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OnX vs, HuntWise? Hunt stand etc?

I have tried OnX twice. It gets a lot of publicity but I found it lacking. I tried HuntWise for the last year and really liked a couple features on the Pro package but I’m not going to renew. Gaia is an awesome map system. A lot of features just plain work. Not a “hunting” app but awesome for navigating and marking waypoints. I just put the free version of Spartan Forge on my phone and it looks pretty good. I’ll do some investigation before I start paying. Gaia is affordable and works real good. So far it’s the best one I have tried.
 
Long time OnX paid user here and I have been playing and playing more and more with Spartan Forge. It really has come a long way since its inception and they have so many ambitious and interesting plans. The desktop app has made huge leaps and I was able to mass import all of my OnX waypoints at once into it. I am getting closer and closer to switching permanently I think
 
I have both and only open Huntstand to check the predicted wind direction.

I like Onx much better

It’s been a minute since I last used HuntStand but the wind was an issue for me …maybe it’s not a big deal but if I am home trying to see what the wind is at my hunting location before I head out for the hunt, I couldn’t see the wind location (weather station) it was using …was it my home location? Or my hunt destination wind? I sent them a suggestion to display the weather station.


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Free huntstand for mapping/thinking year round. Monthly huntwise for Oct-Dec for the huntcast feature. I have no regrets for the $20 per month I spent this year, But i think I will stay with free huntstand only next year. Satelite images are recent/accurate.
 
i have continue to use basemap, though as i've been returning to woods that i'm getting more familiar with, find that i'm using it less than i did in prior seasons.

this will be the first year i dive really deep into off season scouting, its been admittedly halfhearted the past few seasons until august usually, so hope to use it then. i realize this thread is a few years old now - anyone know if any of the mapping systems have updated images? i've found that i did more escouting on google earth than in the apps, thanks to the Buck Psych - @Robert loper
 
i have continue to use basemap, though as i've been returning to woods that i'm getting more familiar with, find that i'm using it less than i did in prior seasons.

this will be the first year i dive really deep into off season scouting, its been admittedly halfhearted the past few seasons until august usually, so hope to use it then. i realize this thread is a few years old now - anyone know if any of the mapping systems have updated images? i've found that i did more escouting on google earth than in the apps, thanks to the Buck Psych - @Robert loper
Spartan forge is really good one i use now which has winter and fall pics.
really good app
 
JMO, but I think part of the problems that you guys are describing in this thread is not the software but the hardware. I am a forester and use a dedicated GPS for work often. I also have a GIS consultant that I trust; he has been an ESRI partner and has now shifted to QGIS, a free open source software. In short, the GPS receiver in your phone is not as good as the receiver on even a cheap GPS. Even with my dedicated GPS, I often find that the GPS point that I just took is now 12-20 feet away even though I have not moved a step. "Supposedly," my GPS is capable of 3 meter (9+ feet) accuracy, but this is 3 meters when everything is perfect, like locked on to lots of satellites that are widely scattered from each other and standing in the middle of a field. If I can't lock on to more than 3 satellites, accuracy is poor. The best GPS with one meter accuracy is a very expensive thing with a whole backpack, but even this is not survey grade.

A GPS based survey involves setting up a fixed receiver in an open area that gathers data on where it is for days, then the surveyor begins from this known point with a metes and bounds survey. No one is doing surveys by running around and taking GPS points on corners with a handheld device. I do this all the time for work, but it is not a survey and is not as accurate. Many surveyors hate GPS/GIS, as one told me, the corner is the pin or other marker described in the deed, not any lat/long or other coordinate system that identifies a point on the earth. A pin is a pin, a set stone is a set stone, etc. Heck, it is also not uncommon for two surveyors to shoot the same line from the same corners and get slightly different bearings or distances, I see this all the time on deeds of two different ages. I think what my surveyor was saying was that the point is to get you to be able to find the actual pin/point described in the deed, not to direct anyone to a specific lat/long that may or may not represent the actual location of the corner on any given day with any given device. That said, I have used my GPS to identify problems with boundaries and then had to call in a surveyor to find the real pin, which he stepped on . . .

All I am saying, is for most of us a cell phone is a great tool that we probably carry all the time (think convenience), but don't expect something that you carry in your pocket and does a million other things to replace a high-dollar tool that gives highly accurate readings only after collecting data for days. I'll bet none of you expect McDonalds to give you the best meal you have ever had, we make sacrifices for convenience.

A good woodsman uses all the tools at his disposal but is not overly dependent on any one of them. If your GPS can get you within 30-50 feet of a nice scape, buck bed, or even a tree for a sit, can't a good woodsman find the desired site from there? Personally, I do not use a GPS or my phone like this, and I don't even use a headlamp most of the time when I am walking in. However, I don't seem to have trouble finding a particular tree on my lease in the dark without them. Granted, this is not the same as hiking 4 miles back in public, but I think you get my drift. Learn your preferred hunting areas with woodsmanship and use the GPS/phone for general locations.

JMO

Hugh
 
That is true about GPS not accurate. They could be right on one day and off the next. Had that happen. Clear sky, no tree canopy overhead the gps was right on. Next day cloudy, windy, wet day and GPS was bouncing all over the place.
 
