Best GPS for backcountry/4x4 use?

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
I'm looking for some input from the guys that use their GPS often and what they think is the best option for street and offroad use. Here's the deal...

I have 2 Garmin GPS units and have been thinking about selling both, then get one unit that can do both jobs.

The first one is a Garmin StreetPilot C330, it's a city navigator which is pre-loaded with maps of the US. It has has been priceless when I was traveling to/in Chicago, California, Wisconsin, etc. I love it for use on the road. Even when I'm driving somewhere that I know the route, I'll still plug in the address to see my exact arrival time, miles to destination, etc. I paid $230 a couple years ago and while it does have an SD card slot, I cannot upload TOPO maps or anything offroad related. Apparently the SD card slot is for expanding the unit with maps like Europe, etc. I cannot upload anything that would be useful offroad to this GPS, it's a city/paved road only unit.

My 2nd unit is a Garmin eTrex Venture Cx. It's a small handheld unit, has a color screen and is much better than my old black & white GPS and much more user friendly. I have used it on the motorcycle, while hiking, exploring in the Landcruiser, etc. It's great, I added the Garmin TOPO Rocky Mtn area (UT, CO, parts of ID, NM, AZ, etc) with a mini SD card and it now provides much more information when I'm in the hills and offroad. It was around $250 new and has been a great purchase.


Now my thought is... why not sell them both and get one unit that can do both for Overland type trips? I want something that can give turn-by-turn directions on the road and also allow me to add TOPO for offroad travels, something that will let me track my travels offroad, etc. For those that use their GPS offroad often, what do you think would be the best for this?

I've been searching, love the Garmin brand and like the Garmin Zumo 450. There's also a 550 model that has some features I don't need and it's about $100 more than the 450. I do like how it's intended for motorcycle use, so it's water proof like my eTrex and it gives directions. Any thoughts on this model? Is there another one that would be better for my needs?
 

Corban_White

Well-Known Member
Location
Payson, AZ
I am also interested in this discussion. Never had a GPS so I don't have any information to add but would like to have one with the same functionality that Greg is describing. Additionally I would like it to build custom maps of roues I have taken. I.E. I would like to go on a road that for whatever reason is not showing up and hit start and when i get to the end hit end and voila!-a map of the road I just traveled. I would then like to save this and others that I make-in effect creating my own database. It needs to be something automatic-I.E. not me manually entering a bunch of waypoints and connecting the dots. Lets hear it all you GPS gurus!
 

Caleb

Well-Known Member
Location
Riverton
I am also interested in this discussion. Never had a GPS so I don't have any information to add but would like to have one with the same functionality that Greg is describing. Additionally I would like it to build custom maps of roues I have taken. I.E. I would like to go on a road that for whatever reason is not showing up and hit start and when i get to the end hit end and voila!-a map of the road I just traveled. I would then like to save this and others that I make-in effect creating my own database. It needs to be something automatic-I.E. not me manually entering a bunch of waypoints and connecting the dots. Lets hear it all you GPS gurus!
I've not looked in to the Zumo at all, but I agree with you on the Garmin brand. Something to consider is will an all-in-one allow you to use it for hiking. Meaning, is it going to be small enough, or a nice enough form-factor to carry while hiking. I love my Venture Cx and don't think I'll give it up for anything but an on-road unit could be nice.

Again, I haven't looked in to them in years but the Lowrance units are always at the top of the list. I don't know how they do with on-road but I know they are the standard for offroad and we used them in our boats as well. In case you haven't looked at them, they may be worth looking at.
 

bobmed

- - - -
Location
sugarliberty
I have a zumo 550 and use it alot.
It has garmins street and topo maps loaded on it but the topo doesn't show the elevation lines.
It works great with voice navigation on the roads. It calls just about every place thats not a paved road just "road" so it say's turn left on road or turn right on road paved streets it will call by name.
It has shown quite a few roads in the west desert and after you drive on one thats not there it can remember it as a track.
The zumo 550 is made for motorcycles so its weather tight.
I think the other zumo is the 450. Mine has bluetooth for phones and headsets, mp3 player from memory cards and XM radio with traffic and weather.
I'd like it better if it would work better with the topo mapping.
Maybe the next generation will have improvements.

I just checked their site and the 550 is the only motorcycle unit listed now.
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=135&pID=414
 
Last edited:

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
I've not looked in to the Zumo at all, but I agree with you on the Garmin brand. Something to consider is will an all-in-one allow you to use it for hiking. Meaning, is it going to be small enough, or a nice enough form-factor to carry while hiking. I love my Venture Cx and don't think I'll give it up for anything but an on-road unit could be nice.

