Anyone here use a car GPS in the mountains?

[TheCougar]

I’m replacing the radio in my truck and debating between spending the extra money for one of those GPS navigation radios. The regular stereos are $300ish and the units with GPS navigation are double that. I don’t know if I will ever actually use the GPS function. I figure anywhere I have cell service and need directions, the phone is there for use if needed. If you’re out of phone service, does anyone actually use their truck GPS for navigating in the National Forest or BLM? Are the maps at all useful for showing anything other than major paved roads in rural areas? I’m not talking off-roading or TOPO maps or anything like that - just asking if they show FS roads for general navigation. I’ve never had a truck GPS, so I have no idea if they actually have any utility at all.


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[5MilesBack]

It's funny........they've shown two instances now on the news here in Colorado recently where people's car GPS's have sent them to odd places. The first one was when a road to DIA was closed so folks were trying to get around the closure. The news showed 20+ vehicles all stuck in heavy mud on a dirt two-track through some farmer's field, and a bunch of yuppies standing around on their phones. The second was some guy that was sent on some backcountry road and he ended up sliding down the slope into some Aspen trees. He walked out and got help and when he got back, there were others that had slid down further than he had.

Really makes you wonder just how incompetently stupid people are these days that are 100% reliant on their GPS's and phones for everything. No wonder EVERYONE is on their phone 100% of the time when driving, they can't function without them. SMH. Pretty sad.

 

[TheCougar]

Well, luckily I don’t plan on being an idiot. Just trying to figure out if there is any utility in a truck GPS as an additional navigational tool for FS roads and general situational awareness, or has any utility that I’m not aware of. I don’t think there is, but I have zero experience with these things.


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[TheCougar]

It's funny........they've shown two instances now on the news here in Colorado recently where people's car GPS's have sent them to odd places. The first one was when a road to DIA was closed so folks were trying to get around the closure. The news showed 20+ vehicles all stuck in heavy mud on a dirt two-track through some farmer's field, and a bunch of yuppies standing around on their phones. The second was some guy that was sent on some backcountry road and he ended up sliding down the slope into some Aspen trees. He walked out and got help and when he got back, there were others that had slid down further than he had.

Really makes you wonder just how incompetently stupid people are these days that are 100% reliant on their GPS's and phones for everything. No wonder EVERYONE is on their phone 100% of the time when driving, they can't function without them. SMH. Pretty sad.

I’m really trying to not read between the lines of your post and take it as a long and detailed insinuation that I’m utterly stupid or an incompetent lemming who is reliant on some electronic device for navigation, but it’s pretty hard. You may not have a use for a car GPS, and I probably don’t either between normal maps and experience, but then again I’ve never used a truck GPS so I’m asking for actual experience before I write it off completely. I can think of at least once where my wife got lost on her way back to camp and something like this might have been useful.


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[5MilesBack]

I’m really trying to not read between the lines of your post and take it as a long and detailed insinuation that I’m utterly stupid or an incompetent lemming who is reliant on some electronic device for navigation, but it’s pretty hard.

It's only an insinuation if you were involved in one of those two incidents........or you're always on your phone while driving. The phone thing drives me bonkers.......I'm guessing that maybe 2% of the vehicles I pass have drivers that aren't on their phones. That's ridiculous.

You go to the doctor and everyone is sitting there on their phone. You go to a restaurant and everyone is sitting there on their phone. What on earth do people do on their phones 24/7? I don't get it.

But from the two examples I posted.........I would say that vehicle GPS's are pretty worthless apparently. It's recognizing that "before" it sends you into a black hole or a farmer's field that's the key.

 

[TheCougar]

It's only an insinuation if you were involved in one of those two incidents........or you're always on your phone while driving. The phone thing drives me bonkers.......I'm guessing that maybe 2% of the vehicles I pass have drivers that aren't on their phones. That's ridiculous.

You go to the doctor and everyone is sitting there on their phone. You go to a restaurant and everyone is sitting there on their phone. What on earth do people do on their phones 24/7? I don't get it.

But from the two examples I posted.........I would say that vehicle GPS's are pretty worthless apparently. It's recognizing that "before" it sends you into a black hole or a farmer's field that's the key.

The irony is that the only time I’ve gotten into trouble was following a paper map on a Res. We ended up down a road that had probably been closed for 10 years and didn’t figure it out until we couldn’t turn around. I thought my buddy’s truck was going to break in half or fall of a cliff Nothing really would have prevented that other than knowledge of the area, and that was our first time out there. I understand your grievances with phones in general (as I type this on my phone), but that doesn’t mean that technology isn’t useful in many scenarios. I figure if I’m going to upgrade, I might ask for personal experiences before I completely discounted the upgrade.