I

ill check out hunt stand and Gaia. I think I have both I’ve just never given them a chance

I had HuntStand and liked it but for one issue. I hunt spots with no cell service so I saved my map offline. But when I went there to hunt it was pretty sketchy and ONX is pretty solid there.

Maybe HuntStand has fixed their offline mapping tho and if so I would go back.

I saw a feature in Spartan Forge that makes me want to try it but I’m not sure it’s ready for primetime yet. But the feature is this (I haven’t seen it in ONX or HuntStand) there is a journal feature and I guess you write a note about a waypoint and it automatically saves off the current weather at the waypoint including the wind and direction speed. So you have the historical data saved as of the waypoint creation. The others give you current weather at the waypoint.


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I started out with OnX and then I got Huntwise.I don't even use OnX any more as their land owner info is not up to date. It shows my property that I bought 2 years ago as being owner by the person that owned it prior to the guy I bought it from. Huntwise also has some cool features that I really like. One being Huntcast but the one that blew me away was the wind drift feature. When I first subscribed I said no way was that going to be accurate but after using it for a season I have found it to be pretty much right on the money.

Wow so like having milk weed?


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I had HuntStand and liked it but for one issue. I hunt spots with no cell service so I saved my map offline. But when I went there to hunt it was pretty sketchy and ONX is pretty solid there.

Maybe HuntStand has fixed their offline mapping tho and if so I would go back.

I saw a feature in Spartan Forge that makes me want to try it but I’m not sure it’s ready for primetime yet. But the feature is this (I haven’t seen it in ONX or HuntStand) there is a journal feature and I guess you write a note about a waypoint and it automatically saves off the current weather at the waypoint including the wind and direction speed. So you have the historical data saved as of the waypoint creation. The others give you current weather at the waypoint.


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I use the SF journal feature and love it
 
I had HuntStand and liked it but for one issue. I hunt spots with no cell service so I saved my map offline. But when I went there to hunt it was pretty sketchy and ONX is pretty solid there

Me too. I let my onX lapse but renewed it last week because the huntstand offline maps were driving me nuts. I'm ok with paying for both, together they check all my boxes.
 
I had HuntStand and liked it but for one issue. I hunt spots with no cell service so I saved my map offline. But when I went there to hunt it was pretty sketchy and ONX is pretty solid there.

Maybe HuntStand has fixed their offline mapping tho and if so I would go back.

I saw a feature in Spartan Forge that makes me want to try it but I’m not sure it’s ready for primetime yet. But the feature is this (I haven’t seen it in ONX or HuntStand) there is a journal feature and I guess you write a note about a waypoint and it automatically saves off the current weather at the waypoint including the wind and direction speed. So you have the historical data saved as of the waypoint creation. The others give you current weather at the waypoint.


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I have been very pleased with Spartan Forge so far. Still have OnX too but will most likely drop it.
 
I have been very pleased with Spartan Forge so far. Still have OnX too but will most likely drop it.
Same, I would say its still a little lacking on drawing and editing areas and shapes if youre into that vs onx, but the multiple different views with the swipe of a thumb, level of detail, and many waypoint options make it hard to switch back from SF to OnX. My biggest pet peeve at the moment with SF is that landowner's aren't searchable like they are in onx
 
I have been very pleased with Spartan Forge so far. Still have OnX too but will most likely drop it.

I agree with others about ONX being sketchy with location accuracy. Sometimes it just wanders everywhere..it could be the cell service but I thought it relied on GPS primarily and cell secondarily.


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I have both and only open Huntstand to check the predicted wind direction.

I like Onx much better

The thing that frustrates me is telling if an app is using my waypoint location weather vs my home location weather. For example, I’m sitting at home checking my treestand location on my app map…it shows me the weather but may not specify that it is at my current location or my destination location. I know I can break out of the map and call up my phones weather app but man do I have to….


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I have both HuntStand and Gaia. The scouting tools, icons, property lines, & weather are all good in HuntStand, but the offline maps are horrible. The mapping in Gaia is fantastic, especially adding extra overlays in the order and transparency level I want. The offline maps are also first rate in Gaia, but the icons and everything needed for scouting is sorely lacking.

I wish I was a headlight on a north-bound train

AGREE. It a bummer because I dropped Hunt Stand because of offline mapping issues…am wondering if its been fixed…it was last year when I used it …my guess is its still a mess


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I started using huntstand this season, no experience with any other apps. The gps seems to be fairly accurate, but there is a lag and at times sitting I noticed a slight variance in where it said I was. I marked my location on the first sit at a spot, and when I returned a different day it was pretty spot on showing me there when I got there. Same with the compass direction you're facing, there is a lag...like it refreshes in intervals rather than constantly.

If I had the app running and turned off my screen while walking, when I would check the app again there was a noticible delay before it located me. It did this as I was logging my trail I walked too, but once it caught up it showed everything accurately.

Google maps on the other hand seemed to be immediate and much more accurate for both position and direction. Which to me is weird...they're using the same GPS in my phone

I wonder if you have cell service there if google may also include cell tower ping locations as a second confirm of your phone gps location.
Making it more stable. If you have cell service there.


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Just spent 3 weeks on this app reasearch stuff. Now that on x has 3D maps they win. It comes down to quickly finding public access points for me. And 3D works in the field more often than not. Offline maps are great. I looked at all the major players


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Did you mention that Hal Blood uses ONX too? Just saying


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