UKH

Hi folks.

After a GPS tracker of some sort for a brief mission on the 17th and 18th of July. Can't justify the cost of buying one, so if someone has one they would be able to lend or rent to me for a few days, that would be great

Kendal area. 

Cheers, Jon

Phone tracking apps are available...

Free version of Outdoor active will track what ever, Strava and OS app also. All on the phone. 

As a guide my 4 year old Iphone 8 used 10% battery today tracking an 11km walk with a couple of views of the map. I set the phone to Airplane mode to save battery but if you have a powerbank then its possible to use the phone normally.

Do you mean something like the Spot, yellowbrick or Garmin InReach products that transmit your position via satellite or a GPS device that simply tracks and stores where you have been?

Yeah; OP needs to clarify what this 'mission' needs, where, and in what environment.

Assuming 'kendal area' is where they are located, not the 'mission area'...

This is the one most people use. We got one for a club Wainwrights relay a couple of years ago. Excellent customer service, more expensive than I guessed it would be mind, but I can’t remember how much.

https://www.opentracking.co.uk/

+1 for the open tracking ones, lots of folks use them for their big rounds like the Bob Graham, Paddy, Ramsey etc. 

Thanks for the suggestions. Basically I want to be able to follow a line on a screen, that I upload onto a device, which can also track where we've been.

In southern Scotland, a long route (maybe 20+ hours), so battery and reliability are my primary concerns with using a phone.
With the likes of open tracking I don't think I'll be able to follow a GPX route.

Southern Scotland you’ll likely have 4G these days, GPS signal will obviously be available.  
 

phone is the best bet - eg. Outdoor active or OS maps app (it’s not great).  If concerned about power/battery charger packs are v cheap.

A phone would do that, im using Outdoor Active for this along side my aging GPS unit.

I set the phone to airplane mode as this prevents the phone constantly trying to connect to a cell tower which uses battery power.

I wouldnt like to say it would do 20 hours though with out a powerbank to recharge from

My gps is falling a part and wouldnt want to risk it failing on someone but i prefer it for several reasons over the phone - todays clagged in walk would of been a pain with a wet phone screen.

You can hire from this company - not used them

https://www.outdoorhire.co.uk/product/garmin-dakota-20-handheld-gps-receive...

You don't want a tracker, then; you want digital mapping and a GPS receiver. Again, your phone will do that. Create the route in advance (or get a GPX file of your route from somewhere else). Show route on digital mapping, and enable track logging to see exactly where you have been. I do this with OruxMaps, but I have access to OSGB mapping I can create for that, and have been using it for years. There are plenty of alternatives; maybe see if the OS do a trial of their mapping app?

A tracker reports your position to a server, and allows other people to see ('track') your progress.

If you don't need to report to a server, you can have the phone in 'aeroplane mode', which will save quite a bit of power, just using the GPS/GNSS receiver. The largest power drain is the display. 20 hours ought to be doable with a phone and good battery, and only infrequent looking at the display. Use a power bank if needed. 

A moderately featured GPS watch will allow you to ‘follow a line on a screen’ you will have to get a GPX file of your proposed route and upload it to the watch then you will have a dot on the screen and a line to follow.

Unless you get a good one you won’t have a map on the watch screen.
 

You need one with ‘Breadcrumb trail Navigation’. 

The easy option is to put your phone into aircraft mode and start Strava.  The GPS will run and Strava will track, but other than that it will snooze away until you wake it up.  No data or calls to wake it up.  If you want to see a live track you'll need data, and so a power bank would be an easy addition.

Thanks, that's been really helpful. I do have the OS app so will experiment with that a bit. For some reason I still like the idea of a purpose built GPS unit - always doubting my phones ability,

I think you're right to mistrust the phone, a dedicated device has so many advantages, to list a handful initially, better gps aerial, more rugged, buttons can be used in wet and with gloves unlike touchscreen on phone, better battery life, and you're not running down your phone battery in case you need to call for help and end up trying to call and read coordinates off the same device.
 

Its why I use a GPS over the phone.

However I carry a powerbank that will fully charge the phone twice over and walk with my wife who will also have a fully charged phone so the battery issue isnt a concern.

I have been running the phone side by side with a GPS unit this week and had no issues what so ever. If I was to use the phone as my main navigational aid I would carry a cheaper or older phone for that purpose and have my main phone as a back up.

For a one off event though id be very tempted to just run the phone rather than have the expense of renting or buying a GPS. The deciding factor for me would be if the event was particularly remote.

A lot of people that walk a lot further, a lot more remote and internationally use purely phones for navigation.