Jump to content

Gps


wilson
 Share

Recommended Posts

I'm looking into getting a gps for the truck. not so much for city driving, but for remote trails and such. I also like to keep track of mileage and speed for tracking fuel consumption. anyone have suggestions?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you want one for trails, don't even worry about looking at the ones made for vehicles. Tom-Tom, etc... they usually don't have any form of off road capability.

 

For that you'll want a hand held one, probably one that lets you store a lot of way-points, so you can record the various points of the trail.

 

Someone with more experience with various unit's would be better at giving advice on those.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My Garmin is great, and you can download files that create waypoints on it. Also, if you really want to spend the cash, Garmin has topo/trail maps of various regions that you can add to your unit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Or get a small laptop and a Delorme or Microsoft GPS unit for it. I have an old hikers GPS that is kinda crap on the road, and a modern Garmin vehicle GPS that shows nothing but roads. Still might buy myself a GPS to hook into the laptop and dump both for my trailrides (though my laptop is huge).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

garmin 60csx is a nice little device that can handle topographic maps and city routing duties. They still hold their value compared to the newer models like the colorado and oregon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a Garmin Zumo because I bought it for my bike first. Its a GPS made especially for bikes so its water proof and shock proof but it comes with a cradle for the car too. It also cost alot more then the car models. In my opinion Garmin is the way to go. As beastpath stated you can buy (or find in a torrent) topo maps to add to it. You can set it in off road mode when you leave the roads and create routes for trails using mapsource (also found in torrents) so you should be able to navigate to your favorite off road spot. I still haven't had a chance to try the off road routes yet because I didn't have an extra cradle for my 4 wheeler. As soon as the pathys ready I will map out my hunting lease.

James

 

I did the laptop idea in my Titan with a 7" screen in the factory navigation housing above the radio with the little pod GPS on the dash. The laptop is under the passenger seat with a small key board and hand held mouse in the center console. It works pretty cool but is a pain in the butt to put in addresses because the screen is so small. My titan is a street machine only though, I think the laptop would take a beating on the trail.

Edited by JamesRich
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Panasonic Toughbook!!

 

It is a chunk of change to buy a new a new one, but they can be scored on ebay for cheap. Most of them have built in GPS and the software is readily available for off road navigation. I have used the same setup in my patrol car for a while now, and it serves well. Another cool thing to use is google earth. Punch in your coordinates, or if you have a GPS puck, it will automatically show your location. With that you get kind of a birds eye view of the terrain, etc. As well as navigation.

 

As for a mount for a laptop, they don't make one for our trucks. The newer ones yes, but not the WD21's and older. I am in the process of making one, but working so much I have not had a chance to finish it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a Garmin E-Trex Vista HCX.

 

Its a hand held unit, Color, stores an Unbelievable amount of waypoints and can do just about anything you could ever ask of it. It has a memory stick slot in the back for cards for any number of areas and different things. Example. You can get a memory stick of North American Roads, One for north American Hiking and topographical maps, and one for Marine use so it gives you all sorts of info specifically detailed for what you're doing. It doesn't have a speech function telling you you're a moron for missing your turn or whatever, which for me is a bonus since that means I don't have to hear it from anyone else other then my wife.

 

Also has a port for a cable that can plug into a computer if you have the extra cash and software. In all, its been a FINE unit. I did drool over the Colorado functions like 3d topographic function but hey, they'll have something newer coming out with different functions by the time I'm done typing this so whatever.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

As for a mount for a laptop, they don't make one for our trucks. The newer ones yes, but not the WD21's and older. I am in the process of making one, but working so much I have not had a chance to finish it.

 

A couple of people I know have made them using threaded black pipe. Just take a floor flange and bolt it to the side of the tranny hump, a 45 off that into a 8" straight, then another floor flange onto a piece of plywood or plexiglass to set the laptop on (bare basics). You could put a swing arm into the mix simple enough, or add another 45 under the laptop bas to tilt the keypad area. Lots of ways to vary the design.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Garmin Nuvi 500 series

 

http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-500-3-5-Inch-Portable-Navigator/dp/B001CSZSDI

 

best of everything, Looks and feels like a regular auto GPS but is also designed for hiking, geocaching, offroading, biking etc. Its waterproof, accepts GPX files, has topo maps and can be programmed with waypoints and stuff.

 

I got a factory reconditioned one for my wife for $150.00

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep, the black pipe is awesome. I have a RAM mount in my patrol car, and built a base that is attached to my hump in the pathy. That way I can easily swap the tray between vics.

 

As for another GPS idea, I have used a HP IPAQ with Mapopolis software. It works great, and is portable...so you can take it with you...

 

Here is a picture of the ipaq mounted in a suction cup window mount (ebay) from a while back, its blurry, but hey it was a cell phone pic at highway speeds...lol

ipaq.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i like my motorola droid

I still have my old Iphone thats over two years old. The only phone I ever had that lasted the whole two year contract. (except for the giant bag phone I had in 94) The battery is finally crapping out so I want to go trade it on a new Iphone with the GPS in it, then I shouldn't need a separate GPS.

James

Link to comment
Share on other sites

AT&T does not cover my area very well, so the iphone is out. All the guys I work with for the most part have droid's, and they love them.

 

Just finished installing everything for the mount...PITA but it works. Go here for pictures info Laptop mount

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...