Originally Posted by
Marcus_Ti
What carrier do you have, what kind of coverage does said have, and where are you touring, and what is the carrier's coverage in that area?
Those are the big problems with using a smartphone for navigation, after battery life and weather-resistance. There are large swaths of land in the USA where not even Verizon has 3G....at which point, barring pre-cached maps, you're hosed for smartphone-dependent navigation.
If you use an app like OsmAnd (I'm android) you don't need cell coverage. Download your country and put the phone in airplane mode, as GPS is all you need. Battery life in airplane mode, using the screen only when necessary, is excellent. My phone is also water/dust proof, but waterproof cases are readily available. Seems pretty simple.