Snowmobile Forum banner

Using a GPS on the trails

4K views 24 replies 15 participants last post by  gpa21 
#1 ·
Tried to search for such a topic and came up empty handed..Looking for information on what to use for snowmobiling with a GPS..I have one for my car but will be purchasing one for the sled and for wheeling. How has everyone's experience been using them. I want to save our local trails and reuse in the future. :dunno:
 
#2 ·
If you have a smarrt phone, download Polaris Snowmobile trail maps app. They also have one for orv trails. They are very accurate and have locations of fuel and services available on the trail, Check it out!!
 
#3 ·
I really like my Garmin RINO. It has a 2-way radio and has peer to peer locating so you can find other riders in your group with RINO's. Spendy, but has saved a bunch of searching on more than a few occasions when a rider got separated from the group.
 
#7 ·
I still rely on my old faithful Garmin Legend. I've had it on my sled when it was too cold for the liquid in the LCD to flow (minus 15 degrees). I later hooked it direct to my battery and left the backlight on all the time to keep the display from freezing. The unit has served me well, and still works great. I take it with me all summer when riding my motorcycle off-road, and all winter riding many of the same trails on my sled.

I don't think standard automobile-type units would stand up to the elements as well. I wouldn't even consider using a phone where I ride - no signal, and they certainly are not rugged enough to remain usable after being mounted to a sled - and sticking it in a pocket defeats the usefulness of having it with you.

Get a good "Geocaching" type GPS. You won't regret it. You'll be able to load maps and custom routes on it, and capture tracks of where you've been.
 
#9 ·
I just did a bunch of research on sled GPS units. Pretty much any Garmin Nuvi will accept trail maps from companies like Red Pine Mapping. This will give you turn by turn navigation on the trails (just like in a car). However, only a few Nuvis actually let you track your route. Basically storing the actual route you traveled. Most will let you enter latitude and longitude for destination if you're going off trail. Most will save other information regarding your trip such as top speed, time of travel, etc on the trip computer. Nearly all Nuvis have a low operating temperature between -10 and 0f. Most are not waterproof.

I ended up buying a couple refurbished Nuvi 1150 off Tigerdirect.com for about $50 each and bought waterproof bicycle mounts off buy.com for $12.95 each. Buy.com - Bike Handlebar Mount w/ WaterProof Case for 4.3" Garmin GPS

You can look up any of the Nuvi's specs on Garmins website to help you determine which is right for you.
 
#10 ·
I use the Zumo 550 (which is no longer in production) on both my sled and ATV.
I also have the ATV & snowmobile trail maps from www.sledgps.com.
Great maps on an SD card which over lay on the gps's map.
Which every GPS you get make sure its water proof and has the ability to track your route and to take some sort of external card slot!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Snowmobile.com App
 
#20 ·
A Nuvi with trail maps installed doesn't give you a straight track. It provides turn by turn navigation just like you're driving a car on the roadway. (if you're on a mapped trail) If you're not on a mapped trail it will give you a straight track.

Like 90% of the snowmobilers out there I spend most of my time on or within sight of a marked trail.
It sounds to me like the NUVI 500 is the answer to most snowmobilers needs, the ability to back tract your own course (cookie trail) or follow a mapped trail makes it a lifesaver.
I did notice though that it doesn't appear to have a internal battery which in my very humble opinion is a deal breaker (I need the redundancy of an internal battery) .
I do like the ability to use it on the snomo and in the car.
I have a Bendix-King AV8OR that I use in my airplane (T-18) and car (old VW Golf)... the dual use makes the cost much easier to swallow.
just my 2 cents worth
 
#25 ·
So today I put on about 90 miles, had the Polaris Trails app downloaded on my phone. It worked well to look at the trails for the area I was in, the gps on it was very accurate. But what I didn't like, was when I tried using the "tracking" part of the app...as soon as I lost cell service, (even though I had the satellite location service turned on), it quit recording my track that I was riding. Not sure if I will keep it or not.:dunno:
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top