Garmin Nuvi 40 with Red Pine Mapping

[biffdotorg]

Biffdotorg, I try using just the view map, and yes I can see the trails with occasionally it telling me what trail I'm on. When I was out in the roads in the U.P., I would see the trail ahead ahead of me on the map, head that way, then all the sudden the GPS will rotate and the trail is a different way. To me, it always seemed like it was getting lost. I don't know, time to buy a compass and map and do this the old school way.

One thing I do when on the sled is set my GPS to always have north pointed up. I generally know what the trail map is supposed to look like so if I glance down while riding I can sort of figure out when I'm at in relation to trails without having to study the screen. It also helps in situations you describe.

That's exactly what I did as well. Keep North up. It made it much easier to follow location when just glancing at it from time to time.

What surprised me as well was the auto-zoom feature that would zoom in at slow speeds and zoom out at highway speeds. You know you are rockin' a ditch, when it goes to highway speeds. I think you have to have a constant 60mph to get it to zoom the whole way out!

 

[coyotekid]

I have a Nuvi 40 in a Ram AquaBox with RPM that I used for the first time last week in northern Maine. The GPS worked fine while trail riding, but like others, I keep it on the view map screen and don't use it to navigate. I used it to navigate in my truck on the trip north and I will say, it gets very confused if you have the trail maps and road maps both on while trying to navigate. When I turned off the trail maps, it worked perfectly. I believe it treats the trails as roads with very high speed limits, so if you're navigating in fastest time mode, it sends you on some crazy routes. My Red Pine Maps are a couple of years old, but they are very innaccurate, even on trails that haven't changed for years. The unit was incredibly valuable when I went fishing in a whiteout and was able to stay away from inlets/outlets even though I couldn't see more than a couple hundred yards. I have some older topo maps that I use on my Rhino 530 and in the past I used that with the RPM, but the screen was just too small. The Nuvi's bigger screen is great for visability while riding. I personally think the best set-up would be newer Topo maps with accurate trail maps on the Nuvi in the AquaBox. It is waterproof, does everything I want it to, and is way cheaper than the purpose built units. I can also use it in my truck and boat, so it doesn't collect dust for 3/4 of the year. One other thought, are you trying to navigate the trails in off-road mode? I don't belive that that would work too well as I believe the unit considers the trails roads.