[JD864]

Does anyone have experience with any GPS units for navigating trails? What’s apps have you used? What GPS / phone / tablet? And how do you mount it?

 

[TRW]

I use Strava on my phone and it records my trip and the time and elevations etc. Look into it and it might be what you want. Your friends can watch your travel as it happens, it is cool!

 

[JimP]

Most of the time if I am on my Kodiak I actually prefer a paper map to a GPS and that is what I usually carry. I do however have a Garmin 62SC that I carry in my pack and might have it with me if I plan on doing any hiking.

You can also download apps from OnX Hunts and use them on your phone but you really need to be aware of battery usage with them. Most of the areas that I ride do not have any cell coverage and while the OnX apps can be used with the phone on airplane mode I just as soon use a actual GPS unit and just leave the phone in my truck.

 

[JD864]

I use Strava on my phone and it records my trip and the time and elevations etc. Look into it and it might be what you want. Your friends can watch your travel as it happens, it is cool!

I have used Strava for road biking. I didn’t think about it for trails. Interesting idea! Thanks!

 

[JD864]

Most of the time if I am on my Kodiak I actually prefer a paper map to a GPS and that is what I usually carry. I do however have a Garmin 62SC that I carry in my pack and might have it with me if I plan on doing any hiking.

You can also download apps from OnX Hunts and use them on your phone but you really need to be aware of battery usage with them. Most of the areas that I ride do not have any cell coverage and while the OnX apps can be used with the phone on airplane mode I just as soon use a actual GPS unit and just leave the phone in my truck.

I will have to check out OnX. Paper maps are great, if you can get them. The GPS features are nice too! Battery life can be a big deal on the trail

 

[RedRocket]

I currently use a Garmin Montana, previously used the Oregon. I have the same issue that Jim mentioned with very limited cell service the places I go in CO. Yes, I know I could download the maps into my mobile, I just prefer to have a dedicated and waterproof GPS device so I can leave my mobile with better battery life throughout the day if I do end up needing it. For the Garmin Montana, Amps makes a Rugged Mount powered cradle that combined with the RAM handlebar mount, is as good or better a combo then anything available for GPS or phone. My Amps mount is directly wired to my battery so my GPS does not turn off when I turn off my Grizzly.

A big + for me going with the dedicated GPS is the ease of ability to load in Funtrek tracks and now, CO has an incredibly useful, online, state trail mapping ability. I can go on the CO site, search for OHV trails under 50" and link together a trail system. Save it and then download the tracks and upload the tracks into my Garmin. It is pretty easy to do and came in very handy for a massive trail system I had never been on prior to Sept this year. More states need to make similar websites available.

 

[Hondroid]

Polaris has Ride Command but what a lot of guys don't realize is cellular service is not guaranteed. Stand alone GPS units are the way to go. I use to use a Garmin Montana 600 until it crapped out. I now have a Garmin 276CX NON touch screen. Fantastic image quality. Now Garmin has the Outlander GPS unit but it IS pricey with it's 7 inch screen.

 

[Hondroid]

I currently use a Garmin Montana, previously used the Oregon. I have the same issue that Jim mentioned with very limited cell service the places I go in CO. Yes, I know I could download the maps into my mobile, I just prefer to have a dedicated and waterproof GPS device so I can leave my mobile with better battery life throughout the day if I do end up needing it. For the Garmin Montana, Amps makes a Rugged Mount powered cradle that combined with the RAM handlebar mount, is as good or better a combo then anything available for GPS or phone. My Amps mount is directly wired to my battery so my GPS does not turn off when I turn off my Grizzly.

A big + for me going with the dedicated GPS is the ease of ability to load in Funtrek tracks and now, CO has an incredibly useful, online, state trail mapping ability. I can go on the CO site, search for OHV trails under 50" and link together a trail system. Save it and then download the tracks and upload the tracks into my Garmin. It is pretty easy to do and came in very handy for a massive trail system I had never been on prior to Sept this year. More states need to make similar websites available.

