• RME Gear & Apparel

what gps to get for street and offroad?

bobmed

bobmed

- - - -
Location
sugarliberty
I have a Nuvi 500 that has street maps for the lower 48 and topo maps for the mountain central that covers Utah and Colorado and it has work good for both off and on the roads.
 
bobmed

bobmed

- - - -
Location
sugarliberty
Spork said:
So dumb question time does it matter what version of Nuvi you buy? (I assume as long as it supports an expansion card you can load up whatever you like). I have a Garmin Venture HCx and it's great for what I use it for but the screen is small.

Has anyone loaded up the topo maps from http://www.miscjunk.org/mj/mp_main.html (I assume they are compatible since they are Garmin compatible).
Click to expand...

I have the Utah maps from their site loaded and it added some offroad detail. If I turn the other maps off and just show theirs it looks like a paper topo map.
 
kkemp

kkemp

Active Member
Location
Salt Lake
Spork said:
So dumb question time does it matter what version of Nuvi you buy? (I assume as long as it supports an expansion card you can load up whatever you like). I have a Garmin Venture HCx and it's great for what I use it for but the screen is small.

Has anyone loaded up the topo maps from http://www.miscjunk.org/mj/mp_main.html (I assume they are compatible since they are Garmin compatible).
Click to expand...

The Nuvi 500 is the only one that comes with topos built in and it's the only one, I beleive, that records a track log. I could be wrong there.

I've used the montana map from miscjunk. I found that it was really bad. The built-in topo was more accurate. Or more specifically, the roads on the built-in map match reality more than the miscjunk map. I mainly talking about small backroads in the mountains near Dear Lodge.

You get what you pay for. Also, the free maps don't have auto-routing.
 
N-Smooth

N-Smooth

Smooth Gang Founding Member
Location
UT
so i got a nuvi 1350 for $120 from sam's club. i like it so far but i have barely used it around town just to test it out and i have no offroad time on it. i got a wall charger and usb cable for $6 shipped on amazon. i just did a free map and software update and i am trying to figure out what else i want. are the maps that come with it pretty worthless in moab? do i need some topo stuff? anyone used the miscjunk stuff down there?

thanks
 
TonyM

TonyM

Charlie don't surf
Location
Alaska
One thing to keep in mind about ANY Garmin GPS product... is that it has a maximum track limit of 500 points. Which SUCKS. I know it seems like a lot, but when you are trying to put together a route of tracks, it can be EXTREMELY hindering. You have to "Filter" the track down, in turn losing much of the detail depending on the size of the track.

Unfortunately, I wound up with the almost TOTL Rhino Garmin (520Hcx) before I found that out.

I am selling mine, and will be looking for a good deal on a Delorme (which has a much higher limit), or something similar. Price wise, IMO there is much better stuff out there, bang for the buck, than any Garmin product, especially for any kind of long distance tracking/routing.
 
N-Smooth

N-Smooth

Smooth Gang Founding Member
Location
UT
i don't plan on using it for long distance stuff so i am comfortable with the 500 mile limit. but thanks for the info, that's interesting
 
L

littlyota

Active Member
Location
Roy, Ut
xj_nate said:
i don't plan on using it for long distance stuff so i am comfortable with the 500 mile limit. but thanks for the info, that's interesting
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He is not talking mileage, he is talking about track points. Also on the cheaper garmin units they will not accept track uploads. I do not remember the cutoff number but I think it is anything below the 700 series. Make sure you check this before you buy one. It nice when heading to Moab or anywhere else to be able to load the trails before you go.
 
N-Smooth

N-Smooth

Smooth Gang Founding Member
Location
UT
oh okay i guess i didn't know it meant that. to be honest the limit of my gps experience is on my dad's ten year old garmin... that's why i have so many questions. i don't even know how to load the trails yet

littlyota said:
He is not talking mileage, he is talking about track points. Also on the cheaper garmin units they will not accept track uploads. I do not remember the cutoff number but I think it is anything below the 700 series. Make sure you check this before you buy one. It nice when heading to Moab or anywhere else to be able to load the trails before you go.
Click to expand...
 
N-Smooth

N-Smooth

Smooth Gang Founding Member
Location
UT
if you guys are talking about waypoints it can have 1000 of them and i can add more with a micro sd card too. i am gps stupid so that might not even be what you're talking about :D
 
Caleb

Caleb

Well-Known Member
Location
Riverton
IMO, if 500 track points per track is not enough, you are using the GPS wrong. The GPS should be used to mark turns, POIs, etc...not hold your hand the entire trip.

Yes, the 500 point limit is low and even when you pull tracks off the unit they have more than 500 points so when you go to put them back on, it complains...which is annoying. However, I've never had any problem with this limitation. As for bang for the buck, there's more to a GPS than the number of points it can hold. No other units acquire or hold positions as well as the Garmins do, Garmins also have some of the longest battery life of any of the GPSes...what good is the GPS if the batteries are dead or die in only a single day of use.
 
N-Smooth

N-Smooth

Smooth Gang Founding Member
Location
UT
yes mine can handle 1000 points and i can't see how that could be a problem. i don't need it to walk me through everything on the trails. after all i have only ever needed one on the moab trails two or three times in 8 years/12 trips. now i just need to figure out how to load the trail info. i assume you guys use a program on the computer to do so? i still have a lot to learn :ugh:
 
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