FYI - I also carry a compass in my emergency kit and if I wanted a more detailed position with paper, that's another option. I'll do a video on "quick & easy" map and compass positioning in the futer.

I grew up in the dark age when there were no GPS, electronic maps, touch screens, or smart phones. I of course embrace the development in technology and availability but I am glad that I am still able to make do with a printed map, a map cover in case it rains, and a decent magnetic compass, should the need occur.

I went Premium via your link to support you and your excellent vids. Wow you are so right the number of additional layers is astounding and an excellent resource

The GPSMap 66i can be controlled from the Garmin Explore-app on your phone via bluetooth. Do all the the fiddly planning stuff on your smartphone and the just transfer and activate the navigation on the gps-unit automatically straight from the phone. Then you can put your phone away and use the sturdy and battery friendly gps-unit for navigation...

I only ride SXS since a accident in 2005, I tried so many different gps apps most were so confusing. About four years ago one of the people I exchanged maps with asked me to try so that it would be easier to share. Because of him I received 30 day trial it only took a couple of rides to know how well it worked since then most of our group have the best package. Thank you for your insight and information I am more excited for Gaia. I just purchased a Montana 750i have most maps transferred through garmin explorer, gpx file.

This is great! I use a garmin instinct to track my hike as well. And I use Gaia on the phone too. I haven’t done the pre plan option on the computer though before, so I will definitely be adding that in. Most of my local trails I don’t need the paper maps, but I usually will print off sections of where I’ll be at from Gaia or AllTrails and have those with me in case electronics fail. I’ve found that most maps I buy are too broad to show much detail in the half dozen or dozen miles of the area I’m hiking.

Quick and very informative video thank you

Just wanted to say thanks for all the equipment reviews. Currently you have saved me allot of problems via the inreach mini review, I was considering the zoleo etc but you convinced me to go the garmin. On the other side of the coin there is no way I am replacing my Montana 680 with the 700…..maybe Garmin will wake up with the 800…Garmin are so bizarre we really need someone like you to cut through it all. Their local Australian website is good for a laugh, they are flogging the topoactive maps here but on another page include a full page disclaimer disowning the OSM maps and cautioning not to trust them! Anyway kudos to you

Hey HG! I love the fact that you have so many back up redundancies! Most people that I've encountered on trail have zero! they depend on their electronics and never carry the paper map or compass. I learned all my skills of the outdoors in the Boy Scouts ( be prepared). I hope this video reinforces the fact that if all else fails...you have your map and compass. Just carrying them is not enough! you NEED to know how to use them!

EXCELLENT videos. SUBSCRIBED

Chris I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate your very informative videos…! I know you must be busy, but I do have a question- I purchased a Garmin GPSmap 62s. I absolutely love it… HOWEVER… after downloading basecamp, I entered waypoints that my wife and I had planned on hiking to. Unfortunately, we were not able to complete our destinations because they were on private land. To prevent future disappointments like that I purchased a subscription to onxhunt for the state of Colorado. If I had been able to reference that app before our disappointing hike I clearly would have seen the destinations were on private land. Now follows what concerns me: when I input coordinates into basecamp and the same coordinates into onxhunt, they plot totally different waypoints. I’m not talking just tenor fifteen feet off, but several hundred feet. I now feel less confident when using my Garmin downloaded with waypoints that are intended to keep me off private land. Am I doing something wrong? Or is it that basecamp is just so much older, as is the Garmin 62s? I appreciate your time… thank you!

Thanks for that video. I did today my first hike with GaiaGPS on my Samsung S22 Ultra and had my Garmin Forerunner 945. I recorded the predefined track on my mobile along with Garmin. I was monitoring gps trail on both to see how much they deviate from the actual trail. To my surprise GaiaGPS on my phone was showing crazy stuff, zig-zags in places where I was going straight. It even showed my max speed as 39 km/h.... At certain point when I was sitting in a shelter it showed my current position on a map good few miles from my actual location... that was really weird. Now I do not know if this is the app or the phone's GPS. What I learned today was that current phone+app combo won't help me in situation when I need precise information on where I am. My Garmin watch was much more stable and way better then my phone. Need to repeat this with my Iphone to determine what's wrong.

