rumrunn6

sorry my reply was rushed, I was goofing off at work, then my boss walked in & handed me some work. you have valid counterpoints to my positions. surprised no one else latched on to them. only took slight offense to calling my concern for fellow cyclists on the side of the road as silly. I realized they are probably in heaven using their devices. in fact, today I put a Garmin 530 on my wish list. I tried to reply/quote each point you brought up but I couldn't figure out how & bossman was waiting ... I do loose cell service, especially out on "the Cape", I do turn off my phone to preserve battery life. it seems to really use up battery when it's out of service. wonder if it uses more power searching? but you brought up something maybe I forgot. do cell phone apps not use cell service? meaning, is there an actual satellite GPS transponder thing in my iPhone 5S? I know there is a compass. how wold a mapping app know where I was on a map, if not with cell service? or maybe I didn't understand your point: "You really don't want to use a mapping app that relies on cell service."related: recently read an article about a woman who crashed her car into some woods, didn't know where she was & 1st responders pinged her phone to locate her. were they using cell towers? I have done some dumb things & have been caught off guard, on the Cape, at night, during the winter. I was able to walk out & flag down a car & hitch a ride to a police station to get a tow truck, but others, in other parts of the country (or abroad) might not be so lucky. I know I can carry an extra cell battery, but thanks for the reminder

normaly a phone keeps it's charge all day. those stand alone auto gps batteries do not