What do you guys use for off-road navigation?

I am currently shopping around in the app department for a good map/navigation app. I plan on using this both on and off-road but mostly off-road. I have my eye on Gaia but heard if you download maps it takes a ton of memory. I plan on using a seat mount for my samsung galaxy tab s. I would like to hear what you guys have in place pros vs cons and pics of your setups would be amazing!!!!

 

iPad / tablet
Avenza / PDF Maps app
Techdeck
Garmin GLO



I work in GIS, so I make my own maps. Usually just georeference the MVUM's directly. But Avenza will take just about anything.

Having a 7" tablet for nav is great.

 

Delorme PN-60 handheld. Best off-road maps in my opinion.

 

im def going with the tablet route due to the larger screen just no idea what app this is a good start though!

 

ha navigation... i just drive until i find something interesting.

(but i do have backcountry navigator on my phone)

I'll also save the area offline on google maps. not really for trails or roads but a general idea of where im at and which direction to head towards the nearest town.

 

Check out expedition portal, there are dozens of threads on this very subject.

I use Back Country Navigator, but it is wicked clunky.

 

Scrap my suggestion!

 

i downloaded the back country free version and it wont even let you play with the maps i cant commit to paying 11 bucks for something i cant demo

 

I've used the free version of backcountry and had no issues with it. I now use Gaia and it has a ton of available maps. I only download areas that I regularly travel or plan on travelling. I plan on getting a tablet to use like above.

 

Back country map books and a compass

 

I also use Gaia. The maps do take a bit of room, but that's because I layer several different ones on top of each other.

 

Another one for Gaia, used it for hunting off grid driving log roads and had no problems with it. I run it in airplane mode all day and it saves all your tracks and you can look at standard or satellite maps. Worth every penny.

 

Truth be told, with my tablet in the truck (that I use in place of a traditional headunit) I just use Google Maps and cache an offline section of the map. You can save an area as big as an entire state so that's typically what I do when we go to Colorado. Surprisingly, it has a bunch of the mountain passes in there. You just have to "update" the maps every 30 days I think.

@PoweredBySoy tell me about your setup. What kind of features does that app and map combo give you that you find helpful? I'm running a Nexus 9 and am always on the lookout for better maps when in the mountains.

 

Motion x gps on the iPad or a good old garmin etrex legend that I can pack with me.

 

When seriously off roading off the grid, unfortunately all you have is the sun sometimes....

 

With the technology now a days it's almost fail proof as long as it stays charged. So I pulled trigger on Gaia and like the interface. Pretty easy to learn but if I want detailed street maps I takes a shit ton of memory and it won't save to my micro sd only to the device itself. I did research and sounds like I need to root my tablet to be able to store apps and the data they use on the card. How do you layer the maps?

 

USFS Maps

http://www.nationalforestmapstore.com/Default.asp

I'm interested in incorporating electronics into my nav however, I'll be watching this (and others) thread.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/best-gps-for-off-roading.391795/

 

Yeah, offline Google Maps is pretty good for most stuff, and I use it often, but once you start getting onto a trail system you need something more. What I like about my setup is being able to GPS directly onto park maps, or MVUM's. Stuff that Google just doesn't have.

Here's an example of a map I made when we went to Drummond Island, MI. This is their official trail designation map.



I'm able to plot directly onto these trail maps, which ends up being pretty invaluable in my opinion. When we were on Drummond, at night, with unmapped spur trails, it would be real easy to get turned around and lost if you were just using this map as a reference. Having the GPS plot on the map, you always know where you are in relation to the trails.

I use the Garmin GLO which is more accurate and reliable than built-in GPS. I bought the iPad version that doesn't have built-in GPS because I knew I'd be using this. Everything syncs up and works flawlessly. I've never had an issue.

 

That's pretty bad ass. How do you sync and scale a picture you've scanned into the device to work with GPS plotting? Hopefully I've asked that question properly.