Off road gps set up

Hey all,

Was wondering what you guys use for an off road gps set up. I was looking at that Garmin Overlander but for the money it’s a very limited tablet. Now I’m thinking maybe one of the Garmin hand held sand hook it up to my Samsung 8 inch tablet for in use. I guess I was just curious what are some of the set ups out here on TW?

 

Lots of threads on this. Do a search, you'll find lots of discussion on this.

It just depends on how much you want to spend, and how much you want to clutter up your dash. with big screens and aux GPS units.

I just use my phone loaded with BackCountry Navigator and sometimes Avenza.

If you want a bigger screen, just get a tablet with an integrated GPS (Galaxy Tab etc) that runs Gaia or BCNav or whatever app you choose. They are MORE than accurate enough for driving on trails. No need for an external unit.

 

Gaia really is amazing and worth the professional membership ($35/year??). All the NatGeo, USGS, Satellite, NP Maps, and street maps in one powerful app. Just be sure to download your layers on WiFi if you don’t have unlimited data.

I have been a subscriber for two years now and have used it for hiking, bikepacking, and off-road driving. If you run your device in airplane mode while recording and have the maps downloaded your device battery life is pretty good. With a 10000 mAh battery pack I could run my iPhone 8 for over 4 days. I recently picked up an 11 so not sure what the life is like. I imagine the iPad would run a long time too because it doesn’t eat a lot of power.

-M

 

Thanks guys. I def should have searched first. I wasn’t aware of those apps. I have a simple 8 inch galaxy tab. For 100 bucks you can’t go wrong next to what an iPad costs.

 

It's a good practice to pre-download your maps no matter what your data plan is. Only a few trails in the LA area are you assured of having good enough coverage.

Unless something changed, ipads don't have internal GPS antennas, so you'd need an external one. Kinda why I like the Galaxys (or even the generic chineasium ones).

That's a good tip about the airplane mode thing. A lot of people don't realize GPS still works in airplane mode. Saves a TON of battery because it's not looking for service it can't find.

 

I use the free app with worldwide maps called maps.me The maps have just about every road, 4wd trail, mountain bike trail and hiking trail, even ski trail, I’ve ever been on in the western US. Plus it has at least roads and streets all over the world. I used it in Baja and Ecuador. The business, lodging, dining data is pretty weak but the maps are great.

It’s designed for offline use so if you can get a satellite read on your phone and have battery, you’re good to go. 100% free. Just gotta remember to download the region while you still have an Internet connection. IPhone and Android. https://maps.me/

 

Your right that regular iPads don't have GPS. iPads with cel LTE have the GPS, if they don't have Cel no GPS. If you already have a regular iPad or tablet you could use something like the Bad Elf Gps.
https://bad-elf.com/collections/bluetooth-gps

 

I'm just not a fan of having one more gizmo on the dash, I'd rather have internal GPS. For the price of one of those Elfs, you could easily buy 2 Galaxy Tabs with internal GPS. Or save money and just get one, lol.

So to get an iPad with GPS, you need to get cell service along with it. That's one more feature/expense that, especially for offroading, is likely to be superfluous.

I also don't like the idea of carting around my $500+ iPad for offroading.

 

I bought the 5 year membership with this link

https://www.gaiagps.com/lifestyleoverland/

 

I have a Garmin Overlander and it is really cool and a great piece of hardware. That being said I also love Gaia on my phone and think it is a significant bang for your buck! I have a legacy membership that I've paid for twice (once on iOS once on Android) but I have no regrets and I use it almost every single time I'm offroading by myself, in a group, mapping a trail for www.trailsoffroad.com, or hunting.

Speaking of www.trailsoffroad.com, you can download gpx files and import directly into Gaia super quick and easy, then you hvae another full trail guide ready for you.

 

For sure, if I was looking for an iPad I would pick up a used 6th gen or something like that with unlocked LTE, pick it up cheap.
I personally just use my phones GPS, pretty easy to have no cel svc around here.

 

That's all I use is my phone. I thought I wanted a "big" screen, but I've done just fine with my phone screen - never gotten lost, lol. I see too many people with multiple giant screens, and it can't be anything but distracting.

 

I have been using BackCountry Navigator Pro on my Android phones for a few years. I download free USGS maps to use offline. I recently purchased a Gold membership for their newer BackCountry Navigator XE. They have a special ten year membership for I think about $246(normal price is $30 per year). Many different map layers included in the membership. I have been happy with the pro version. If XE is even marginally better, I think I will have made a good purchase. Haven't played with it much yet. https://bcnavxe.com

 

Thanks for the link! My 2 year membership was up in January and the best they offered to renew for a premium membership was $30 a year. I got the 5 year premium membership for $123 in your link.

 

If the Tab has in-unit GPS then I would suggest checking out Gaia. The cool thing about Gaia is you're able to toy around with it to some degree prior to purchasing a membership. See if it has the functionality at its base cost (free) you like and then do some looking into what it offers. I personally bought a Gaia premium membership which has all kinds of topographical maps including the stock form and I'm able to use the Canadian Backroads Mapbooks for the entirety of Canada. I can also feed multiple layers of maps at the same time so if I want satelite imaging as well as topo I'm able to do that. I'm looking into a super basic small-screen tablet like what you have, an Asus, or an LG to mount on my dash.

 

I think BCNav is like that too. BCNav is free to download (iirc), but the Pro version is like $5. Haven’t seen the XE version yet.

BCNav can do gpx files and all that too.. doesn't do the multiple layers things, that’s pretty cool.

I’d like to have a combo of Avenza and BCNav, Avenza has a bunch of forest service MVUMs, but the interface is clunky. BCNav has the USGS topos and the FOrest service topos. If I could get those mvums in BCNav, I’d be ecstatic.

 

I like the sounds of Avenza and how it lists FSRs, Gaia will do the same thing but they don't have a layer in Canada dedicated to it. It would be interesting to see someone build a layer for it where it lists what kind of communications you need per specific FSRs or which channels you should tune in to if for some reason you missed it on the road markers. Gaia interface is a tad clunky but that could just be that I'm not used to it.

 

WHAT i COULD HAD PAY 25 MORE FOR 4 more years!11

 

Not familiar with FSR. What's that?

You mean forest service roads?

 

Yeah, we abbreviate them up here, so do loggers and the government.