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Beartooth

beartooth.com

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Re: Beartooth

#71

Post by tjohns »

dazmax wrote: post #66
baldfat wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try buying a bunch of two ways on amazon. You can get 6 of them for $150 and they work for 10 hours on 2 AA batteries and have a 23 mile range.

Except people prefer to text these days.

There are two-way radios that support text. Since a lot of newer radios are using digital signalling, it's not hard to add in.

Off the top of my head, any of these would work: Amateur radios that have D-STAR (connected to an Android phone), Garmin Rino, Motorola DTR, and TriSquare (discontinued, but you can find them on eBay).

Re: Beartooth

#72

Post by rtkwe »

munificent wrote: post #63
donpdonp wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume they mean the 900mhz band in the US. How is a cell phone supposed to communicate with the Beartooth? If its not a cell tower, the phone only knows bluetooth and wifi on 2.4/5Ghz.

> How is a cell phone supposed to communicate with the Beartooth? Given the name, I would presume Bluetooth.

Piggybacking here but the FAQ is painfully vague. On the question of what phones does it work with their answer is:

> Beartooth pairs with both iOS and Android smartphones, as long as the operating system is up to date.

Which is a pretty much useless statement on Android especially since they would know what API level their app targets...

It certainly sounds like it'll use Bluetooth though and makes sense as a bridge between the two devices. The only other real option would be Wifi or if you wanted to be weird for the sake of it you could probably do it through NFC.

https://beartooth.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/217369867-Wh...

Re: Beartooth

#73

Post by baldfat »

dazmax wrote: post #66
baldfat wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try buying a bunch of two ways on amazon. You can get 6 of them for $150 and they work for 10 hours on 2 AA batteries and have a 23 mile range.

Except people prefer to text these days.

Not when hiking or skiing. I always have to make sure people hear me.

Re: Beartooth

#75

Post by ldayley »

roymurdock wrote: post #52

Just don't see a value prop to make this feasible. I go to festivals, skiing, camping with friends 2-3 times a year. At a festival, cell service is fine. Camelback with gatorade/water mix is the crucial piece of equipment. Just keep an eye on it, as random people will try to drink from your straw. For casual skiing we set times/places to meet up in case we get separated. Again, cell phones work fine on most mountains…

I don't think it is designed with this use case in mind, despite the marketing that mentions crowded festivals.

I see a "Born in Bozeman" badges on the site, so I'm assuming this was born out of necessity for backcountry trekking in wild Montana and not hiking Mt. Tamalpais. I'm not far from Bozeman and I don't have to travel far from home before I lose network coverage from both Verizon and T-Mobile. Sure, I relish the loss of service in a way as a means of escape, but it has higher risks and causes a number of challenges that I think this seeks to overcome.

I'm intrigued.

Re: Beartooth

#76

Post by andrewljohnson »

macintux wrote: post #56
andrewljohnson wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree it's foolish to do a dangerous trip with just one navigation method. But that doesn't mean your phone isn't a good tool, or that we'd have less emergencies if they didn't exist. I develop an app called Gaia GPS, which a vast array of backpackers, wildland firefighters, and SAR use as a tool to navigate in the woods. They use battery packs and rugged/insulating cases with their iPhone and Android devices to ma…

I heart Gaia GPS, thanks. I find the interface a bit confusing, but that's a tough problem to solve given a large feature set and a small touch-only UI.

Thanks, that's a fair criticism and a kind allowance.

I think you'll see the UI improved greatly this year... as of last Monday, we have 7 full-timers working on Gaia GPS, and we're looking for a designer to help with the UX right now. Things really blossomed in 2015, and 2016 will see more engineering work on Gaia GPS than any other year.

Re: Beartooth

#77

Post by macintux »

andrewljohnson wrote: post #76
macintux wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I heart Gaia GPS, thanks. I find the interface a bit confusing, but that's a tough problem to solve given a large feature set and a small touch-only UI.

Thanks, that's a fair criticism and a kind allowance. I think you'll see the UI improved greatly this year... as of last Monday, we have 7 full-timers working on Gaia GPS, and we're looking for a designer to help with the UX right now. Things really blossomed in 2015, and 2016 will see more engineering work on Gaia GPS than any other year .

I think my main problem is that I've never used GPS hardware or software, so I have a distinct lack of familiarity with the standard concepts, making the learning curve that much steeper.

Fortunately, I really don't need much. Primarily recording (off)road trips in the Jeep, and downloading maps in advance of excursions where I suspect cellular data will be flaky.

Anyway, thanks again, and good luck!

Re: Beartooth

#78

Post by arethuza »

andrewljohnson wrote: post #44
jdietrich wrote: post #30

As with any smartphone product being marketed for use in wilderness environments, a note of caution is necessary. Rescue services have seen an increasing number of life-threatening situations caused by the unwise use of smartphones. Phones aren't sufficiently rugged and often lack user-replaceable batteries, so cannot be relied upon as a navigation tool or as a means of emergency communication. If you're considering…

I agree it's foolish to do a dangerous trip with just one navigation method. But that doesn't mean your phone isn't a good tool, or that we'd have less emergencies if they didn't exist. I develop an app called Gaia GPS, which a vast array of backpackers, wildland firefighters, and SAR use as a tool to navigate in the woods. They use battery packs and rugged/insulating cases with their iPhone and Android devices to ma…

I think calling that comment "FUD" is a bit harsh - there is no doubt that casual users relying exclusively on smartphones for navigation without the ability to fall back on a traditional map and compass is a real problem. I've seen plenty of reports of this in the UK and seen warnings about it in the Alps.

"The root cause of getting lost is usually a lack of adequate navigation skills, no matter what technology is being used. In many cases, walkers do not have the skills to read a map or navigate effectively. Some mistakenly think that carrying a Smartphone or gps means that they do not need these skills, which is a recipe for disaster, for all the reasons given above."

http://www.mcofs.org.uk/navigation-gpsandsmartphones.asp

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