Off road GPS

[Abercrombie]

I'm a total noob off road and no one around here rides dual sport.  What type of GPS should I have for off roading on my Tenere or XR650L?   I would like to take the Dakota Adventure loop sometime and not sure what is needed for a GPS.   I'm not sure if I should look at something like a trail tech voyager or would something like a Garmin Montana be better?

[sleddog]

My opinion, go with the Montana 610 & City Navigator. You'll have everything you need for Dual Sport & on road use.

[sandhillrider]

I would second Sleddog's advise. I have the Montana with City Navigator and it works fine for road travel.
I shut the Navigator off in the hills and use forest service maps on the Montana.
The Montana will do just about anything you would need a gps to do if you can just figure out how to make it do it.
I'm still learning. A big plus is that it is used by many in the group so you can get help from others.

[greatbuffalo]

I have to agree with the above suggestions, however, the use of a good smartphone with the right apps can be nearly as, if not as effective as a stand alone GPS unit. I have kind of an angst against Garmin cause they're so darn greedy, and the fact that they bought out their competition, Delorme, so they could have even more control of the GPS pie.

I have several GPS's Delorme, Garmin, TomTom........ but have almost exclusively been using an Android tablet. I use Osmand, an open street app and a couple others that can be easily found. These apps are cheap or even free and the Tablets aren't too spendy either. You can even use the phone you use everyday.

Thats my 2 pence.

[Lonesome Dave]

My 2 cents; I actually agree with all above!  I too have the Montana 650 and have used it for the last 5 years or so.  I highly recommend it.  But I also agree with GB about the android phone and apps.  Most people don't really need an expensive gps or care about the features.  For me you just can't get the detail you may want or need with the phone.  But, the biggest thing is being able to see the gps at a glance mounted on the handlebars.  You can see the Montana in the sunlight and use it with gloves on, but you can't see the phone near as easily or use it with gloves.

[Abercrombie]

I normally run a Garmin Zumo 660 on my Tenere and FJR and I have an old Nuvi 550 that is designed for drive, hike, bike or boating.  I wonder if the Dakota adventure track GPX files would load on them?   The Zumo has Off road navigation preference and the Nuvi is made for hiking and off road use.  I often load GPX files to them when attending FJR rallies around the country.  Maybe I will try to down load the DakAL GPX files on the Nuvi 550 and see if that works.

[greatbuffalo]

That should work. Most of what you will ride will be on Navigator.

[jacin theis]

I used the Zumo 660 too and plved it, until a recent trip. I purchased a new map and could not get it to load. When finally Garmin got back to me, (on Monday and I left for the trip on Sunday), they said it the software is not compatible with Windows 10. Hard to get a new computer without it. I think they are WAY behind on their software updates.
It has served me well for over 6 years and countless miles.

[sleddog]

I have Windows 10. I haven't experienced any issues. A great tool is JaVaWa. Download it & use it to install, back up & repair.

[jacin theis]

Sleddog, I may pm you some time. It does not surprise me that Garmin cant even give accurate info.

[Hank]

Windows 10, despite being incredibly ugly, does have some decent features.    One thing I've found is that has better backwards compatibility than Windows 8 or even W7.   You can run older software in compatibility mode.. right click the icon, compatibility mode, pick the version of Windows you want it to emulate.   You can also do the same when you install the software, click on the setup.exe (or whatever you run to install it) and do the same....  Older versions like 8 and 7 had this feature but it wasn't as robust.

I canNOT stand the UI in Windows 8 and Windows 10 is only marginally better.. but if you prefer how Windows 7 operates (which I do by a wide margin), install a program called Classic Shell and you can make it look/work almost just like Windows 7, at least in terms of start button functionality...      Thats just a side note.

http://www.classicshell.net/

[Fletch]

I just ride with Jim, he's better than any GPS..

[greatbuffalo]

True that

[poleburner]

And if Jim is not around, LD is just as good! 

[Wizard]

And if Jim is not around, LD is just as good! 

Unless you wanna go up Custer Peak....

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