To I-phone or Not to I-phone

I have had some fun playing with nav apps, taking pictures, and recording my track with my I-phone. Whenever someone wants to know exactly where we are I show them the Gaia map on my phone.
However, there are a few advantages of taking pictures with my little Lumix camera (more pixels, more zoom for example). I also am an ardent supporter of carrying a paper map and compass in spite of the phone map and compass because the batteries in the phone don't last forever, especially with two GPS apps running.

So I am considering leaving the phone at home or well-hidden in the car when I hike. I liked the Under Armour app and all the data it reports (distance and elevation gain and pace for example), but those can also be easily calculated.
Do you carry a phone with nav. apps? Why or why not?

I carry an iPhone but no navigation apps (except for the Maps app it comes with, which is for highway navigation.) I carry the phone because most places I go (in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana) have cell service so I can call my wife each night (I hike alone and, at age 72, she worries - or so she claims.)

I don't use nav apps mostly because I'm too lazy to learn how. I began backpacking before cell phones or internet, and all we had was maps. I never go off-trail any more, and the trips I take are on well-marked trails, so map-and-compass gives me everything I need.

I've got nothing against iPhones (except autocorrect) or nav apps, they're just something I don't feel a need to have complicating my life.

Glen, It sounds like you have found the simplest solution. And for two reasons I find that exemplarity. We who walk in the woods often are in search of being self-reliant and independent. I don't know if those are the right adjectives or not, but you get the idea. I also subscribe to Occam's razor, "the simplest solution is often the best one." I go to the woods to get away from the complex life and listen to the wind in the trees, the sound of the river, and the birds. A phone, except for an emergency, is just a distraction.

I fully agree - especially the "why I go out there" part. For what I do, iPhones and nav apps are a solution looking for a problem.

My answer would be different if my needs were more complex.

Yes, I use Avenza for navigation and have several scales of gorgeous maps for my area of operation. Gaia is very good too. I used it for a couple years.

For me the iPhone has many uses. There is no steep learning curve because of the intense iPad use for so many years after I gave up desktop and laptops years ago.

iPhones and their dedicated gps chipsets are seriously good navigation devices in the canyon country, mountains and deserts of the southwest. If we don’t need it on some days then we don’t use it. There are so many discoveries that we want to mark for the future and it does this far quicker than triangulation with a compass which I have used extensively over the decades for marking backpacking camps and artifacts.

Plant guides are too informative to leave behind and with ebooks one can have troves of information with brilliant images that weigh nothing extra and take up zero space. Bird and insect guides are also available.

Audiobooks for those times when a storm makes one tent bound for several days. I have hundreds of hours of various audiobooks downloaded. AirPods are tiny, light and sound fantastic while not bothering those around you.

The Sky Guide app is a treasure trove for the heavens if you study the night sky.

Doesn’t hurt to have some premium music downloaded.

The iPhone is a signaling device with the cellular option when you can get a line on it. Mine also has satellite connectivity.

I do use mine and it’s four cameras for photography and find it does a better job in the variable outdoor lighting than other cameras. I only shoot ProRaw files with tons of information to draw details from. I can handhold it without a tripod for ten seconds and get crisp, sharp images. I got 79 images of the plethora of wildflowers in bloom right now in our wilderness yesterday. It has a very good macro function that works automatically so one can focus on composition. It is a very pleasant method of doing photography. It is pure magic out there right now.

These are just a few examples. It’s all there if you need it or want it and will not be a distraction if you don’t. It save me an amazing amount of weight and bulk. However I understand the mindset of those who don’t integrate such a device into their toolset.

You do a very good job of illustrating my point about matching technology to your needs. I'm not a photographer, and we don't have canyons to explore in the Ohio River valley. Clearly, your needs are far more complex than mine, and I fully agree that, for you, the iPhone is a remarkably effective way to meet those needs. I remember my photography friends carrying 5 or 6 pounds of camera gear in the old days; somehow, they were never smiling as they walked along the trail.

To add, I don’t have the navigation app up and running very much or the time, maybe use it 5% or the time hiking.


Another thing we use the iPhone for is weather updates when cell signal is available. It shows an enhanced radar/satellite imagery with fronts, wind stream, lightning strikes, pressure zones and more. This information can affect our routes. This is only needed once in a blue moon kind of thing. The mountains can really show what the watershed phenomenon is all about. Lol creeks can go from dry to flashing in an instant. We can make other plans and keep from getting cut off by hydrology gone haywire. Been there done that.

I bring a smart phone because it allows quite a bit of simplification. I can leave behind a camera. I can leave behind a book to read in the evenings. Either one of those weigh as much as my phone.

The phone also opens up possibilities on things I can bring without adding weight such as a bird book, tree identification, mushroom id, first aide app, games, mapping, and emergency communication (oops... I came out at the wrong trailhead... where is my car and how do I get to it.) New Iphones are looking at adding satellite communication options. That will be huge.

I still always bring a paper map because the biggest con on a smart phone is keeping it charged. It is hard to estimate battery usage and ensure you always take the appropriate steps to not waste your battery.

Well said BZH.

Yep, the battery drain of the nav apps while hiking have been a problem for me. Incidentally, I did an overnight on a way-trail a couple of days ago and took paper map and compass, no phone. I did take my small camera (weighs less than the phone). And I didn't miss the phone.

Whether it's an iPhone or not, there are advantages to bringing a device you're carrying and using every day. I chose phone and watch for every day use, but with backpacking, running, etc in mind. I wanted to be able to use my gadgets for as many of my activities as possible even if they aren't optimal, in favor of not having to worry about having 10 different gadgets that may/not talk and all have different UI. Sorta like setting up your tent in the backyard every day and hanging out in it while you do other stuff.

I'd rather not struggle with a camera if I were to see something really cool (cute marmot, breathtaking vista, Bigfoot...) and stumble off the trail and break an ankle. I can find other ways and occasions to break an ankle, thankyouverymuch.

The glaring disadvantage of course is if you lose or damage your phone, you're either stuck or you have to rely on a backup that you're not as familiar with.

That is the way I feel about cameras. I have a big heavy nice dSLR and an old heavy film slr. They take beautiful pictures but I am more likely to have phone in the right place at the right time to take the picture. 10% of the time I wish I had a better lens but I get eventful pictures 4 times more often. In the end taking pictures with my phone win more often.

And the computational power of the newer iPhones make difficult outdoor lighting a whole lot easier with the amazing dynamic range they capture. I shoot Pro Raw files that are huge but contain mountains of information.

Since the last snow in early March I’ve photographed and identified 45 species of wildflowers (angiosperms) and the cone of one gymnosperm, non flowering plants (Mormon Tea) with the cameras of the 14 Pro Max and my “shelf” of plant reference books in the Kindle app on the same device. The books alone comprise thousands of pages so it would be quite inconvenient to hump hard copies. While navigating the offtrail wilderness the Avenza gps app has been amazing with its tracking and guidance features. The detailed maps are very legible to me.
We have also photographed two diamondback rattlesnakes, a tiger rattlesnake and one Gila monster during the same period and even made a short video of one the diamondbacks.