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Activity trackers - hiking

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  1. #21

    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    315
    Quote Originally Posted by greenmark:
    Navigation really comes in to its own if you plan hiking off-trail
    This is why the Ambit 3 attracted me. I was hiking at the weekend and went off trail, wasn't that confident where I was going and kept having to look at my phone and google maps which was a pain.

    But am I right in thinking that you need to set the route map on the device that you want to follow beforehand? Maybe it's not very useful if you get lost? Or is it possible to see nearby landmarks or send a map on the go from your phone to the watch?

  2. #22

    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Location
    Location Location
    Posts
    1,201
    Quote Originally Posted by mused:
    This is why the Ambit 3 attracted me. I was hiking at the weekend and went off trail, wasn't that confident where I was going and kept having to look at my phone and google maps which was a pain.

    But am I right in thinking that you need to set the route map on the device that you want to follow beforehand? Maybe it's not very useful if you get lost? Or is it possible to see nearby landmarks or send a map on the go from your phone to the watch?
    Yes you set the route online and then upload it to the watch beforehand. The on-watch display will show you where you are on relation to the route. So if you are lost it will tell you in which direction is your original route and how far you have to walk there. The screen resolution of watches are only really good enough to show your preprogrammed route and not much else.

    So if you are lost, the only ways the watch can help you get back to where you want to go is if you previously set a route on your watch before you set off (and this is not something you will do before every hike) OR if you are carrying a map so that you can refer to the GPS coordinates.

    If you aren’t carrying a map then you would be better off looking at the detail on your phone’s GPS. Just don’t use Google Maps – download some offline maps with better resolutions such as Enjoy Hiking, Maps.Me, Here or Hiking Trail HK.