what handheld gps do you use in the woods/on the trail?

I just use my phone and Huntstand.

I use my cell phone and HuntStand.
OnX is supposed to work even without cell service but I have never needed to use it so I don’t have it.

With birdseye, you copy everything you might need while it is active, then you never have to renew it, unless you go somewhere new.

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OnX is supposed to work even without cell service but I have never needed to use it so I don’t have it.

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The offline maps work well. Basemap, Hunstand, Spartan Forge, and a couple of other apps have the same feature.

I use a garmin in reach mini to supplement OnX. It has satellite communications in case no service available on my phone.

You may want to look at the in reach explorer (full size and has buttons)

Phone and Google maps, I download the satellite imagery for the area since signal sucks. Tried without the phone in the dark one time, and I legit walked in a big circle. Some areas are easy without the phone, some woods are not because I can't walk straight for more than 5 feet at a time.

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With a cell signal and OnX gps is almost a thing of the past

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Yep, and don’t even need cell signal. And there’s cheaper mapping options than OnX as well.

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i hardly ever bring my phone with me in the woods or a trail

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Why not? A minor emergency could turn into a serious situation without one.

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can see somebody on high land trails with leather boots maybe using that delicate cell phone, but not at 4:30 am crossing swamps with hip boots, beating things up, dropping in water, etc. To quote Tom Berringer on Sniper, “ no room for peter pan on this hunt

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My iPhone has taken pictures 5ft underwater at the beach in destin. I doubt you can hold your breath long enough for it to crap out so you should be good.
I have dropped it under water and reached down up to my elbows in a beaver slough while in hip boots to grab it only visible by the light of my HuntStand app. Not sure if I’m a Peter Pan or not but for where I typically hunt it all that’s needed.
If I went somewhere where navigation was critical I would add a gps back up and compass and maps for redundancy.

iPhone with onX hunt first.
When there's no service, I have a Garmin 650t thats pretty nice.