BaseMap Review, By Les Welch with video by Jordan Budd

Justin Crossley

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Hey all, I know most of you have at least heard about BaseMap by now. Have you tried it out? Are you thinking about getting it? This review by Les Welch and bonus video review by Jordan Budd should answer all your questions.

BaseMap Review
 
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bsnedeker

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I played with the basic version of this app for a bit and I'm not digging it. I dislike having to pick and choose different maps for imagery or topo and there doesn't appear to be a hybrid option which is the type I use the most on onx. The 3d Earth feature is only for iPhone which I think is absurd. They also limit you to downloading 5 square mile chunks of land if you want high detail just like onx which is my most hated feature of that platform. I'll keep checking in as they update but for now I'm not a fan.

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Jordan Budd

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I played with the basic version of this app for a bit and I'm not digging it. I dislike having to pick and choose different maps for imagery or topo and there doesn't appear to be a hybrid option which is the type I use the most on onx. The 3d Earth feature is only for iPhone which I think is absurd. They also limit you to downloading 5 square mile chunks of land if you want high detail just like onx which is my most hated feature of that platform. I'll keep checking in as they update but for now I'm not a fan.

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I can't comment on the hybrid maps because I haven't used that feature. But your not limited to a 5 mile chunk for high resolution... not on my phone at least. Mine shows 6.6 miles across. When we compared with onX in Arizona I could download quite a bit more with Basemap. I'll also add they downloaded faster than onX. They are working on the 3D earth feature for Android.
 

bsnedeker

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I can't comment on the hybrid maps because I haven't used that feature. But your not limited to a 5 mile chunk for high resolution... not on my phone at least. Mine shows 6.6 miles across. When we compared with onX in Arizona I could download quite a bit more with Basemap. I'll also add they downloaded faster than onX. They are working on the 3D earth feature for Android.

On my phone they limit my download to 5.5 miles across. Not having parity of features between android and IOS is a big pet peeve of mine, but even at 6.6 miles across that limitation is just stupid in my opinion. I have a LOT of storage on my phone and if I want to download an entire GMU in high resolution I should be able to do it in one step, not pick a square, wait for the download, pick another square, wait for the download...etc, etc, etc. Just let me pick an area, tell me how much storage it's going to take, and get to work! It makes zero sense to me why both Onx and basemap put all of that effort and time on the end user. This is a particular sticking point for me because I busted my phone on day 1 of my elk hunt last year and was up until 3 in the morning downloading maps on the replacement and still didn't have all the area I wanted to get when I finally just passed out! Let me pick an area and get some sleep for crying out loud!
 

3forks

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Have you guys been able to get the same 3D views on your iPhones as what you get using Google Earth? When I zoom in and try to view in 3D, the view/functionality is marginal.
 

bsnedeker

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Download limits are set by the map suppliers, basemap/onX/GAIA all have to work within those constraints.

sorry, that's a cop out. If I can download them all individually and store them on my phone there is no reason they can't figure out a workaround in their software. If the map companies limit the size of a grid that can be downloaded then the app simply needs to break up the area that I want to download into smaller grids and download them one at a time until the entire area I want is downloaded. This should be something they do in the app, not something they make me spend hours doing.
 

Jordan Budd

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Have you guys been able to get the same 3D views on your iPhones as what you get using Google Earth? When I zoom in and try to view in 3D, the view/functionality is marginal.

Mine shows the same 3D imaging as the Maps app on my phone. I don’t use the actual google earth app on my phone. I’ll compare again but mine were on par with each other last I checked.


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3forks

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Mine shows the same 3D imaging as the Maps app on my phone. I don’t use the actual google earth app on my phone. I’ll compare again but mine were on par with each other last I checked.


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Thanks for the reply and your review, Jordan.
 

Fishforfun

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I read the review but haven’t been able to watch the videos yet. Curious if this is worth switching from onX.
 

stinky

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You mentioned you hunted WY. Did you try out the Wyoming elk layer that is supposed to show the yearlong, winter, Spring summer Fall ranges? Did those make sense?
 

Bbell12

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The price point looks very appealing.....


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NDGuy

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So which between Basemaps, OnX, and Gaia? Have you used all three? Pros/cons? I had OnX last year and liked it a lot.
 

sr80

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I used basemap pro last fall during huntiing season. I really liked it except for one thing, i had contacted basemap about the issue and they tried so resolve the issue but couldn't figure it out in the end. Or at least i never did hear back after they told me they were working on it. But when I would use it and track myself throughout the day. If i didnt check the map every say 45 min it wouldn't track. And then when i would check the map it would just draw a straight line from when i checked it last to where i was when checking it now. Not a huge deal, but kind of a bummer if you like to see where you walked to get into an area.
 

wapitibob

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So which between Basemaps, OnX, and Gaia? Have you used all three? Pros/cons? I had OnX last year and liked it a lot.

I'm staying with Onx.
I travel a bunch when hunting and can't be picking a new map from the offline cache as I travel. 9-12 miles on the quad, looking for or getting to spots. I had 62 cached maps last year. OnX shows all the cached maps when offline because you don't get a choice on the map type when downloading. Basemap gives you the option for each download. I believe GAIA requires you to pick each cached map to display also but I never got that far with it. Most of the other problems I had with basemap they fixed.
Get a trial of each, create a list of things you need for your hunting style, and start checking boxes.
 

BaseMap

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I used basemap pro last fall during huntiing season. I really liked it except for one thing, i had contacted basemap about the issue and they tried so resolve the issue but couldn't figure it out in the end. Or at least i never did hear back after they told me they were working on it. But when I would use it and track myself throughout the day. If i didnt check the map every say 45 min it wouldn't track. And then when i would check the map it would just draw a straight line from when i checked it last to where i was when checking it now. Not a huge deal, but kind of a bummer if you like to see where you walked to get into an area.

This issue has been resolved. There are some phone settings that can cause this behavior. For instance, if your battery is low, iOS will start shutting down third party services to preserve battery life. Also, make sure Location Services are set to "Always On" for BaseMap. This will allow the app to track you when backgrounded. Please reach out to [email protected] if you have any further questions. Thank you for using BaseMap.
 

UpNorth89

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I switched from OnX. Both are great but for the price point Basemap takes the win.

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I used basemap pro last fall during huntiing season. I really liked it except for one thing, i had contacted basemap about the issue and they tried so resolve the issue but couldn't figure it out in the end. Or at least i never did hear back after they told me they were working on it. But when I would use it and track myself throughout the day. If i didnt check the map every say 45 min it wouldn't track. And then when i would check the map it would just draw a straight line from when i checked it last to where i was when checking it now. Not a huge deal, but kind of a bummer if you like to see where you walked to get into an area.
I had a very similar problem with onx last year. If I would have onx open and use the track feature it would only track while my screen was lit up. And then when I'd open the app again, it would just have a straight line from my current location to where I was last time my screen was on.

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