Battery Power and life of any phone in a survival situation are going to be suspect, that said I think a dedicated GPS is the best thing..Garmin E Trex, Summit, are all good options and have removable /rechargable batteries. Some have barometric altimiters as well. I like Garmin products and they have lots of good stuff for less than your budget..second hand is also a great option. Survival..you need a second tool..to be safe and a map and compass..or even just a compas on your watch..is the best thing..learn to use them with no pressure..I learned to use a map and compass 40 years ago and still can navigate reliably with a contour map anywhere..I love the GPS..its much more grab a fix and go...then turn it on again to check progress than leaving it on all the time to navigate point to point. Your mileage and situation for usage may vary. Batteries are not a really long term viable option without a solar recharger or one of those water boiling...usb charger things..tech is out there. 3 days is the most you would hopefully be out there..so you need to look at something that can last for at least 3 days in cold temps( not easy)..Anything longer than 3 days of unforced wilderness exposure and you are usally in trouble. If you want to be found easily..get a SPOT messenger. If you dont want to be found..don't get anything except a map and compass.
Thanks for the detailed reply. That makes a lot of sense to me. I'm currently learning to use a map and compass. The main reason I wanted a GPS or phone with GPS on it though is for a detailed map and contour lines but it doesn't look like I will get those with any sort of reasonable battery life.
If you are going to learn to fully uuse contour lines then you need an altimeter in your GPS. ( Its possible to navigate using the altimeter and contour lines) eTrex® 32x Rugged Handheld GPS with Compass and Barometric Altimeter PART NUMBER 010-02257-00 Explore confidently with the reliable handheld GPS 2.2” sunlight-readable colour display with 240 x 320 display pixels for improved readability Preloaded with TopoActive maps with routable roads and trails for cycling and hiking Support for GPS and GLONASS satellite systems allows for tracking in more challenging environments than GPS alone 8 GB of internal memory for map downloads plus a microSD™ card slot eTrex 32x adds a 3-axis compass and barometric altimeter Battery life: up to 25 hours in GPS mode with 2 AA batteries There are Suunto watches with built-in Altimeters and Compass and some smartwatches also. Align the Map to the ground, then align the compass to the map. Place one edge of the compass on the desired line of travel (from where you are to where you want to be) Rotate the compass bearing ring until the Easting Grid of the compass align with the Easiting lines on the map. When your eastings are alingned then your compass bearing to the destination is the number on the the top of the bearing ring. Pick up the compass and using the Mirror and the compass shoot a bearing to an object along the desired line of travel..repeat this as often as required. (Point to point) Its that simple...40 years ago...never forgot it the rest is practice. Dense bush makes it hard..you will need to find a high spot to shoot a bearing from and then trust your compass to take you there.
This looks like the one for me and it just takes AAs. Actually excited to go use a compass. I'm going to get out and do it a bit this weekend.
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