Again, I haven't looked in to them in years but the Lowrance units are always at the top of the list. I don't know how they do with on-road but I know they are the standard for offroad and we used them in our boats as well. In case you haven't looked at them, they may be worth looking at.


I had thought about that. Honestly I don't use my GPS for hiking very often... I have taken it out a couple times, but if I'm on foot I usually don't need the GPS. I wouldn't mind having a unit that was always plugged in.
 
Are you simply using this to know where you are, and for directions, or do you want to do stuff like making maps, and fully exploring an area, with lots of detail and information?

I use a garmin GPSMap 60, tethered to a rugged tablet computer. I download satellite imagery, georeference it, and use the photo to see where I'm at and what's around me.

The newer versions of my GPSMap 60 have SD card slots like your Venture, plus temp and baro sensors for weather and accurate altitude information, along with slightly larger screens. Plus they are fairly rugged, and compact enough for handheld use off the vehicle. I also think the new Colorado line from garmin will let you upload certain satellite imagery to it, and it will show your position on the images.

It's like having Google Earth with you in the jeep. With good imagery, you can even see game trails through the brush, and the shadows from the natural light make it easier to understand the terrain, highlighting hills and valleys, cliffs and such, if you don't think normally in terms of contour lines on a topo.

Tablets and laptops which can survive in a jeep are expensive, but they have a lot more potential, if that's what you're looking for.
 

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
Are you simply using this to know where you are, and for directions, or do you want to do stuff like making maps, and fully exploring an area, with lots of detail and information?

I use a garmin GPSMap 60, tethered to a rugged tablet computer. I download satellite imagery, georeference it, and use the photo to see where I'm at and what's around me.

The newer versions of my GPSMap 60 have SD card slots like your Venture, plus temp and baro sensors for weather and accurate altitude information, along with slightly larger screens. Plus they are fairly rugged, and compact enough for handheld use off the vehicle. I also think the new Colorado line from garmin will let you upload certain satellite imagery to it, and it will show your position on the images.

It's like having Google Earth with you in the jeep. With good imagery, you can even see game trails through the brush, and the shadows from the natural light make it easier to understand the terrain, highlighting hills and valleys, cliffs and such, if you don't think normally in terms of contour lines on a topo.

Tablets and laptops which can survive in a jeep are expensive, but they have a lot more potential, if that's what you're looking for.

I want to import maps, setup offroad routes, see topographical measurements and also have turn-by-turn capability in town. I want one GPS that will do everything, rather than 2. Is that too much to ask? :p

The Colorado looks good, but it's more of a handheld. I like the Zumo because it's built for motorcycles, so you get turn-by-turn and it's expandable so adding offroad routs shouldn't be an issue.

I don't think I'm ready for a laptop, especially since I still want to use the GPS on my motorcycle. I like having one thing that can be used in multiple vehicles. I don't mind loosing handheld capability as I rarely use my GPS while hiking. Most of the time the GPS will be in a 4x4 or mounted on the motorcycle.

Thanks for weighing in! :)
 

dstrbd1

Member
When I first moved back to CO I was doing a lot with staking of mining claims and I ended up buying a GPSmap 60Csx. May not be quite what you are looking for. It has a slot for SD cards. I have the Topo program in it and have been out in the mountains in the middle of nowhere and it is just amazing the roads that are on it. I know you can also get street programs for it too. Kinda pricey but you can get it on Amazon fairly affordable. It is also water proof to being submerged for like 30 min or something like that. (Just long enough for my wife to realize she just washed it with the laundry.) The downfall of the handhelds vs. the other is the screen size though.
 

TimB

Homesick
Location
Weatherford, Tx
I use this:
060825.jpg


And run NG TOPO!, DeLorme Topo, Ozi explorer, DeLorme Streets - can run all of those programs at the same time if I want to sharing the same built in receiver. It will do pretty much anything you want, but requires space, user input to start the programs, and is not waterproof. All of the programs save a track if you turn that feature on.

I'm a fan of Garmin as well, and the detail you can get on topo with the mini sd cards is good. Screen size is the only issue - they need to offer the bigger screen with the topo card compatibility. I have Lowrance GPS as well and do not really reccommend - they are good but the software has issues and updates are expensive.

In interesting option is the Magellan Triton series - they are compatible with NG TOPO! software and should provide best available detail off-road. I've not used one and hear they may have bugs - but I like the software compatibility.

For off road topo software, the thing to watch is scale - most available is 1:100,000 at best, you need 1:24,000 to get the good detail.
 

