Handheld GPS vs Smart Phone Navigation
The boat was leaking. I guess that shouldn’t have come as a surprise, she was half full of water when we arrived at the dock. But a few hours later, even with our hastily-installed automatic bilge pump chugging along and one of us on the hand-pump we were only breaking even. And it didn’t help when the white-capped seas being blown down from the northwest would hammer into the old catboat’s starboard bow and send buckets of water back on everything.
We were planning to deliver the little boat some 20 miles to windward, but the wave action was hard on the hull and her rotten timbers, and we had some concern she might really open up in these conditions. It was time to consider a nearer destination or bail out point in case things went south.
I went to my PFD for my handheld GPS only to discover I’d left it at home. Fortunately I remembered my iPhone, pulled it out and opened the Navionics app. Within seconds I had our location, speed, and detailed chart I could zoom instantly in and out with my fingers. As I was picking our new route I was able to see the real-time weather forecast and tidal currents—and since it was a phone, I was able to call ahead to ask the marina a question.
I’d played around with Navionics on my phone before, but had always viewed it as a secondary or tertiary navigation method after GPS and paper charts. But using my smart phone (in its waterproof case) this time convinced me it had made my handheld GPS more or less obsolete.
In a coming issue we’ll take a closer look at the smart phone vs. handheld GPS question and the pros and cons, and I’ll include comments and strategies from some experienced small-boat cruisers. We’d love to hear from you on the topic. Do you still carry a handheld GPS? Is your smart phone part of your typical navigation strategy? Is the handheld GPS obsolete or on its way to being obsolete?
—Joshua Colvin
your gps is obsolete because you forgot to bring it??
i’ve had 2 iphones stop working at very inopportune times. i’ve had navionics lock up my tablet until it ran the battery down to zero. i was certainly glad we had a real gps onboard.
i have several gps units for a variety of boats. they are rugged reliable tools.
i have been using “smart”phones since they came out (i was the guineapig in our company). yes they can be handy at times but i have found them to be finicky, gimmicky, consumer electronics that are only intended to work until the next model arrives or their warranty expires.
i carry a swiss army knife and use it frequently. but i don’t let that keep me from having a real toolbox and using the right tool when i need it.
glad to see that your story had a happy ending. i hope you remember your gps the next time.
I concur, heartily. Don, you have the proper mindset for this idea! My smart phone thinks it is smarter than I am all too often.
I have a Garmin handheld that I like a lot. I mounted it on the mizzen mast on my Sea Pearl (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53SCYMte_A4) so I can read it easily. The big problem I have with it is the small screen is tough to get a big picture and while I almost have a paper chart they have their own limitations in the wind and spray. Enter a tablet in a waterproof case (I use a Samsung Galaxy 10″-make sure whatever you use has a built in GPS) running Navionics and you have most of the functions of a good chart-plotter and redundancy. Finally, I do have Navionics also on my Android phone, but having lost a few to moisture I just keep it as a backup tucked away until I’m anchored or driving home. I agree that having the radar weather map is a great reason to have a connection. Keep up the good work.
I hold with the belt and suspenders school where boating is concerned.
the I phone s a marvelous and amazing little thing. so is a handheld GPS.
Take em both along.
But, they all depend on batteries which are fickle things. so keep your charts and keep your ded. reckoning up to date.
And by the way, when and if the I phone hosts an app that will allow you to send and receive on VHF ch 16, we will really have something handy.
Rick Pratt
Port Aransas, Texas
The biggest advantage of my old Garmin hand-held GPS is that I can read it in bright sunlight. Hard to see the screen of my iPhone in bright sun.
Josh – You took the correct seamen-like action, resourcefulness. Cell phone apps are part of our Swiss army knife of resources. My 15 year old (maybe more) GPS died this year. I do not plan to replace it. I sail near shore and the cell phone signal, and GPS on the phone are perfect for my type of sailing. Had you been offshore, my bet is you would have been well prepared with chart plotters and redundant GPS devices, as well as an old fashioned (perhaps) paper charts. My one question to you however, is why did you go out in lousy conditions in a leaky boat?
