Hi Y’all. I’m a new adventure rider just gearing up. What’s the best GPS unit for handling these tracks, TAT, BDR etc? I assume that my phone won’t work in remote areas. Obviously, want to get the right mix of price/value. Thanks in advance for the help.
Welcome aboard! 1st off, your phone will work where there is no reception providing you cache the maps you need to the phone. Google Maps & the other apps can all do this so you're not reliant on spotty cell service. Obviously you won't get live updates or traffic but you will get where you're going.
However, phones do suffer from a number of drawbacks;
- need a good case for protection from elements
- will overheat in said case in full sun, this will often cause the phone to shutdown
- screen brightness is hard to see in full sun
That being said, I do use my phone for the first and last miles, directions to gas, hotels, food etc. as Google turn by turns & traffic avoidance are still the best thing out there. So carry the phone with a cached map and use for a backup should your main unit fail. I also carry a compass & paper map for the worst case scenario.
As you say, a critical feature for the TAT, BDR etc. is to be able to handle Tracks (and understanding the difference between them & Routes), the last thing you want is to be sent to the freeway because it's "quicker!" To my mind (and many miles of experience) it's hard to beat the Garmin Montana series. They have a large touchscreen, seem impervious to dirt & wet, handle both Routes & Tracks and have a solid & fairly inexpensive bike cradle mount that so far has held up through numerous offies. Of course you'll still need to deal with the largely awful Basecamp, Garmin Map Manager, Garmin Map Install & Garmin Express (yes, they apparently couldn't combine them all into one app) but there is a huge variety of compatible maps from 3rd party sources (including Topo), many of them free or close to it. I create everything in Google Maps then export to Basecamp via KMZ files but that's a story for another post.
I've bought all my GPS units from
GPS City, they have a huge selection and often offer refurb units at very reduced prices. There's a number of varieties of the Montana, it's a question of picking out the features you want. Most of us just have the base version I believe though.
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Looks good and thanks for sharing..