Caleb

Well-Known Member
Location
Riverton
I use this:
060825.jpg


And run NG TOPO!, DeLorme Topo, Ozi explorer, DeLorme Streets - can run all of those programs at the same time if I want to sharing the same built in receiver. It will do pretty much anything you want, but requires space, user input to start the programs, and is not waterproof. All of the programs save a track if you turn that feature on.

I'm a fan of Garmin as well, and the detail you can get on topo with the mini sd cards is good. Screen size is the only issue - they need to offer the bigger screen with the topo card compatibility. I have Lowrance GPS as well and do not really reccommend - they are good but the software has issues and updates are expensive.

In interesting option is the Magellan Triton series - they are compatible with NG TOPO! software and should provide best available detail off-road. I've not used one and hear they may have bugs - but I like the software compatibility.

For off road topo software, the thing to watch is scale - most available is 1:100,000 at best, you need 1:24,000 to get the good detail.
How does that ASUS handle sunlight (i.e. can you still it it very well in the sunlight)? That's a major downside to a laptop is they aren't very visible when you're in the sunlight, and like Kurt mentioned, quite cumbersome regardless of your vehicle.
 

TimB

Homesick
Location
Weatherford, Tx
The ASUS runs XP. It will do anything a laptop will do. It's a touch screen and has a stylus to type and navigate. I'm all thumbs and if I really do much on it I plug a USB keyboard and mouse in. The processor is the mobil version - can't remember the name - and is a little slow. Not ever an issue unless I'm surfing the net. It has built in wireless so I can hit the web at rest areas, motels, etc.

It's not as bright as I would like for full sunlight. I mounted it up high on my cage above the rearview mirrow - the top shades it well enough I can see it most of the time. I see them on e-bay all the time for well under 1K.

Samsung has a new version of the Q1 out that I like more because it has keys for typing in the same footprint. I'm not sure it is available with a GPS receiver though.
 

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
Thanks for the input all, I ended up picking up a lightly-used Garmin Zumo 550 from bobmed. I think it will be perfect for my needs, I want to load TOPO! onto it so I have trail information where ever I go. I like the fact that it's water and dust-proof and comes with a motorcycle mount. Sadly I sold my motorcycle, but it won't be long before I have another one. ;) The Zumo will probably find itself passed around between the motorcycle and our 4x4.

In the meantime, I think the Zumo will be perfect for mounting in the Toyota Landcruiser. I love the XM radio features it comes with, I think I'll have to get an XM subscription. :D

The Zumo also has an SD card slot for additional information. I can upload maps, music, etc. I need to see what it will take to get TOPO! on it. I think for now the Rocky Mountain TOPO! map will do the job, some tunes will be great... may have to look into maps for Baja, Mexico soon. :D

I'm happy, I will be adding some additional features to the Zumo. If anyone is interested, I'll be glad to update this after I have some trail-time with this unit.
 

Green Leader

Active Member
Location
Riverton, UT
I am also interested! going to Moab in a week and was thinking of getting a GPS that falls into the same requirements you have, before I go, so please update.
 

Cody

Random Quote Generator
Supporting Member
Location
East Stabbington
has anyone used the Garmin Oregon series (400t or 550t)? I like the 3d map rendering, but the Colorado series had some bugs in it.

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=145&pID=14904

I also think it's kind of cool, in a novelty way, that the 550t will take pictures and tag them onto the map so you can go back and look at a real picture of a place you have been.

I think I'll still wait for at least one more generation of these 3d touchscreen portable's to come through, but it would be interesting to hear real world feedback.
 

Olaf

Active Member
Supporting Member
I'm a bit late on this post but I was going to suggest the Garmin 376c, 378, 478. They were originally marine units that Garmin adapted to city use. They are an older platform but so far they're the best of both worlds in the Garmin line.

I've used the 376c for about 3 years now and I wanted to upgrade to another unit last year but they didn't have one that worked better for both applications than what I already have.
 

Bear T

Tacoma free since '93
Location
Boulder, mt
So I'm also looking for a gps, but I have a few different needs than greg. But I didn't wanna start a new thread.

I want one with Topo's, mostly used for off-road. I want something durable and fairly weather proof. Color screen, I would like to be able to create my own routes. Put in Start and end points and have it show me the way, as well as able to press start, then drive a route, then push end, and have it saved as a map. I would like one that is also an MP3 player, but thats not required. Definitely needs to be user friendly.

Any ideas, my dad uses an antique Magellan and it works ok, never used any other kind so I'm really needing some direction here.

Hey Greg, How about starting a thread that people can just post reviews of what type of GPS they have, what features, and how they like it?
 
Top