Garmin Overlander: Leave reviews HERE!

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/685257/pn/010-02195-00?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIn4_hnJSg8QIVumxvBB3PUgN2EAQYASABEgL1LPD_BwE

Leave your reviews!

 

Seems silly for $600 when Gaia is $40 a year.

 

They lost me with overland.

 

Yes, I have one of these silly things.

It's an early father's day present. I'm the guy no one can ever buy gifts for, so it showed up this week. I would have probably never bought it for myself, but it is a highly appreciated gift.

Last weekend I with my son, running Gaia and a podcast from my phone via Android Play. Samsung S9 up on the DMM. Pretty sweet setup, all I need. My phone overheated and shut down. Thankfully we were following other vehicles, and while roads were Texas country dirt roads, had it been backcountry late in the day and trying to make camp, it could be a disaster.

Cross country trips, no cell coverage, hence no Google Maps. Plan by downloading Google Maps to your cell, and you're good. It just meant more planning, having a decent internet connection, and remembering to download ahead of time. I still carry my McNand Rally spiral maps, which is a good backup.

Street Maps: Garmin does a great job with their maps, and you will get real-time traffic updates.

Offroad: Gaia has better detail. But with Gaia, you need to know how to flip between layers. Have a co-pilot who does that and takes care of what level mapping, leave the driving to the driver.

The nearest campground is a great Garmin feature but check it out first. One of my local campgrounds is a restaurant supply store. Wtf? I suspect someone marked it as a good place for a van dweller to stop after dark and be gone in the morning. Just odd to see if listed as camping. I need to look into it some more. Once out on the road, it does list everything from KOA to ranches that have "pitch a tent, stay the night". Few checks of the phone numbers listed seem up to date (things change), but I suspect I'll be using this more often as it lists alternatives, and Google is getting bad about pushing paid advertisers to the top (KOA taking priority).

My take:

Solo driving, "Dad" mode (easy to switch features), No hassle: Garmin

Millennials (you grew up with cell phones and flipped between features) Gaia.
Often there are two of you, meaning two cell phones, and remind each other to down the map ahead of time.

Forest Service Maps: If you spend a lot of backcountry time, get the maps.

As a gift, highly appreciated. I'm old school and like maps. WIth my overheated phone issue (it happened in Los Angeles, yikes), I kept telling myself to buy a Garmin 50 LMT (LMT = lifetime maps & traffic), so the GPS wasn't running full time on my cell. You can pick those up for $150. Dated in these days of Google, but priceless when your cell overheats.

I have zero plans to "upgrade" my cell phone. I'll drop back to Samsung S4 but getting harder to find those. Newer ones are getting more expensive and less robust. GPS, streaming, charging that create heat. Heat kills cell phones. Plus, with the Garmin, it isn't tracking you. Google and Gaia are selling your data and influencing where you stop, when you stop, directing to their businesses (they have to make money, I get it, but I disconnect and go wandering). For me, the best part about camping off the beaten path is no cell coverage!

Gaia Privacy:
https://www.pocketoutdoormedia.com/privacy-policy/

Garmin Privacy:
https://www.garmin.com/en-US/privacy/inreach/


Summary: Garmin is expensive. They are not selling your data! Their offroad is not as detailed as Gaia, but it's a great product for solo travel or "Dad" (I want to drive and not remember what overlay is where). Gaia Apps is budget travel. In both cases, don't forget an old school compass and a detailed map.

tl;dr: There is a place for both products.

 

Oh, download maps at home. Well, this was my 2019 road trip. You can see highlights, but we camped almost all the time. Santa Cruz was a Triathlon, so I opted for a hotel near the start and a few day's rest! Getting old.

 

Wow, thank you for this information! Definitely stuck in between. I considered an iPad and using Gaia offline maps but at the end of the day, It's just a larger cellphone and I'd like something a little bigger to display maps that is less expensive so Garmin might have my vote on this. I will probably be traveling solo most of the time. Gotta "heal" the brain a little. People and relationships take a toll on you after awhile.

As for privacy, you're absolutely right. I don't need to be looking for a market parking lot to sleep in so reliable camping ground options are a huge plus in my book.

 

haha, I didn't have a say in the naming of the product.

 

I'd like a bigger display and a separate display for maps than on my iPhone 11 Pro Max. But just because it's $40 for the year, I'd have that on my phone as a backup!

 

That looks like a great trip. You certainly saw some nice areas of the NW.

The west in general is such a great place to see.

 

That's the trip I'm aiming to make! I love it.

 

GAIA works well on android tablets as well and you can get some of the cheaper ones for ~150.

Considering the alternatives, the Garmin unit coming in at $5-600 is hilariously overpriced.

 

Gotcha...I have Apple CarPlay so my Gaia shows up there.
Still think there's a cheaper/better route than that Garmin...Gaia on a used tablet or something along those lines. I can use my iPad in the truck with a Garmin Glo GPS receiver for instance.

Also, in reference to the really good comparison above, while there's a bit of a learning curve with Gaia, it's infinitely more powerful and feature rich of a product for going offroad. If I was doing a road trip like the map highighted above, I'd just use Google Maps.

 

I’ve been using OsmAnd on my old phone for a while now. The interface is weird but it’s cheaper than Gaia.

I generally have been pleased with garmin stuff over the years, but this just seems way too $$$

 

been using Gaia on CarPlay. I was thinking of buying the Garmin Overlander but the one review on YouTube didn’t convince me. Maybe they can take the suggestions and improve in the future. For now, Gaia works just fine.

 

Garmin 1350 nuvi LMT (lifetime maps & traffic) still serves, and the DoT maps for each state in the side pocket of the door or console. I'm partial to the Michelin atlas that runs it pages west to east, and north to south, just as fast to locate things as the paper phone book that I keep in the truck to locate businesses I need to find.

 

I have an overlander and used it a couple times. I also have Gaia. My buddy has a big tablet running Gaia and spent way less than I did. Wish I went tablet with Gaia from the get go. Can also use the tablet for other things like surfing the net. Overlander is useless besides my occasional off road trip.