I did have mine wired directly to the battery but often I would forget to manually shut down the unit. Some of you may not realize that under the 'hood' under the light pod there is a auxiliary dc connector that is switched with the ignition. I'm not talking about the cigarette lighter plug on the fender. I found this out while browsing through the service manual and then testing the connector with a trouble light before making any sort of modifications. I'm not sure what the connector is for but my guess is it's for the dedicated Magellan Yamaha Adventure Pro GPS unit. I cut the old connector off and crimped bladed butt connectors on. I hate anything crimped. Solder and heat shrink is better but it's a tight space to work in. This connector is easy to find. Pop the large black battery cover off and right in the centre where all the handlebar wires meet you will find a connector with black electrical tape wrapped around a connector end. That is your aux dc connector. You might have 2 inches of wire to work with.

 

[Buckmaster]

I use my Garmin Oregon 350t with a ram mount. I just use AA batteries as I always have them in bulk for my radios etc.

I'd like to upgrade to a larger screen size...but the cost is too much for something I almost never use.

 

[Kokopelli]

I'm gonna dig my Garmin out today.. Last used for trails in the southwest

 

[CanadianKodiak700]

I use a garman gpsmap 62. They are super accurate. Actually one of the few gps units approved by the Canadian & US geologic Survey for submitting mining claims and info in your yearly claim reports.
I also bough a copy of trakmaps Ontario to load on it, but for my area there doesn't seem to be many trails shown.
The Polaris ride command app seems to be better for my general area.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Smick]

Does anyone have experience with any GPS units for navigating trails? What’s apps have you used? What GPS / phone / tablet? And how do you mount it?

I hike a lot and used a Garmin until I learned about Gaia Maps from a friend and have been using it for hiking and riding for years. As long as you download the area you are going to be in ahead of time it works with GPS on phone and doesn't need cell. Screen on phone is much larger. You can also print the map of the area and take it and a small compass for worst case scenario. I bought Gaia maps for 5 years at half price around the holidays. Neat overlays and tracking. The free version lacks a lot of functions same as Alltrails but both upgraded (pay) versions are good.

 

[CanadianKodiak700]

I hike a lot and used a Garmin until I learned about Gaia Maps from a friend and have been using it for hiking and riding for years. As long as you download the area you are going to be in ahead of time it works with GPS on phone and doesn't need cell. Screen on phone is much larger. You can also print the map of the area and take it and a small compass for worst case scenario. I bought Gaia maps for 5 years at half price around the holidays. Neat overlays and tracking. The free version lacks a lot of functions same as Alltrails but both upgraded (pay) versions are good.

You can do every bit og that with google maos and is free. Just an fyi...

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

 

[RedRocket]

I did have mine wired directly to the battery but often I would forget to manually shut down the unit.

I probably should have said that I purposely wired it to my battery to make sure it doesn't turn off when I stop my Grizzly. Since I always remove my GPS before loading up, it never stays on and drains the Grizzly battery. Just a choice of how I wanted my GPS wired and completely agree all accessories really should be wired to a switched source which is the case for everything else on my Grizzly. I actually wired in a relay energized BlueSea fuse block where all of my other accessories get connected.

 

[Smick]

You can do every bit og that with google maos and is free. Just an fyi...

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

You can do every bit og that with google maos and is free. Just an fyi...

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

Thanks for the reply. I have used the Google maps and they are good for free. I got the Gaia paid subscription on sale for $50 bucks for 5 years and for me it is much more robust and no cellular data. The free versions of Alltrails and Gaia are good and more like Google maps but the inexpensive paid versions provide much more for me. Happy riding and thanks again for the feedback.

 

[CanadianKodiak700]

Thanks for the reply. I have used the Google maps and they are good for free. I got the Gaia paid subscription on sale for $50 bucks for 5 years and for me it is much more robust and no cellular data. The free versions of Alltrails and Gaia are good and more like Google maps but the inexpensive paid versions provide much more for me. Happy riding and thanks again for the feedback.

Oh I was just saying you can do offline with google too, save the maps for the area, no cell data needed. And if you are like mine, i have north American topo maps that load into google maps on my computer. If i safe those areas that I plan on going to, i can have extremely detaild maps. I used to use the premium version of back country navigator app on my phone, but the goole maps with topo is easy better and was free.
But i still prefer my garmin gpsmap 62

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

 

[JD864]

This is some great info! Might have to purchase one of those garmins and get it mounted. Then learn how to put maps in it!