4 ms·
Neat but the phone isn’t super robust. I’d hate to have to rely on it in extreme emergencies. A dedicated tracker is better as it can survive in cold and other
by rdtwo 4y ago
Neat but the phone isn’t super robust. I’d hate to have to rely on it in extreme emergencies. A dedicated tracker is better as it can survive in cold and other serious conditions. That being said you are more likely to have the phone on you which is a big deal
- DonaldPShimoda 4y agoThey definitely marketed it as a tool for situations when you're not expecting to need it. Like, they were pretty clear about how it would be slower and very limited compared to dedicated satellite telephony devices.
- sixstringtheory 4y agoI’ve found it to be pretty robust. I’ve taken the same phone on winter climbs in interior Alaska and summer floats, one of which I had to unstick a raft from a rock while water poured over me for about 30 minutes while it was in a pocket in my PFD. It’s held up just fine. The only thing is battery life. Especially in the cold, but that’s not an Apple thing, that’s an electronics thing. But you keep it in an internal pocket where body heat can keep it warm and turn off all the radios, or even the phone itself while not in use, and it can last a long time. I can now trade out my garmin inreach for a portable battery (which I already carry every trip yet never needed so far).
- travisjungroth 4y agoIt's like the camera. The best emergency GPS tracker is the one you have with you.
- nharada 4y agoNot to mention this is a nice backup for if I accidentally break my InReach or the battery fails or something.
- grouchomarx 4y agoFor the three-odd backpacking trips I take a year, it's perfect.
- kaba0 4y agoI don’t know, modern phones have zero moving parts, are adequately water resistant so I don’t see that. The most likely problem it might have is the battery, which doesn’t happen overnight.
- rdtwo 4y agoBattery works really poorly in the cold. Also screen cracking