# Garmin Huntview, ONXmaps gps chip, or ONXmaps phone app



## NVDuckin (Apr 18, 2016)

What are you guys using right now and how do you like it?

About to purchase one of these this week. I tried the ONXmaps 7 day trial and it was decent, but I really don't like paying subscription fees.


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## SidVicious (Aug 19, 2014)

I have a Garmin GPSMAP 64st and use the ONXmaps chip. I love it. I used it on a LE Elk hunt this year on a unit I had never set foot on, and it proved to be invaluable. The unit had portions of private and CWMU land and that chip let us know exactly where we were. Totally worth the money in my opinion. And there is not a subscription fee with the chip.


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## gdog (Sep 13, 2007)

If you buy a onxmaps product, use "randy16" as a discount code. For a single state phone/computer subscription, it takes $6 off and ends up being $23.99. They had a better discount code a month or so back...but this is the best I could find for now.

I have been using TraxGPS chips in my Garmin for the past few years and its worked well, but I think the phone based onxmaps will work better for me. Understanding you have to download the map areas to the phone before going out of cel coverage is a bit of a pain, but the detail and ease of using my iPhone 6S Plus with larger screen is a big bonus. Also, being able to use the program on a computer for pre-hunt planning is a big plus (which is included). The TraxGPS was around $80 for the chip and then you have to update every year for $30. The onxmaps subscription is $26 with the discount without the upfront chip fee.

I'm giving it a go to see how it compares...


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## bekins24 (Sep 22, 2015)

I'm not trying to take away from gdog's code, but if you use code "hush" for your app purchase it takes 20% off. So there is that for you if you decide to go that way.


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## NVDuckin (Apr 18, 2016)

bekins24 said:


> I'm not trying to take away from gdog's code, but if you use code "hush" for your app purchase it takes 20% off. So there is that for you if you decide to go that way.


Well, you talked me into it with that 20% off.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

I used OnXMaps once and it failed me, couldn't get anything to show up once we lost internet access. I had previously cached the maps for the unit we were to be in.

I've looked long and hard for a good map app... with decent costs, and I've found one. Its called US Topo Maps Pro and costs $11... thats a one time cost. Best of all:

*** ALL MAPS ARE FREE IF YOU HAVE THE APP!!! ***

I love this app. You can cache off regions, saved on your SDCard of your phone, and caching is super duper simple. You zoom out until you can see the entire area you want to cache, enter the save map mode, and it will bring up a blue box. Drag corners around until it covers the entire area you are interested in, hit select and it will ask you how much detail you want to have (basically zoom factor), I always select the max, and it will go pull down ALL of the maps for that area. There are like 20 layers of things you can turn on and off... USGS, Topo, ownership... its all there.

You can import all kinds of map data as well, including DWR KML maps for unit boundrys. Used it today in Wyoming pronghorn hunting and it worked like a champ.

When you get to your spot, you can turn on the app and let it run and the GPS will build a trail of where you went, incase you get lost you can backtrack... or send the route to a friend or whatever. I've yet to find a downside to this thing... and it was only $11 !

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.atlogis.northamerica&hl=en

OnXmaps generally has a favorable following, but I hate the yearly costs for maps... but worst of all, after forking out all the $$$ for the unit maps I needed, the **** thing failed me and wouldnt work.

-DallanC


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## SLCHunter (Dec 19, 2013)

So .... follow up: Are the OnXmap chip and the subscription completely separate products? The benefit of scouting on a computer screen before seems huge. Does the chip not enable that at all?


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## Oppertunist (Mar 24, 2017)

DallanC or others,
What is the equivalent to US Topo Maps Pro (Android based) for an iPhone?


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## ssssnake529 (Sep 11, 2016)

I use an android phone (Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge) with Backcountry Navigator.
Backcountry Navigator has some add ons that show hunt boundaries. 

I really like this set up, and it's a lot less expensive than the OnX stuff.


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## huntn30inchers (Apr 21, 2014)

I use the onXmaps in both my GPS and my phone and love it. It is much easier to use and much more detailed on my phone but obviously a lot of times I don't have service and I will default to the GPS with the chip but I highly recommend them!


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## american_jackal (Mar 1, 2017)

Im interested in this US Topo Maps Pro, but I use IOS devices. Cant seem to find it in Apple App store. So it shows private land? And does it show who the owner is like OnX Maps does?


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

iOS was the dominant os for quite a while and the majority of apps were developed on it. Today, iOS is now fallen below 18% of the market place (and falling), with Android being over 81% followed by Microsoft. With that and the absolutely asinine requirements Apple enforces an app to conform to for iOS release, most developers are now choosing to skip iOS for their new apps. Its just not worth the time investment vs money returned. Sorry iOS fans.

As for property ownership maps, all of this can be had in many different ways. I never hunt an area that I haven't already scoured or researched prior to hunting. In the field, I either already know who owns XYZ, or I dont care, meaning I only want to know public vs not public. Having that functionality in the app itself is irrelevant, I use other tools on my home PC to find names of property info (county recorders office... its usually way way more accurate than OnX).

US Topo maps allows you to turn on many different map types. If you want to manually download a map from your recorders office you should be able to import and load it, but you would have to manage that manually.


-DallanC


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## Kwalk3 (Jun 21, 2012)

I used the ONX phone app extensively on hunts in Utah and Wyoming last year. I had zero issues with it. I know there have been issues in the past, but it served me very well and I wouldn't hesitate recommending it to anyone.


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## derekp1999 (Nov 17, 2011)

I'll second Dallan on the US Topo Maps Pro... I have been using it for years as well (I bought it back when it was $3.99) and I'm not very technologically savvy so I've yet to even scratch the surface with the mapping capabilities.

Heck, I didn't even know it had the ownership maps until Dallan mentioned something on another thread about this a while back... and I've not tried importing KML stuff into it yet.

It's worth the $11.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Kwalk3 said:


> I used the ONX phone app extensively on hunts in Utah and Wyoming last year. I had zero issues with it. I know there have been issues in the past, but it served me very well and I wouldn't hesitate recommending it to anyone.


OnX was awesome for me for all the testing I did with it getting familiar in the months leading up to my hunt. Opening day of my hunt in a area of WY with complicated landowner boundrys, it puked. I only got blank screens, none of my cached maps would come through. After screwing around with it for too long, I turned it off, dug out the paper maps and did it the old way.

YMMV.

-DallanC


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## Kwalk3 (Jun 21, 2012)

DallanC said:


> OnX was awesome for me for all the testing I did with it getting familiar in the months leading up to my hunt. Opening day of my hunt in a area of WY with complicated landowner boundrys, it puked. I only got blank screens, none of my cached maps would come through. After screwing around with it for too long, I turned it off, dug out the paper maps and did it the old way.
> 
> YMMV.
> 
> -DallanC


That sucks really bad. Im not doubting you at all, i just didnt have the same experience.

I relied on it heavily. The unit I was hunting in wyoming is one that is listed as difficult public access. No fences to delineate public and private, and the outfitter patrolled the private religiously making sure no one was setting foot on it. Without it I would have been screwed.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk


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