frame of reference. I find it meets my needs very well, but as with any tech tool you need to play around with it to discover its full functionality. On the one occasion I tapped Gaia's tech support they were very good, helpful and prompt. FWIW, the main competitor to Gaia appears to be Backcountry Navigator. Maybe look over both and settle on the one you like.

As for how I use it, a bit of disclosure. Personally I don't need a GPS or frankly a map for the heavily traveled peaks, e.g. 14ers, etc. There's just so much known about such routes, all I need to know is how to get to the trailhead (driving directions) and whether there are key junctions or problems with a route, usually not the case. Show up and hike Trail X to Trail Y, take a left to the summit, etc. Just no need for a GPS, but that's completely my preference, yours may be different. That aside, a lot of what I find interesting in the last several years is off trail stuff in very remote areas, mostly solo. For that a GPS is a huge time saver and a map just won't cut it (not so effective in pitch dark conditions, not so good finding a specific 20' wide ledge from 5 miles out, etc.). For those applications a GPS is very useful, although I still carry a compass in the event of total system failure, i.e. I know a bearing of X degrees will cause me to bisect a key valley/jeep road/game trail, etc and orient me back to my exit route. My philosophy is to always have a Plan B for any critically important gear, regardless of the type you use. Anyway, back to how I use the gear: So what I'll do is locate a viable route on satellite imagery, eg looking for a ramp across otherwise impassible cliffs. Mark it with a waypoint on the Gaia site on my home PC. Maybe a few more of those, then overlay a topo map to find the best way to get to those bottleneck features, eg avoid unnecessarily steep terrain, look for gaps between features. Then plot several way points to sketch out a route. Keep in mind for what I'm describing there is no trail, no guidebook, no photos, you're on your own, so an elaborately planned route never pans out. You just need to find your key features, how you get there is up to you, and of course you need to find your way back to your truck, often in pitch darkness. So for those applications the Inreach/Gaia combo works well for me.

Finally, I'm a Samsung guy, no help to offer on iPhones, but I suspect if you Google "how to increase battery life for an iPhone#" you'll find lots of info.

Good luck!

-Tom