It seems like Gaia GPS is one of the most popular in the OB community. Has anyone had experience with the Magellan TRX for longer trips? I have the app on my phone, but am toying with purchasing the stand alone unit as an "always on" device in my rig. I like Gaia on my phone, but just entertaining other options.
Navigation Software of Choice
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I have friends that use the TRX with mixed reviews.
Most the people I know including myself use the Gaia app on an iPad with and external Bluetooth GPS and downloaded offline maps.
Most the people I know including myself use the Gaia app on an iPad with and external Bluetooth GPS and downloaded offline maps.
Off-Road Ranger I
This is what I do as well. I’ve been surprised at how little space downloaded maps take up on the iPad.
I used the TRX7 on snowmobiling trips in Michigan and it worked very well. It had all the trails in the Manistee area, and SW Michigan, too.
I'll be using it in October on the Rimrocker trail and also in Moab. It appears to have those well documented in it.
I'd be interested to see if it has any of the more obscure paths/trails in the west, southwest, and northwest.
It is crowd-sourced, so if anyone finds a route, you can save it and share it.
I only wish the screen was brighter and that it had a bit faster processor.
I'll be using it in October on the Rimrocker trail and also in Moab. It appears to have those well documented in it.
I'd be interested to see if it has any of the more obscure paths/trails in the west, southwest, and northwest.
It is crowd-sourced, so if anyone finds a route, you can save it and share it.
I only wish the screen was brighter and that it had a bit faster processor.
Explorer I
I’ve been experimenting with HEMA and GAIA. I’ve been kinda disappointed in both. I find the ability to create routes kinda difficult. I would love for HEMA to have a dirt road finder. It allows you to filter to avoid certain types of road but not to filter FOR certain types. It seems that if you could filter to avoid dirt you could use it to find them too. I’m only trying the free GAIA right now and it wants to fill in for me the most direct route not the most fun route. So when I try to manually put in a route road by road it intuitively routes me a different way. Not real happy with it, so I have not purchased the full version because of it. Now I admit I have not had a whole lot of time to work with them but I feel both need to ne more user friendly....or at least Hellbender friendly...
I've tried stand alone GPSr (DeLorme and Garmin) as well as Hema and Gaia. Used to use DeLorme GPSr and their mapping product, but Garmin got scared of them because of InReach and bought them out. I'm settling down with Gaia. I do most of my planning on Garmin Basecamp (with maps off my Garmin GPSr cross referenced to Google Earth and all the Gaia maps) and then transfer the .gpx file to Gaia. I chose Gaia over Hema for the variety of maps and the fact Hema focuses mostly on Australia vs North America.
I've had really good results with blue toothing my InReach to my iPad running Gaia for gps accuracy as well as using Earthmate to run the InReach from the iPad.
My routes are usually preplanned as tracks with intersections and points of interest shown as waypoints, but with offline maps I can easily figure out a reroute or take advantage of a pop up opportunity along the way. My primary gripes with Gaia is difficulty in routing using the app and that all waypoints imported show up as a single type of icon. On Basecamp I use various icons to show potential camp spots, points of interest, trailheads, fuel stops, intersections, etc. Would be nice to have the imported data differentiate the types of waypoints.
Ultimately it comes down to what system you are most comfortable with. Each has strengths and weaknesses.
I've had really good results with blue toothing my InReach to my iPad running Gaia for gps accuracy as well as using Earthmate to run the InReach from the iPad.
My routes are usually preplanned as tracks with intersections and points of interest shown as waypoints, but with offline maps I can easily figure out a reroute or take advantage of a pop up opportunity along the way. My primary gripes with Gaia is difficulty in routing using the app and that all waypoints imported show up as a single type of icon. On Basecamp I use various icons to show potential camp spots, points of interest, trailheads, fuel stops, intersections, etc. Would be nice to have the imported data differentiate the types of waypoints.
Ultimately it comes down to what system you are most comfortable with. Each has strengths and weaknesses.
Kinda been beat to death but HEMA is dead in North America. Pretty much abandoned software. Updated twice in 2 years. While Gaia keeps on going. Updated over 15 times in a year.
One thing to try in Gaia when doing routing is try the different modes. Sometimes saying Hiking or cycling may give you a different route. I really don't think there would be a way to have a filter for dirt roads. Not sure any app would know this. But hey I am not a developer and don't know how OpenStreets, etc tag data.