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[Runningwater]

I use it all the time driving up the mountains as I'd imagine a lot of folks do just because it's there. As others have stated, their accuracy can get pretty weak the further you get into the sticks (gps is accurate, but its underlying map may not be). I sure like having one in my vehicle but either way in the sticks it's good to have an decent atlas or map - so I'd say the gps certainly isn't a necessity.

 

[TheCougar]

I use it all the time driving up the mountains as I'd imagine a lot of folks do just because it's there. As others have stated, their accuracy can get pretty weak the further you get into the sticks (gps is accurate, but its underlying map may not be). I sure like having one in my vehicle but either way in the sticks it's good to have an decent atlas or map - so I'd say the gps certainly isn't a necessity.

I always have the big red “Gazetteer” maps for the state I’m in and usually FS quad maps for specific areas, but no doubt a GPS map is faster when I don’t want to stop and mess around with the book.


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[ND_Hooligan]

I love to use my Garmin Nuvi with the appropriate OnX chip installed inside. It works like a charm and shows all of the forest service roads and trails. I'm not very tech savvy so it seems to be easier to read than my phone or a handheld and also use it to help coordinate with my paper maps to show my exact location.

 

[Trr15]

I have a Garmin unit in my truck and always keep my handheld unit with state chip plugged into the A/C outlet when I'm traveling off road. I've actually be pretty surprised with how many roads show up on the garmin (highway) unit and how accurate its been. Granted, most turkey path type roads aren't available, but I've found that a large % of the more well traveled FS roads are there. This is specific to CO/WY.

 

[Farmingdale's Finest]

It's funny........they've shown two instances now on the news here in Colorado recently where people's car GPS's have sent them to odd places. The first one was when a road to DIA was closed so folks were trying to get around the closure. The news showed 20+ vehicles all stuck in heavy mud on a dirt two-track through some farmer's field, and a bunch of yuppies standing around on their phones. The second was some guy that was sent on some backcountry road and he ended up sliding down the slope into some Aspen trees. He walked out and got help and when he got back, there were others that had slid down further than he had.

Really makes you wonder just how incompetently stupid people are these days that are 100% reliant on their GPS's and phones for everything. No wonder EVERYONE is on their phone 100% of the time when driving, they can't function without them. SMH. Pretty sad.

Unfortunately it is virtually impossible to find a Rand McNally street map anymore. They aren't sold at any gas stations. I even went to a Barnes and Noble trying to find one for NJ a few years ago when I wanted to go to a more rural area in NJ to where I hadn't hunted in over 25 years. I had found several roads that I drove on when I was younger with bridges out and since I couldn't remember the road names and didn't have an address my GPS was useless.

 

[come2elmo]

OnX needs to hook into android auto and apple carplay. That would be handy.

 

[TheCougar]

OnX needs to hook into android auto and apple carplay. That would be handy.

That would be pretty sweet

 

[LaHunter]

I have a Garmin vehicle gps in my truck. This unit will accept an OnX mapping chip, fyi. Not sure if this would be helpful or not. I will turn on my gps on longer road trips, but it is usually turned off.

 

[Mosby]

I use a Garmin GPS in my truck all the time. I save trailheads in it, base camp location etc., when I am scouting. Makes it really easy when I come back in the fall, especially to get around in the dark @ 4am, when everything looks different. I use as many tools as I can to make my life easier.

 

[gwl79902]

I spend most of my work hours on back road blm and usfs. I use a gamin and onx chip all the time. It helps in so many ways. One way that seems stupid but I use it all the time is turning around. Is nice if you are on a crappy 2 track with no turn around and can look at the map to see if there are any side roads coming up or if you need to back up to one. I have several letter in my file for damage to my truck.

 

[dtrkyman]

I saw one of the google maps cars driving through a hunting lease of ours, there is a "public road" that goes through which no one other than the hunters and farmers use.

The google mobile was not on that road, he had turned up a grass 2 track that goes around the edge of an ag field,

 

[JohnIrish]

I had a handheld Garmin... but sold it. I now just use my phone with onX in the mountains. I download maps to my phone. Many people done realize that the gps in you phone works from the satellites and doesn’t need cell service. The phone with touch screen is so much nicer than any Garmin.

I would not buy any car Garmin but just use my phone. I also bring a compass as backup.

 

[Boarmaster]

I use my I phone and I pad for nav in the woods and on the road.

 

[TheCougar]

Thanks all. I just went with the non-Nav unit.


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