rabi
Newbie
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2013
- Messages
- 1
OK, have used several Garmins on my sled over the years( 3+. V, 60CS) but I'm tired of the small screens. What is a good waterproof model with a large screen that is easy to read and I can download trails to?
gutterboy2ca
Veteran
go to local Pawnshop, grab a Garmin Nuvi 255W or similar for $30,slap your trail maps on it,find a good spot to screw the suction cup too, and rock on.I ran the vector all last season with one, left it out in the weather numorous nites,always works fine.I liked it so well i jumped on ebay and bid on 6 units all sepperate auctions, won 4 of them for under $20, now all my buddies are equipt too,lol.....
Paraclete
Expert
I have had very good luck with the 255w too
SRX Boy
Expert
Zumo 660. Best unit out there (all the bells and whistles) but expensive
Ultrafrozen
Expert
Garmin Montana series if you do any other outdoor activities like ATVing, hiking, hunting, fishing, geocaching, etc. Buy one with the TOPO map preloaded and save a few bucks.
Zumo (motorcycle unit) work great on sleds but is more suited for roads and sled trail maps.
The regular car units also work but are not waterproof and have same problem with off-road tracking abilities.
Zumo (motorcycle unit) work great on sleds but is more suited for roads and sled trail maps.
The regular car units also work but are not waterproof and have same problem with off-road tracking abilities.
marq
Expert
I recently switched to a Garmin 50LM, for $89 on Amazon. It's not a waterproof unit and I wouldn't trust it exposed in a rain storm but a little snow didn't seem to bother it. Paired up with trail maps from Redpinemapping it did everything I needed it to do. The only downside I could see is that the 50LM only shows your current track and you can't save custom trails. This isn't a deal breaker for me, but if I did it all over again I would consider the next cheapest Nuvi unit that allowed you to save trail data.
Kirkdking
Extreme
montana is best bang for buck...
mooseflyer
Expert
About a year ago, I spent a lot of time researching a new GPS to replace my Nuvi 750 I had been using. I too was focused on a large screen for my touring sled. As such, I was leaning towards the Montana. I was disappointed that Garmin discontinued the MP3 function on all of their units, since it was very handy to have the touch screen right in front of me to manage my music using the Nuvi while riding.
I came across a SxS forum with some guys using an Android tablet for the purpose of a GPS, and after reading about it I was sold. I bought a 7" Google Nexus tablet for 200 bucks and loaded the free app called OruxMaps. I also spent the coin on an Otterbox case and RAM mount for it. I now have topo maps, satellite imagery, designated sled trails, city maps, public land use borders, and a host of other maps that I can view. Perfect for backcountry exploring. OruxMaps is an amazing app which will record tons of stats about your route. My inner geek is very happy with it. It has many features which I won't bother typing here, but you can read about it in the Google Play store. In addition, I use the tablet for all kinds of other daily stuff too (or for reading the shop manual in case I'm broken down while on the trail, lol). It also has the MP3 player that I wanted of course. I DID have to buy a new pair of capacitance gloves to be able to use the touch screen with gloves on, but they are pretty common these days at REI, Cabela's, etc.
You said you wanted a large screen, and 7" certainly is huge for a sled. If that's too large, and you're an android phone user, you can of course load OruxMaps on your phone. The only drawbacks I can think of it that a tablet/phone is not truly waterproof and you'll need a 12v outlet for all day riding since there's no option to put batteries in it, as you would on a regular GPS. I've had no problems with temps as low as 10 degrees F, but can't yet comment on how it would perform below that.
PS - you can kind of see the tablet behind my windshield in my avatar. Like I said, it's huge....
I came across a SxS forum with some guys using an Android tablet for the purpose of a GPS, and after reading about it I was sold. I bought a 7" Google Nexus tablet for 200 bucks and loaded the free app called OruxMaps. I also spent the coin on an Otterbox case and RAM mount for it. I now have topo maps, satellite imagery, designated sled trails, city maps, public land use borders, and a host of other maps that I can view. Perfect for backcountry exploring. OruxMaps is an amazing app which will record tons of stats about your route. My inner geek is very happy with it. It has many features which I won't bother typing here, but you can read about it in the Google Play store. In addition, I use the tablet for all kinds of other daily stuff too (or for reading the shop manual in case I'm broken down while on the trail, lol). It also has the MP3 player that I wanted of course. I DID have to buy a new pair of capacitance gloves to be able to use the touch screen with gloves on, but they are pretty common these days at REI, Cabela's, etc.
You said you wanted a large screen, and 7" certainly is huge for a sled. If that's too large, and you're an android phone user, you can of course load OruxMaps on your phone. The only drawbacks I can think of it that a tablet/phone is not truly waterproof and you'll need a 12v outlet for all day riding since there's no option to put batteries in it, as you would on a regular GPS. I've had no problems with temps as low as 10 degrees F, but can't yet comment on how it would perform below that.
PS - you can kind of see the tablet behind my windshield in my avatar. Like I said, it's huge....
Attacker
Extreme
I am intrested in the droid idea. Do u know if someone puts out snowmobile trail maps for this. I thought Oruxmaps was just street maps. Thanks
Grimm
TY 4 Stroke God
This Android tablet intrigues me. I currently have a Montana GPS and while I am happy with it, the screen size can still be a bit bigger.