Question, I like to use "show on screen" for my trails on my hand help garmin. Don't need to make a route, just want to use it to make sure im on track. I have a fenix 5x, i can't find how to do this while recording a hike, don't think it does this. Such a minor feature that i put most of my confidence in. Thanks for all the videos, old and new. From sw ontario

Thanks for this no BS Video. Out of curiosity, have you ever tested a bicycle GPS such as the Garmin EDGE devices on hiking? With them being multi band, solar, and nice size, could they be used well on hiking or not at all?

Very informative video. Gaia and an iPhone is far superior than a Garmin GPS, I was very surprised. I hike the Sierra's, so lots of tree cover, not much open space. I use an older garmin, but I was not aware of the power of the iPhone/gaia for hiking. I thought you needed a cell signal. I downloaded free gaia, but might get the premium, instead of buying a new garmin 65s.

I've been doing training hikes along the AT in Maryland and Virginia. I am using GaiaGPS premium to do my route planning and then I've been using both Gaia on my Samsung Galaxy 24 Ultra and separately, my Garmin Epix 2 Pro Sapphire to do tracking. I am finding that the data collected from the two are not in concurrence and it impacted me on a planned 22 mile hike this past week. Based on my Gaia route, I had my second stop (first being breakfast) to be at a campsite that was 7.4 miles into my route according to Gaia. Garmin showed me to be over 9 miles by the time I got there. I've also seen wide variances in recorded elevation and speed data. I cut the hike short because of the heat and the mileage variances I was seeing (which I figured was going to impact my hiking time in daylight, figuring with the distance I shaved off I would end my hike around 18 miles. At the end of the hike Gaia showed 18.3 and the epix showed 20.69 miles (One note - I also have an InReach Mini2. I don't pause it at at breaks like I do Gaia and the watch though. The activity from the inReach has 19.4 miles with 4639 ft of climbing elevation. Gaia's track had 2950ft and the watch had 3858 ft.). Creating a sample route in Gaia (that was a 6.24 mile distance according to Gaia) here are the differences between Gaia and Garmin Connect once I imported the gpx file into Connect - Gaia Distance - 6.24 miles Ascent - 1382 Descent - 1618 Garmin Connect Distance - 6.25 Ascent - 1293 Descent - 1495 I feel like the epix is more accurate based on my speed and estimating I'm going between 2-2.5 mph with my full pack. Have you had an opportunity to test them side by side and have you seen similar behavior. Which one should I trust more.....and if Gaia is going to be off on mileage I need to account for that for the trip I am planning doing 100 miles in 5 days along the AT in August.

Garmin Basecamp loaded with the proper maps is also a great way to build routes. 95% of what I do is on there.

I have two phones both with two different providers with Gaia premium gps and I carry a mini inReach Garmin for emergency

Excellent sir. I'm not quite as ambitious as you and normally try to find already mapped out hikes. Do you find Alltrails or Gaia most useful for finding ready to hike courses?

What binoculars do you use for hiking? Especially, birding whilst hiking. I know it is an off the wall question, however, I like to hike and bird watch.

OH! and one more thing. Before your trip, take a few minutes to get a permit from the local ranger station or just stop by and let them know your plans so if something does happen, they know the route you plan on taking and your approximate return time.

Old school all the way map/compass and GPS. But star link may be a different matter...and solar flares (GPS accuracy ?)

I plan to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail in 2024. I have a Garmin Fenix 6 Pro Solar Watch. Do I need a newer version?

Do the Garmin devices have better GPS connectivity than the iPhone, particularly in tree cover? I hike in dense jungle in Far Northern Australia, and am wanting to maximise my chances of connecting to a satellite network despite the thick canopy. My primary form of navigation has been map and compass, but I was wondering whether I'd have better luck with the antenna found in the mini 2 or 67 Series. Otherwise, is there any other satellite communicator/navigator which would function best in these environments? Cheers!

