Best GPS System

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Why expect a gps designed for road directions to include off road or trail directions?

Why not?  Garmin and the others HAVE the topo maps available for their handheld units for hikers.  The GPS's all take SD cards to hold the data.  How hard could it be for Garmin to configure the topos to work on the 5 to 7 inch vehicle units?  Have the streets and roads on one SD card and the topo maps on another and just switch them out as needed.

 

[Almost There]

Why not?  Garmin and the others HAVE the topo maps available for their handheld units for hikers.  The GPS's all take SD cards to hold the data.  How hard could it be for Garmin to configure the topos to work on the 5 to 7 inch vehicle units?  Have the streets and roads on one SD card and the topo maps on another and just switch them out as needed.

Well, that might make too much sense to some of us and no sense at all to a lot of the rest of the world!!

The market for that type of service is actually incredibly small...do you have any idea how many never use their GPS for anything more than traveling around their own  city and maybe state??

The road GPS systems take enough flack for when silly drivers turn left on to the railway tracks instead of the street 10' further down the roadway without having someone try taking logging roads and hiking trails.

 

[blars]

The Garmin maps have been reverse engineered, and you can get openstreetmap data on them. You can modify the data and programs and put whatever custom maps on them you want.

 

[DannyB1954]

Why expect a gps designed for road directions to include off road or trail directions?

Maybe because if you look at Google earth you can see most of the jeep trails.  It would not be all that difficult to take the info from Forest Service maps. As Optimistic pointed out, they already have the info in a digital form. I am not looking for turn by turn directions when off road, I just want to see where the trail goes.  Right now it is like a TV that only brings in one channel. Telephones can overlay lots of info on a map, Weather, TOPO's, radar, etc. The problem is they are useless if you lose cell service.

 

[LoupGarou]

You can't beat a device that can show you where your at, where you've been and where your headed, all at the same time.

Garmin's Basecamp software allows you to plan your route, tracks and place waypoints offline. You can build a vast database of your travels as well as those of others.