Mooseflyer, how effective are the tracking abilities of these Android tablets? Is it a pretty simple process to convert gpx/gdb files into Android tablets?
Mooseflyer, how effective are the tracking abilities of these Android tablets? Is it a pretty simple process to convert gpx/gdb files into Android tablets?
mooseflyer
Expert
Attacker: I've never purchased a GPS trail map set before, so I don't know what format they come in. If they're just gpx files then Oruxmaps will read them no problem. I downloaded trail gpx files from the DNR website (Michigan). I do have a trail "map" of sorts loaded on it, but it's just an image file showing the trails, names, and numbers on a white background. I suppose it's useful so you don't get lost, but it wouldn't show you surrounding terrain, points of interest, imagery, etc. so it wouldn't be very exciting to look at. Since I usually load it with tracks ahead of time, I don't use that particular map very much.
Grimm: My tablet tracks very well. Oruxmaps has a setting so you can tell it how often to take a position update as well as how often to record a "breadcrumb" to your track, either by time or distance. There's no need to convert your gpx files, Oruxmaps will read them as-is. It will also read kml (which Google Earth exports), so you can send any tracks from Earth to Oruxmaps. When you're done riding, you can export tracks directly from Oruxmaps. I usually just email them to myself so I can keep them on my computer, but if you like to use GPSies, Everytrail, MapMyTracks, etc, you can share them there. Or email them to someone else.
As far as maps go, I find that Google satellite imagery hybrid, Open Street Maps Cyclemap, and Google terrain are most useful, so that's what I usually use. I also have USGS topo, but they're not the greatest quality so I don't use them much. I also keep some Google street maps on it for a few towns, in case I want to find the nearest McD's or something. For advanced users (not me), you could create any kind map that you want. In theory you could scan a photo of your girlfriend, geo-reference it (using a 3rd party program), then watch yourself riding across her cleavage if you wanted. I'm not that savvy, but someday I'd like to scan pages from my local county plat book so I could view ownership boundaries as I explore.
Grimm: My tablet tracks very well. Oruxmaps has a setting so you can tell it how often to take a position update as well as how often to record a "breadcrumb" to your track, either by time or distance. There's no need to convert your gpx files, Oruxmaps will read them as-is. It will also read kml (which Google Earth exports), so you can send any tracks from Earth to Oruxmaps. When you're done riding, you can export tracks directly from Oruxmaps. I usually just email them to myself so I can keep them on my computer, but if you like to use GPSies, Everytrail, MapMyTracks, etc, you can share them there. Or email them to someone else.
As far as maps go, I find that Google satellite imagery hybrid, Open Street Maps Cyclemap, and Google terrain are most useful, so that's what I usually use. I also have USGS topo, but they're not the greatest quality so I don't use them much. I also keep some Google street maps on it for a few towns, in case I want to find the nearest McD's or something. For advanced users (not me), you could create any kind map that you want. In theory you could scan a photo of your girlfriend, geo-reference it (using a 3rd party program), then watch yourself riding across her cleavage if you wanted. I'm not that savvy, but someday I'd like to scan pages from my local county plat book so I could view ownership boundaries as I explore.
Attacker
Extreme
Thanks for the reply mooseflyer. I broke my gps and is time for a upgrade for my cell phone. Just thinking about the phone doing both jobs.
I got a Garmin Montana 650t with the Michigan maps on it. Nice setup.
mooseflyer
Expert
No problem Attacker. Here's another photo of my 7" tablet I found on my computer in case anyone is interested. If it's time to replace your phone and you're planning Android, you may as well try out Oruxmaps for awhile and then decide if you like it or would prefer something else. I will say that the learning curve is a little steep, but worth it IMO. The available "user's manual" takes a little reading too, considering the app programmer has English as a second language. The program really is amazingly customizable though...
PS - the photo was taken last year when I first started using the tablet as my GPS and was attached to the windscreen with the RAM suction cup mount. It worked OK, but it would fall off a couple of times a day when on icy/chattery trails. I now have a RAM ball mount bolted on the dash.
PS - the photo was taken last year when I first started using the tablet as my GPS and was attached to the windscreen with the RAM suction cup mount. It worked OK, but it would fall off a couple of times a day when on icy/chattery trails. I now have a RAM ball mount bolted on the dash.
Attachments
Grimm
TY 4 Stroke God
Thanks for the info Mooseflyer...I ended up buying a refurbed Nexus 7 3G for $160 and bought a Ram mount and case for it to mount to my sled.
I just started tinkering with mapping...managed to get a section of trails installed and it looks good so far. I've got some work to do regarding installing offline maps, but I think I'll figure things out. Any websites you recommend for info on Oruxmaps? A lot of info on Youtube but not much in English though.
A concern I have is the micro usb connection on the Nexus...seems pretty flimsy at best. Any tips on a better connection or setup? I have a power outlet on my sled and have an adapter to convert it to usb 5v power, so that part should be good.
I hope to give a test this weekend.
I just started tinkering with mapping...managed to get a section of trails installed and it looks good so far. I've got some work to do regarding installing offline maps, but I think I'll figure things out. Any websites you recommend for info on Oruxmaps? A lot of info on Youtube but not much in English though.
A concern I have is the micro usb connection on the Nexus...seems pretty flimsy at best. Any tips on a better connection or setup? I have a power outlet on my sled and have an adapter to convert it to usb 5v power, so that part should be good.
I hope to give a test this weekend.