Boy, good thing you had your iPhone to fall back on. I haven’t used the iPhone apps on the water, it’s usually a handheld GPS along with paper charts, however I use both at work on the land. At my work they’re really pushing us to use the iPhone GIS mapping app and get away from the GPS. It does a real nice job allowing us to locate and map our location in the field and instantly load up into our server for real-time mapping. Working in remote and rugged locations doesn’t have the high degree of life loss as on the sea, but there are certainly opportunities for things going wrong and heading south, possibly leading to injury or loss of life. That said I tend to operate myself in a way that I can remove the weak links, such as not relying on one thing to do too many things. Stand alone items are generally designed for that one function and usually doing it very well across the board. The handheld GPS can operate for days on two AA batteries, which are easy to change, they’re very rugged and weather resistant, some are waterproof in their own hide. Switching between apps is handy, but in an emergency it’s nice to glance at the weather then at the plot. But the main benefit is that they don’t rely on cell service, especially off the coast you don’t have the 360 degree range, you lose more than half. I’m not a technophobe, I actually wish I could do everything in need on the iPhone, really I do. I just don’t think they’re at that point. I had been out on a rescue once and forgotten my GPS. I was happy that I had my iPhone. I was using a nav app, using the cell phone, looking up contacts, checking the weather and watching my battery percentage continue to drop. Luckily we found the person, but had the resume extended into the night I would have been…screwed, maybe even screwing the person being rescued. So at this point in time I’m the character, generally referred to as inspector gadget, who is geared up with GPS, iPhone, two-way radio, paper map, compass, extra batteries, binoculars, etc, etc, etc (can you hear Yul Brynner?). Human life is too precious and way too easy to loose when relying on too many weak links. But I gar-on-tee you, once they get the iPhone working 110% in these scenarios, I’ll be first in line, because I love what it can do and with such ease. Just my 2 cents.
Josh, I think your phone did it’s job, and not the job of your GPS. If I’m in a place where I NEED the GPS, it’s going to always be a GPS. I actually use my phone more, or even my tablet, but as others have said, it’s still not a GPS.
My phone is water proof on it’s own, and carries in a case, but it’s worth a LOT more to me as a phone, than as a GPS. So I always have a GPS, waterproof and preferably floating. If things are rough, the phone goes away, the GPS comes out, and I stay safe. I even have ANOTHER backup I’d use first in rough conditions, that being my Horizon HX870 radio, a GREAT piece of gear IMO. And of course paper charts.
Another note: Touch screens like being dry. Case or not, splashed water renders a touch screen useless. I doesn’t “damage” it, it just stops responding to my touch. Therefore, not only do I not consider a phone a “Primary” GPS, but I wouldn’t have a touch screen GPS either!
Gordo
I generally use a handheld Garmin 78 GPS and an iPad…the larger screen and more detail of the tablet screen is a big advantage…The only problem I have experienced with the iPad (in a Lifeproof case) was in a very windy squall with lots of rain which caused the touch screen to jump around and it was not controlable…..we were approaching a reef and an unfamiliar channel so I had to activate my handheld in a bit of a panic. I would not consider the handheld GPS as obsolete. I think it is more reliable than a tablet or smart phone and easier to read in bright sunlight. I think they compliment each other and I will continue to use both.
It’s great that phones now function for positioning and weather as well as communication. That provides redundancy. But as others have pointed out, they are not designed as nautical GPS units, particularly for a small boat where sailors will use them (or try to use them) out in the weather. Besides not being waterproof, the touch screens are hard to manipulate with wet hands. Another issue is dead zones. I can think of a mountain lake where the shore having the launch ramps (the locations you really want to find in a whiteout) don’t have consistent cell service.
WOW!, Josh some of your readers are bit touchy. I can see getting judgmental from time to time but I don’t know of anyone who hasn’t forgotten something in preparation for a trip. Sure can’t see condemning you for that. I once forgot my suit pants when traveling to a funeral. I hope that doesn’t condemn me to be your cell mate in Small Craft Advisor jail.
Actually, I do not think handheld GPS are obsolete because there are a number of us who either sail very wet and choose not to bring along a smart phone or like myself do not use a smart phone (please don’t condemn me it is for security reasons). what I do think is happening is that the proliferation of smart phones and the explosion of high quality apps has moved the handheld GPS to something of a back-up status for the in close cruiser or those who sail lakes and bays.
Having recently sailed through the Everglades and the 10,000 Islands in my Potter 15 my inexpensive GPS programmed in advance performed flawlessly. My flip phone almost never had service. Also when sailing way out into the Gulf of Mexico (well out meaning beyond 10 miles ) I again have found service to be hard to attain so the GPS works the best for me.
That said, recently in the fog in Biloxi Bay my passenger’s iPhone proved incredibly useful both for GPS and weather information. I suspect overtime as ranges for cell phones continue to expand and the apps get even better the handheld GPS will generally become the small boat cruisers back-up. My last Magellan GPS has lasted 19 years and is still usable, at my age if my new Garmin lasts as long I should be a passenger and not the skipper when it dies. So whether or not they will still be making any handheld GPS units won’t matter to me it will be some younger guys problem. I guess there is some value to becoming a curmudgeon.
Best wishes
AGM
I think using a smart phone/iPad with bad elf is the way to go. The apps available for hiking and boating are inexpensive and very user friendly. Many of them allow you to download map areas so you don’t need cell service and with your phone in airplane mode it can last over 5 days. I always bring a usb battery pack incase my phone dies. They also make waterproof pouches that your phone slides into with a necklace attached which I have found very convienent. If your phone locks up just restart it!
Most smartphones are not waterproof, let alone water-resistant. iPhones are notoriously sensitive to environmental conditions, but there are some “ruggedized” Samsung models. Most really waterproof cases limit touch screen capability.
