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Best GPS for RTW? Best GPS for RTW?
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Photo by George Guille, It's going to be a long 300km... Bolivian Amazon

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by George Guille
It's going to be a long 300km...
Bolivian Amazon




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  #1  
Old 29 Jul 2017
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Best GPS for RTW?
In a few months my RTW-trip will start. Now I am in the process of getting all the gear ....
I did a lot of traveling before, but I am not really experienced with GPS navigation.

Therefore my questions:
which GPS would you recommend?
I will be traveling through all continents. TomTom looked great for me at first glance, but ... their world map doesn´t cover a lot of areas where I will travel through (Andes countries, Stan-counties, China ...), and it is said you can´t put third party maps on the TomTom.
Only Garmin left, as I think I can use OSM there.

I was thinking first about using my mobile phone for this purpose. But I guess if it is exposed the whole day to the heat, covered in a water prove case - it won´t survive for too long.

What are your thoughts and recommendations?
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  #2  
Old 30 Jul 2017
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Weatherproofing your phone is one issue, theft would be another (if it's nicked, so is your GPS). Not to mention the data costs you could incur.

I'd say get a Garmin Montana, download all the free maps you need. It's rugged, waterproof, secure powered RAM mounts can be bought for it and if it does get nicked you have the phone as backup.

http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/
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  #3  
Old 31 Jul 2017
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I've looked at GPS devices lately and came to the conclusion that the Monterra is the best choice, although it is not perfect.

In my opinion it is important to have a powered mount on the bike, and this is another issue with using a phone as a GPS--sure you can plug a USB cable into it for power, but those connections are not made for the kind of vibrations it will get on a bike, and when the USB connection on your phone goes out you'll be out a phone and a GPS.

The free OSM maps are easily installed on the Montana and are generally pretty good.
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  #4  
Old 31 Jul 2017
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Bern, CH
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike14 View Post
Only Garmin left, as I think I can use OSM there.
Hello


You want to be able to load OSM and other regional free maps.
I have a Garmin 62s, I use it with recharable batteries (2xAA 2700mA)
Sometimes I plug it in on the bike but the USB is not good for longtime use.
I use the bycicle Mount.


sushi
__________________
My RTW:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrXt660ztenere
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  #5  
Old 31 Jul 2017
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Garmin NavigatorVI is rock solid !! Waterproof intuitive and most importantly it seems to work better with cloves on than without, its not the cheapest but it strikes me as being the first really good GPS for Bikers, the weather app helped me to avoid bad weather several times.

Mine is integrated on my BMW GSA, I dont know if this works as well on other types of bikes
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  #6  
Old 31 Jul 2017
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You can use and $50 Car Garmin and run free Openstreatmaps on it: Adventure experience - motorcycle trip riding across Africa
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