Best offroad GPS? Lowrance Elite 5M or HDS 7 or other?

[AZEngineer]

Noah, any more news on updated Lowrance Systems?...joe

damn derailers ..... haha

since i just saw this thread, i figure i would share some info. i just got word that lowrance will be discontinuing the elite 5m and will be coming out with a new unit this fall. for those of you who want, and since i am becoming a lowrance dealer, might be able to pick up these units a bit cheaper since they will want to push their new product. i will have to wai for more info, but this is the word that i have heard.

 

[Rookie]

For the tracks laid out by the event staff, do you just download them to your device? Not something I've really seen discussed.

 

[All The Way]

For the tracks laid out by the event staff, do you just download them to your device? Not something I've really seen discussed.

Yep

 

[vanilla_gorilla]

Noah, any more news on updated Lowrance Systems?...joe

Is this the only thread Noah is ignoring? Inquiring minds want to know, know...a bed rack and GPS are my next purchases...

that's it, i'm going to text his ass...

 

[The Car Stereo Company]

hey white monkey, not ignoring jeez. i have been in texas for a week. its taking time to catch up on all the posts and pms. let me do some checking

 

[MagicMtnDan]

Finally decided to buy an iPad Mini but I'll be taking it back within 14 days of purchase (per Apple's policy) as the new iPad Mini is coming out next month.

I used the iPad Mini with MotionX software ($1.99 app plus the "talking app" - forget its name and price).

We used it on a 3 day trip to the desert east of Mono Lake, west of Tonopah, near Candelaria Mountain, and it worked great.

The iPad has cell service of its own (didn't want to disrupt our unlimited iPhone plans) so when we had service which was fairly often the features of the software were amazing.

And being able to simply download files (.kmz files and others) of the trip and upload them into Google Earth is awesome. Plus we can run Google Earth and Google Maps on the iPad Mini too.

I know you guys are all hung up on the Lowrance but given the many benefits of an iPad, I think it's a huge waste of money to go with a Lowrance unless, perhaps you're racing the truck.

For the vast majority of users I can't see why an iPad won't do a great job and multi-task even when used as a GPS in the truck.

We used the RAM mounts system with the suction cup on the windshield like this (great product line!):



And here's a screen capture of Google Earth showing our entire trip. Note that in Google Earth you can zoom in, pan, zoom out, click on any point and find out what time and date you were there and what the GPS coordinates are, etc., etc. Very cool!

 

[Aaron]

Dan, I'm going the Ipad route as well. I have an old Ipad that I'm running MotionX on and I'll be picking up a GPS puck to plug into it. I already have a Ram Mount for the window that sits right inside the tray above my Nav. After setting it up, I see no need for a lowrance.

 

[Rookie]

Damn that's pretty awesome. I'd love to get the iPad with data but I don't use it enough. I sold the last one I had. It would be nice for situations like this but for the rest of the time my phone suffices. How does the gps puck work?

 

[JayneCobb]

I don't remember which GPS unit transmits your location to the internet so that friends and family can watch your trip online. I know there are radios that do this but I could have sworn that Lowrance did this as well.

 

[Aaron]

I don't remember which GPS unit transmits your location to the internet so that friends and family can watch your trip online. I know there are radios that do this but I could have sworn that Lowrance did this as well.

SPOT is the one you can use to do that or to call for rescue/emergency services. It has no display and is basically a satcom beacon.

http://www.findmespot.com

---------- Post added at 02:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:06 PM ----------

Damn that's pretty awesome. I'd love to get the iPad with data but I don't use it enough. I sold the last one I had. It would be nice for situations like this but for the rest of the time my phone suffices. How does the gps puck work?

It plugs into the port on the bottom so you can't charge and have gps at the same time. I haven't picked one up yet since I haven't done a single bit of off-roading since I've been home