Where available the USFS maps will give you some of the best detail to draw out routes on forest roads. It's powerful software and takes time to learn. Here's an article, https://help.gaiagps.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003640568-Create-a-Route-on-GaiaGPS-com (iOS) Android tutorials also available.
I have been doing a lot of planning for a trip to southern Utah and route planning has worked well for me. I don't use it as much as I import other peoples shared tracks and record my own but it can be a very useful tool.
Hopefully the mods can merge this thread into one of the many other similar threads to keep information concise and not all over the place.
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Off-Road Ranger I
Advocate II
I sent mine back two days later. I could not get it to do a software update or map update. It was very sluggish, could not locate destination areas by name or address. Battery last one hr not plugged in (I knew that when I bought it ). looking up campsites brought up mostly RV parks even though I know all the state, national, and local campsites for my area. I personally did not feel comfortable using it to guide me I sent it back. I will give it a A rating for the off road mapping feature did work perfect. It tracked my trail and rerouted me back no issues. Try looking at magellan trx support page. they have info on some of their software issues. Hope this helps some way.
Explorer I
Explorer I
I have used gravelmap.com to help find several unimproved roads recently but trying to transfer to a app like Hema or Gaia is kinda of a pain....Check out https://gravelmap.com/#@38,-97,11,hybrid and tell what you think
Advocate III
Gaia gps on my phone is the only thing I’ve used. It’s great as long as you remember to download the map you need.
There’s nothing quite so scary as working your way through a deep muddy trail and looking up to see the map on your phone start to fade away because there’s no cell signal where you’ve gone.
That is a terrible time to suddenly remember that you were in such a hurry to leave that you forgot to plan for offline use.
You’ll quickly make bargains with God and anybody else to keep that screen from turning transparent.
There’s nothing quite so scary as working your way through a deep muddy trail and looking up to see the map on your phone start to fade away because there’s no cell signal where you’ve gone.
That is a terrible time to suddenly remember that you were in such a hurry to leave that you forgot to plan for offline use.
You’ll quickly make bargains with God and anybody else to keep that screen from turning transparent.
Enthusiast III
In my region, google maps has worked pretty well. It rarely gets mentioned though...is it not cool? Their offline capabilities have come a long way, so I used it without a data plan for almost 2 years. I would just pre-load the map before leaving. So "no signal" was really "no problem". Eventually, they even built directions into the offline capability. These days I have data, so it works even better (data when I have it, and offline when I don't). For where I am, the data is quite accurate and the fidelity is good. Even the smallest access roads I have been on where accurately depicted and titled. I have tried a few others, and of course some of my friends run other software as well, but I haven't yet seen something that seemed to be better in terms of quality or features.
I will add though, that I try to encourage my friends to know the area we are in through some research before we go (regardless of what software or device is used in-vehicle). Sometimes our group is so dependent on the "directions" provided in the device that if there is any hiccup the group gets befuddled. For example, not knowing the major east-west and north-south roads that surround your area. That is not good. I also carry a high quality paper map as well, but I will admit that until paper can learn to zoom in and out at varying levels of detail, it is hard to beat the digital devices.
I will add though, that I try to encourage my friends to know the area we are in through some research before we go (regardless of what software or device is used in-vehicle). Sometimes our group is so dependent on the "directions" provided in the device that if there is any hiccup the group gets befuddled. For example, not knowing the major east-west and north-south roads that surround your area. That is not good. I also carry a high quality paper map as well, but I will admit that until paper can learn to zoom in and out at varying levels of detail, it is hard to beat the digital devices.
Autism Family Travels
Rank IV
Enthusiast III
Being in Newfoundland, we have limited mapping available to us. I use a combination of co pilot and here maps for on road nav, and an android app called canada topo pro for back country nav. In conjunction both work quite well. I am using an older lePan mini tablet and an ebay GPS tracker on my dash. Add on the Bluetooth OBD scanner and torque pro and you have a fairly complete solution. Next up is an infrared camera up front for "newfoundland speedbump" spotting.
madcratebuilder
Rank V
Pathfinder I
Gaia GPS on my phone and on a Nexus 7, the 7 has a builtin GPS receiver.
Autism Family Travels
Rank IV
Enthusiast III
My LePan has a built in GPS too, but I find the 20 dollar receiver I bought from Ebay faster. Might be just the one in my tablet and yours is probably faster. I have not tried my ipad yet. I have an LTE ipad as well and it has built in GPS. Dont really want to have my ipad bouncing around on my dash though since it's huge and heavy.
