OnX Hunt Vs. Spartan Forge - Best for Hunting?
What’s the better hunting app, Spartan Forge or OnX? This is John Kolb with Suffering Outdoors located in North Central Pa, let’s dive in and compare.
Imagery
In my area, both apps have poor imagery. I can’t use either for detailed e-scouting. It is limited to being a navigational tool while in the woods and marking locations for boots on the ground. I like the topo option better in OnX but like the 10 foot contour lines better in Spartan forge. When I was hunting in the Wayne National Forest in Ohio, Spartan Forge did have better imagery through the UAV option. It was high quality leaf off and helped substantially for e-scouting.
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Ease of use
OnX seems to be more user friendly and intuitive. It’s pretty simple to add waypoints, use the tools and navigate. Spartan forge seems a little clunky and after using it for 6 months some of the features still seem less intuitive. I do like how easy it is to change the imagery and switching back and forth.
Property lines
I like how the shaded public area is removed as you zoom in. OnX stays on. Property ownership seems very behind on Spartan Forge. I’m seeing properties that were sold almost two years ago still showing the old owner. They have a property access feature that you can be notified by the change of color of ownership changes. I don’t think you can rely on that at this time because of how outdated it is.
AI Features
Spartan forge has a lot more features beyond being a mapping app. It started as a deer movement forecasting app. It uses GPS collar studies to predict deer movement. It also has some neat weather tools and historical forecasts. There are also some facts that may help for scouting.
Journal. It also had a journal. I feel like it needs to clean this up a little and maybe collapse some of the info. It’s too busy and I feel like I get lost in the posts.
Offline maps
You can’t see waypoints or areas you’ve already downloaded for Spartan Forge- this can make it challenging to know what your downloading. you don’t have control of what imagery you download. OnX is ahead for offline and more user friendly for downloading maps
Layers
The layers option is much better for OnX, no timber cuts in Spartan Forge, or oak tree layers, crop layers in Spartan forge is a little harder to tell plus there are many other useful layers available on Onx
Desktop versions
You can export from OnX to Spartan forge. The OnX desktop app is extremely slow and borderline unusable. I only use it to import waypoints from Google earth for scouting.
Cost
OnX $29.99 spartan forge $39.99. There is a free version of Spartan forge. Future improvements - spartan forge seems more inclined to make updates and improvements. I’m hoping the app continues to improve. OnX has been more aggressive with adding layers but seems to put minimal effort into updating imagery.
My preference
Where spartan forge has the UAV leaf off imagery it is very valuable as an e-scouting tool. As far as my choice for navigating in the woods and using my phone to find tree stands, mark waypoints, track my routes and distance traveled, I still prefer OnX and will continue to use that heavily. Although that is my preference, Spartan forge is definitely worth a look and a free trial.
https://youtu.be/MOfbAGPX_7M
