I bought the android app backcountry navigator so I can ditch my Garmin eTrex Venture, but there aren't any useful how-to guides showing how to use the app. It's not particularly intuitive. Can anybody point me in the right direction? The app seems very powerful, so why no simple user guide? Thanks for any help anybody can provide.

Did you do a Google search? Most apps have much more detailed instructions on the application builder's website or on other forums.

The PDF user guide they offer doesn't seem to cover the stuff I need to know. There are two or three YouTube videos but they don't really seem to help. I must be a dummy. For all its high ratings it must be more intuitive to most than it is to me.

Bump.

Surely somebody who uses it regularly has made a user guide, or has found a better one than I've found. Help!

I'm still experimenting, but for what it's worth, I found this page useful:

Android GPS Apps and Battery Life

In my first trials I didn't get the "get a location, THEN go airplane mode" trick.

Thanks for that battery info link. Good stuff. Still seeking more on just the basics of user guide stuff. My Garmin eTrex Venture HC is more intuitively easy to figure out.

Yeah. I liked my old eTrex Legend (the blue one). It survived a lot of mountain bike crashes (while on the bar mount!), but finally got a semi-frequent short. I think I'll use my Droid X for as long as it lasts, and just have that waterproof map along.

Update: Oh, I'm getting best signal by putting my phone in my hydration pack, facing up. Is that what everyone is doing?

Edited by JohnJ on 02/26/2012 12:02:17 MST.