Moving on from my idea to use an old iPad for this purpose, I would like a few opinions on cheap (ie disposable if crashed or broken) Android tablets.

At the moment I use my iPhone with OS maps, and that’s quite useful. However it’s a small screen which limits how wide an area I can see on it. A tablet with its larger screen would be better and more readable.

I saw in one review that the Hudl 2 has a GPS – which surprised me, but got me thinking about its potential.

Anyone using a cheap Android tablet or the like for this purpose?

And before anyone lambasts me, I’m not using it for navigating in remote areas. 🙂

I like investigating Iron Ages sites, so it’s useful to be able to see a wider area than I can currently on the iPhone, eg when you find hut circles there’s probably some chambered cairns in the vicinity but not necessarily up close.

And no I don’t want to use a paper map, I’ve got heaps of them but they are a PITA because it is nearly always raining or blowing hard enough to make them a hassle.

Daytime bump 🙂

Just about all Android tablets have GPS built in, even the cheap ones (except the Kindle Fire I think). Though it may not be very accurate, and could be slow to find your position. A phone can use assisted GPS to speed this up, a tablet without a data connection can’t.

Yes, it can be very useful for maps etc. Question is how big a device do you want? I think the Hudl is a bit too big to fit in your pocket, or hold in one hand. I would go for a 7″ screen instead. Some of the cheap Asus or Lenovo 7″ tablets look pretty good.

For using outside, I would get some sort of rugged/waterproof case as well.

Why not a phablet like a Galaxy Note? You can get a Note2 off fleabay for around £150.

A phone can use assisted GPS to speed this up, a tablet without a data connection can’t.

You could tether it to your phone for a few seconds whilst aGPS does its thing.

I use an old cheap 5″ phone without a SIM card and it doesn’t seem to have any problems finding itself and being accurate enough.
just buy a Hudl2 or similar, power bank and Back Country Navigator with whatever 1:25k OS map areas saved to the memory to use offline

And no I don’t want to use a paper map, I’ve got heaps of them but they are a PITA because it is nearly always raining or blowing hard enough to make them a hassle.

I’m only aware of the Sony Xperia tablets being waterproof, but you pay for it if buying new and latest model.
Guess you have two choices, 1) buy cheap enough to be disposable. 2) Buy once buy right (you might find a cheap last years model Sony Xperia).

CraigW – Member
Just about all Android tablets have GPS built in, even the cheap ones (except the Kindle Fire I think). Though it may not be very accurate, and could be slow to find your position. A phone can use assisted GPS to speed this up, a tablet without a data connection can’t….

That’s why I initially thought of using my obsolete iPad, it has the data connection sim.

But come to think of it, for position finding I’d be using my phone, smaller and closer to hand, while the tablet would be in the backpack. Which means I’m thinking all wrong. All I need to do is download maps and browse them to get the one I need, no GPS needed.

Took several days to get that bit of enlightenment. 🙂

Although the GPS would be neat…

Cheap chinese phone maybe? Bigger screen maybe?www.gearbest.com or some such. Lenovo or xiaomi huawei or something compketely different like dogee