Looking for a good and simple app to track how far I have paddled that has maps. And that I can add in waypoints and maybe other notes. My daughter like Samsung Health, but I get tired of all of the notifications and how much it burns up my battery.
Thank you.
I have used a bunch of different apps. The GPS for trackers all eat battery. It is the nature of GPS. So I do not believe changing apps will change anything with battery life. I am guessing that you might not be into buying a pricey watch. But my Garmin Fenix 3 (the 5 is out now, so you can find some good deals on the 3 if you look) has been awesome. I use it to track biking, hiking and kayaking. (it does lots more). It will run all day tracking activities, saving your phone should you have and emergency during those activities. Here is a screen shot kayaking hiking trip. This was about 7 miles kayaking and 7 miles hiking, so an all day event
I useMotionX GPS for my iPhone 6 . Also uses up the battery fairly quickly (which any GPS will do) but I have a charger brick that I use when going on a trip. Been using it for years and it was a free app when I downloaded it but it’s now $1.99.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/motionx-gps/id299949744
I use iSailGPS. Great app IMO. Simple, intuitive, easy to download any nautical chart I would want, inexpensive last time I checked.
Navionics Boating worth a look.
Navionics Boating or MotionX GPS
Wife uses “map my fitness”. Her Garmin watch tracks things. Then it blue tooth connects to the MMF app and provides a print out.
I use a Garmon 78C.
I often find the best maps can be had by kayaking with “Rasins” from the forum. He does good maps of trips.
Back Country Navigator - able to download high resolution sat photo or topo map areas from major online mapping services or use them live with data connection. Ticks all your boxes. Free version works for just about everything you’ll need.
Open Street Maps (OSM) - maps are downloaded once, so no Internet connection required for use. Depending on region, these can take a good chunk of memory. Mostly for on road use but good low resolution coverage of trails and shoreline for the areas I travel. Meets the other criteria you’ve listed.
Regarding battery life, I’ll second the above sentiment that it’s the nature of the beast. Meager savings can be obtained by making the sample points farther apart (increase time between samples). On a longer trip, turn it on only occasionally to verify your current position. Log the point if you wish. Later, draw the approximate track you’ve taken to measure the distance (either in the app, or in Google maps/Google Earth). You can get very usable results like this and make your battery last for days.
@Sparky961 said:
Back Country Navigator - able to download high resolution sat photo or topo map areas from major online mapping services or use them live with data connection. Ticks all your boxes. Free version works for just about everything you’ll need.Open Street Maps (OSM) - maps are downloaded once, so no Internet connection required for use. Depending on region, these can take a good chunk of memory. Mostly for on road use but good low resolution coverage of trails and shoreline for the areas I travel. Meets the other criteria you’ve listed.
Regarding battery life, I’ll second the above sentiment that it’s the nature of the beast. Meager savings can be obtained by making the sample points farther apart (increase time between samples). On a longer trip, turn it on only occasionally to verify your current position. Log the point if you wish. Later, draw the approximate track you’ve taken to measure the distance (either in the app, or in Google maps/Google Earth). You can get very usable results like this and make your battery last for days.
Thanks. I will check those out.
Thanks, I will check those out
Thanks everyone. I will look into these.
I use Strava for bike riding… just saw someone posted their kayak trip with it too… going to try that my next time out.