Paper map great call. Redundancy

I've been wondering how many GPS devices you take on a hike and how that incorporates when using InReach. I was kind of surprised at the usage of the handheld vs the phone. 8D

Question: I'm having a dilemma on Fenix 7/Epic 2 and 66sr. My primary use is to navigate where no cell services exist. I hike long distance for nature photography, would you say the 66sr may be the better option considering I have absolutely no use of any smart watch apps and functions? (PS, not a watch person at all) I also travel to a lot of places and then rent a vehicle at the destination, I think the 66sr with City Navigator Map may be better suited to car navigation, say in the mountains where cell services do not exist or very unreliable. Although I am not a smart watch fan, I do like the portability of it, and weight advantage, and of course the amazing battery life. PS, I watched all of your most recent videos on navigation and Fenix 7/Epix 2. I'm just still in doubt, if you have time, please let me know what you think. Much appreciated.

Curious if you've ever done a comparison on battery usage for your watch vs an inreach mini (mAh useage) for logging a hike/ride. I'm thinking of running my Fenix 3 and inreach mini on my next long ride and then seeing what the battery percent of each is at the end to figure the mAh used (will use same logging intervals and turn off all external features). I'm sure the watch is much more efficient than my older Garmin Oregon but not sure about the inreach mini since it is more streamlined than the big handhelds. This question is related to maximizing the benefit of my 10k mAh power bank on multiday trips. Regardless, I will almost certainly continue to use my watch since I like seeing all the data during a ride.

I am thinking of buying a used Delorme Inreach SE for satellite coms. Would you recommend this? Or just spend more and get the mini. Thx

Hi HG! I find that often the performance of my phone's gps is quite poor. I was wondering if there is a way to use the gps unit on a garmin smartwatch for nav checkin instead. I would connect the smartwatch to my phone and see my position as it is picked up by the watch, rather than the phone's own gps. Do you know if that would be possible at all?

I will choose one of three GPS apps for navigation and tracking on my iPhone. (wickiloc, all trails, gaiagps) I Always have to start using a portable battery charger after 2-4 hours. I even bought an iPhone 13Pro, thinking I could ditch the portable battery charger…but I am disappointed….I still need the portable battery charger. So, I am going to get a Garmin 66i just so I won’t have to carry a portable battery charger. I have tried every thing to conserve the iPhone battery. The gps apps completely drain the iPhone way before I finish a 6-12 mile day hike. Maybe I have just had Lemon iPhones over the last 15 years. Will the Garmin 66i battery last on a 5 day Colorado river rafting trip?

I do nearly the same as you do but instead, I use GAIA free and downlod the GPX and import it into Garmin Explore and my Fenix 6 for backup. I am like you the screen on my Pixel 6 is far easy to navigate than my Fenix 6 (these old eyes really appreciate the big screen). I use a custom map in Explore because the base map in Explore is horrible. Took a lot of geek work to get a good custom map in Explore. I use Garmin Explore because it utilizes the GPS in my Fenix 6. I also use my Explore so if there is cell coverage my family can keep watch my hike. All that for the big question if I did the paid version of GAIA could I import the GAIA maps into Explore or get GAIA to use the Fenix 6 GPS coordinates. Also can you share your hike in progress from GAIA. I am so close to clicking on your link for GAIA paid...

BTW do you find that walking sticks have any effect on the accuracy of wearables (fenix 6, 7, ect.).

Who’s your cellphone provider that you get such reliable service with your iPhone?

I downloaded GAIA and found it to be the worst mapping system I've ever tested. Basically the maps were in devoid of any useful information topographical or otherwise.

I am sorry but a handheld GPS is superior to any phone, Accuracy is far more reliable on the GPS, I tried using my phone several times and it would not stay on course and not to mention the battery even in airplane mode dies a long time before my GPS will, Sorry to disagree but I can't see a phones GPS chip being better than a GPS that it's main purpose is navigation.

Hi Hiking Guy, Really appreciate your videos. Have you considered using Patreon? I find the membership a really easy way to support my favorite YT creators.