That said, I use my phone as my primary navigation tool. Radar electronics are far more sensitive than RDF and yet the new tech replaced the old. The same is happening for navigation. I do keep a handheld GPS on board but it’s been years since I turned it on. I also recommend a simple GPS app in addition to a navigation app since navigation apps are far more complex and therefore a bit more prone to crashing or freezing.
Use both. My Sony xperia is waterproof, has all UK charts on it and tells me speed, compass directions, lat and long, course etc. It also has weather, tide apps and something called ALIS which plots the vast majority of boats in my vicinity so I can call up details about them. I can recharge my phone whilst sailing using a solar panel and powermonkey expedition unit. My hand held small GPS does speed, GOTO, waypoints etc etc. I also carry paper charts, small boat almanac and basic pen and paper chart nav equipment. Since I rarely sail more than four miles off shore, I have rarely not got a cell signal. Where it does drop away is is if I sail too close to the steep cliffs alon some part of my shore I.e. Within a half mile of them.
Steve
I should have also added to the comment above, that I occasionally take my iPad in a waterproof pouch along as well which has various apps on it. One really useful one is an interactive aerial photo chart app which shows all pilotage and depths along the coast as well
Steve
http://Www.arwensmeanderings.blogspot.com
Owner of a John Welsford navigator ‘Arwen’
I am a Potter-19 sailor and love having detailed Navionics map scroll with my position on a iPhone 4s. Down side is needing water proofing, cell signal and phone service so the map will update.
Last year while crossing from Port Townsend to Victoria in the race to Alaska event I was only able to watch the web site tracking positioning of my boat (Team MastGates) with the other boats till my ATT phone service was lost. I still had gps on iphone for Navionics, which was more important.
I do carry an old hand held Garmin as a backup.
Water protection is a must for phones in a marine environment.
During this year’s Race to Alaska, a droplet of sea spray got under my otter box screen shield (Galaxy S4) and prevented touch screen from working.
Sailors need report how they bullet proof phones from H2O.
I have both, but the handheld GPS stays in the boat along with spare AA batteries (I can forget things way too easily). Agreeing with others – the handheld is daylight visible, the screen is constantly on, the batteries last 3 days or more, no worries about cell coverage, and the handheld has survived full saltwater immersion during an “incident”.
I LOVE Navionics and the low cost for ALL you get with that one app has made it possible for me to go sailing and feel safe (with less prep time and with way less skillful crew onboard with me) in local waters. That’s not to say I don’t carry a GPS, too… but like you in this situation, the breadth and depth of information at my fingertips is huge. My biggest concern (other than dropping the phone of course) is battery power. I’ve been trying different options but have yet to find a reliable option that doesn’t have it’s own recharging challenges. Love it that you’re working on it and hoping others will too. Thanks Josh!
Last year, after losing all electronics in a tragic sinking, I was faced with the need to get back on track with a limited budget. Shopping for a GPS was particularly vexing because not only are they expensive, but the hand-held units have a smaller screen than they’ve ever had. I actually bought one, but returned it for that reason.
The solution presented itself when I acquired a very inexpensive pad and downloaded Navionic’s web-app. If this app has limitations, I haven’t found them yet, it’s a very comprehensive tool for very little investment. I keep the pad in a zip-lock bag (even during use), which so far has proved adequate. I only turn it on when needed (still use old fashioned charts, imagine that!) so the battery charge lasts a long time.
Michael
dory-man.blogspot.com
I bring my handheld gps, and a good spare battery, and my cell phone too.
i usually keep the phone turned off, and sealed in a dry case or bag. I like the option of having both. The smartphone screen, with expandable screen viewing, zooming in, etc, is invaluable.
I think the phones do not have a GPS , but rely on cell towers. If I drive where there is no cell signal, my Google Maps does not work, only my Garmin GPS. Close to a populated shore, the phone my be great, but having a true GPS is the best back-up.
I have both but, like Michael, would have to work hard to justify the expense of a dedicated GPS if I had to replace it, at least for casual coastal cruising. I like it for all the reasons mentioned – battery life and waterproof at the top of that list – as a backup. But I find the screen so small it’s at the threshold of useful, and the button interface and software is maddening. It’s a very expensive backup, but I always take it.
One misconception most people seem to have is a phone requires cell signal to work. That’s not true, at least of the iPhone. I have an old iPad I use sometimes, and have never bothered to activate a celluar account for it. Doesn’t need it. In a waterproof case it would work well on the water, if overkill for a small boat.
The GPS function remains active at all times, signal or not. In fact, while on the water for long trips I generally turn off celluar, bluetooth, wifi, etc., in the phone to extend battery life. All you need to do, at least with the Navionics app and others, is download the maps for your region once in advance, which is better done over wifi anyway. I have the whole Atlantic Coast from Cape Cod to the Outer Banks preloaded, and it takes up surprisingly little space.
With the maps preloaded, you don’t need cell signal at all for navigation.