GPS navigation for hiking

Almost everyone already has a smartphone, yet we regularly notice that a good number of hikers do not have any offline maps on their phones. A suitable offline map is very important, since there is no phone (internet) service in the most parts of Börzsöny mountains. There are many applications on the Internet, but we would like to recommend a few of that. According to our experience these are working well in Börzsöny mountains and practically in all of Hungary.
In addition despite of using applications, we recommend to everyone to take a paper-based map with them. The phone can run out of power, break down but a paper-based map still comes in handy. With a paper map you can easily identify your position based on tourist signs - even without serious map knowledge.

The application of the Hungarian Hiking Association is more than navigation but a community-building tourist application that recommends trails and locations. The map navigation is based on the outdooractive engine, which is a well-known and recognized navigation system in Europe. In the hiking application, you can save your planned tour in advance and record it on the go. The saved plans can be also downloaded for offline navigation. It is perfectly suitable for the average hiker, and it also contains many good recommendations of the MTSZ (termeszetjaro.hu).
Recommended for: casual hikers, average hikers, typically those who like to stay on the trail, but are also happy with travel recommendations.

mapy is an extremely simple, but uses maps that are surprisingly thorough even for us. The Czech-developed software is easy to use, completely free, and maps can be downloaded offline after a free (!) registration. Registration is a bit tricky, because the Seznam email service encourages you to register also an email address, but of course you can use our own email address. The maps can be downloaded by county, and it is the only one among the outdoor applications that can also be used on an Android car. Tour planning and the use of maps do not require special knowledge, and the maps - at least in relation to Börzsöny - are surprisingly thorough compared to other foreign maps.
We recommend: to all serious hikers.

The top application for hiking/trekking navigation. The mountain rescue services are using Locus! The free version is also very good, but practically everything can be done with the paid version. The free maps are based on openstreetmap and is perfect for everyday use. In the paid version, more thorough maps can be purchased. It works with all kinds of coordinate systems, and it has many planning and recording options. The platform is not as simple as the other two applications, you need to practice with it to get used and understand how it is operating. Even if Locus is the best outdoor navigation we don't recommend it to casual hikers. Compared to the expected benefits there is too much energy to be invested in learning and maybe you'll get lost in the application when panic. We definitely recommend it to usual hikers, especially the paid version.
Recommended for: regular hikers, hikers on difficult terrain