So yeah, last month I screwed up big time trying to find this ridge trail marker. Totally fogged in, my cheap little plastic compass felt about as useful as a chocolate teapot. Figured it was high time to find a proper app that actually shows you where you are height-wise. Figured comparing a few sounded smart.
Diving into the App Store Mess
Hopped onto the app store feeling kinda hopeful. Typed in “altitude” and bam – way too many options popped up. Seriously overwhelming. Decided I needed to pick just a few to try out properly. My yard became the official testing zone first. Grabbed my trusty manual weather station – the basic kind hikers use – as my kinda-truth-teller.
Test Drive Time
Downloaded five that kept showing up in ‘top’ lists for hiking:
- App #1 (That Popular Free One): Opened it up near my garage. Said I was at 500 feet. Cool. Walked to the actual high point in my backyard it claims is 518 feet. App cheerfully told me I was at… 495 feet? Nope. Closed it.
- App #2 (Fancy Paid “Pro” Version): Paid real money for this! Felt fancy. It showed graphs and stuff. Took it walking Tuesday. Battery? Absolutely murdered it. Like, 40% gone in an hour. Not dragging a power bank all day for that. Total dealbreaker.
- App #3 (The One That Uses Offline Maps): Loved the offline idea. Downloaded my area. Went offline. Took forever to get a height lock. Sun was practically setting by the time it decided I was at ground level. Gave up halfway through my test hike. Felt useless. Got pissed.
- App #4 (Simple Name, Weird Ads): Looked clean enough. Worked okay at home altitude-wise. Awesome! Then… weird ads started popping up? Like hiking boot ads, fine. But then game ads? Poker chips? While halfway up a forest trail? No thanks. Annoying as hell. Deleted it.
- App #5 (Random One a Buddy Mentioned): Almost forgot this one. Simple screen. No fuss. Checked against my weather station in the yard – within 10 feet. Okay, decent. Took it on a real trail yesterday. Mixed results honestly. Sometimes super quick, sometimes laggy. But it didn’t lie about my position like #1, or eat battery like #2, or demand constant data like #3, or spam me like #4. Good enough.
Shooting a Quick Clip
Figured folks might wanna see the lag stuff. Held my regular camera while walking with App #5 open. Yeah, showed that little delay clear as day. Nothing dramatic, just… real.
What Actually Stuck
Honestly? Most were hot garbage. That free one? Total liar. The “Pro” version? Battery hog makes it pointless on long trails. Offline one? Too slow when you need it. The ad machine? Just… no. App #5 somehow won by not sucking completely. It’s not magic, sometimes it feels a bit slow, but it gets my height pretty close and doesn’t wreck my phone or my hike. Learned the hard way – sometimes the boring app that kinda works is the best you get. Tech’s not quite trail-perfect yet I guess!