[KillJoy]

First off, please move this post to the proper location if you know of a better one but I figured I would start here.

Can you guys name off some GPS systems that you guys have in your X's that have the trails you off road all ready in the system.

I have a Garmin legend but looking for something with a color screen that will have the street as well as the trails available.

Any suggestions?

 

[Muzikman]

I use a tablet PC, a GPS puck and National Geographic TOPO! State Series. It's a topo map with all the main roads and many jeep trails / dirt roads.

I can then switch programs fro street navigation.

I can also surf the net while wheeling.

That being said, I would look at the Garmin GPS Map 6 CSx with the MapSource Topo maps. They are not great, but better than nothing.

Someone (in trail gear forum) bought the Cobra GPS that was said to have of road maps for it. Might want to find out how that is working out.

I personally like having both an in car system and a hand held system, but I am also a GPS nut and have used and owned a GPS since about '98.

 

[KillJoy]

(looking back as that flew right over my head)

Got any pics of your setup? I would love to understand what you just wrote up there. I got some of it but in all honesty but I would love to see how you have it set up in your rig.

 

[GISX]

I've used a procedure to dynamically input contours and road data into the Garmin Etrex legend before. It is pretty cool, you need a few programs and need to get data from the internet but it provides excellent quality - often times better than a 24K quad. You can get spatial GIS shapefiles of Roads from sources like the USGS and import the data into the unit.

I use it mainly for hiking, camping, and hunting but you could use it for off-road navigation. Check out the link(s) below for more information if you are interested in doing this. It is sortof a hack on the Garmin unit and from what I understand is not supported by Garmin. Their topo maps really suck, they are very poor quality.




Instructions to get contour and spatial GIS data on Garmin Etrex Legend
http://home.cinci.rr.com/creek/garmin.htm

http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=103047



I've gotten some pretty good Road data from the USGS national mapviewer. http://nmviewogc.cr.usgs.gov/viewer.htm.



If you are interested in Land survey information (townships and such) you can get that from

www.geocommunicator.gov/LSIS6/map.jsp

 

[Magic Rat]

Basically what muzikman said is he has his GPS puck (or receiver) hooked up to a tablet PC and is using the National Geographic Topo software as the map.
Not very portable, but great for an in vehicle set up.
As mentioned above, the Garmin topo maps suck. Magellen topo maps are better, but still rather poor compared to the USGS quad maps (which is what National Geographic Topo map s are). As of this moment, no car units have the proper topo (or USGS quads) in them to show all the off road trails (or roads) I don't believe the Cobra worked out as well as it should have, map wise.
Delorme has a new unit out that appears to combine the the USGS quad maps, sat photos and streets in a handheld. Later this year they plan on adding the ability to add Street Atlas detail maps to the handheld. (right now it's just their topo maps for streets, which isn't too bad.)
This looks to be very promising and with software is way cheaper than the Garmin 60CSx with software. I should be getting one shortly and see if it's all it's cracked up to be.
www.delorme.com
Hope that helps

 

[VanHut]

I've put a MIO C310x GPS in my X. Not sure how it works off road but down the hiway and in the city it is very responsive. Got it on sale at Staples for $160 so it was a cheap solution compared to the hi end models.