Archery Field of Letchworth during a Balloon Rally I see so many people ditching their GPS units and switching to smart phones. But not so fast!

The battery life of smart phones during navigation is pretty poor. Sure, if you're in a car you can keep it plugged in and this problem is solved. If you need navigation outside of your vehicle though, you may have a problem. If your smart phone has replaceable batteries, you can carry several, like for your camera, and things get better, short of the extra weight the smart phone was supposed to solve.

Now for the bigger problem. While your GPS has the maps stored in its memory or on a memory card, the phone does not. It needs a constant stream of data from the cell phone towers. No data or poor data, or even no signal at all? Well, you're on your own! And don't think you need to get too far out of your way to lose the signal. Despite the great coverage we get and improvements year to year, there are still plenty of pockets around even in populated places. And as landscape photographers, our goal often is to get away from civilization, which can also mean getting away from signal, or at least data.

So keep packing your GPS, and throw in a paper map of your area for a good measure.

Have fun exploring!

Equipment used:

• Nikon D600
• Nikon 24-85mm Nikkor Lens
• Think Tank Speed Demon Waist Pack
• Handheld
• Nikon Capture NX2

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