Which new GPSs do a string map offroad

[PhilipA]

OK I asked some time ago about whether I should stick to my old Garmin GPS IV or get a new one. The biggest problem is the small B/W screen which is very hard to see.
On my recent trip I had highlighted when I went through some sandhills that I really value the Garmin's feature of making a "string map" of the route I took so I could retrace my route back to the road.
Do the new cheapo GPS's like the Navman have this feature?

I found even the old old maps in the Garmin to be pretty good. Even when they were wrong the direction indicator told me that I was approximately near the track.
The only time I came unstuck was when I tried to find the turn north from the Mereenie loop road to join the main West Macdonells road past Gosse Bluff. The turnoff had changed in the last couple of years and even then it was because I had left all the maps but one ( the one year old WRONG one) in Alice and tended to believe it rather than the old GPS map. I stopped about 500 Metres from the turnoff and went back to Hermannsberg. I was kicking myself the next day when I approached from the North.
Regards Philip A

[waynep]

Navman / Tom Tom's etc not a straight GPS per se - they are "Street Navigators" designed to direct townies to their barbecues and movies. So no, they will not normally give you a "snail trail".

Most of the simple trekking type GPS units without mapping functions ( eg ETrex) will give you a snail trail function if that's all you want.

The best way to go ( IMHO) is a PDA type unit, with inbuilt GPS, running OziExplorer CE. You can then buy/share the hundreds of available maps out there, or even scan in your own paper ones if you want to. A lot of these will also have a "Street Navigator" type function (eg Tom Tom) as well. If you can't be bothered setting it all up yourself, look at the Hema Navigator, which is bascially the same thing but all set up for you.

[LOVEMYRANGIE]

Phillip
There is a wide array of Garmin units available now that will take any number of maps. I use a Colorado and have Mapsource, Shonkymaps and Tracks4Oz loaded. Its a full mapping "on the trail" GPS and I reccomend these highly.
As I am on the road most of the time, I rely heavily on this when I am in country and city areas. It can plugged into a laptop, run Garmin nRoute and use the full screen lappo display or plug the lappo into the AV switch for my incar DVD and display it on the overhead screen and get full turn by turn instructions thru the audio connection.
Garmin have a dedicated unit for this now (GVN53) but as I use mine for Geocaching also, a portable is more suited to my use.

It really depends what you want and how flexible you want it to be, but without a doubt, Garmin is your best option.

Cheers

Andrew

www.garmin.com

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=158&pID=272

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=134&pID=10573

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=145&pID=11019

[WhiteD3]

I have a colour Venture cx that does track recording and backtracking.

[jmkoffice]

I've got the Garmin Nuvi 760 and it is great. It keeps a good trip log (where you've been) and is great for back tracking in the bush. It has got an Off-Road setting and heaps of useful features. There was an issue with firmware version 3.x - 4.10 so ensure 4.20 is flashed to the unit. I still carry my old Garmin eMap as a backup.

[Xtreme]

I basically agree with 'waynep' especially in regard to the Hema Navigator - it has the ability to switch from a 'city navigator' mode to your 'bush tracks' mode using your own topo maps or the supplied hema maps via an SD card. You won't get much change out of a grand though and will probably exceed the grand if you include a larger capacity SD card and some topo maps.

However, if your Garmin GPS IV is capable of outputting an NMEA signal, then I'd suggest simply buying a PDA + OziExplorer with your Garmin supplying the signal. Cost would be less than half the above option.

Roger

[Utemad]

For in vehicle use you can't go past a PDA running Oziexplorer CE. You can get PDAs these days with inbuilt GPS for under $500.

This way you can see your trail and know exactly where you are in relation to the tracks/roads.
I find it best when you have the paper map you plan to use scanned so you can see the big picture as well as the position (trip planning is much better done on a large paper map).
If you're using HEMA maps then these can be gotten in digital and paper form so you don't even have to scan them yourself in order to have both.

The maps you can use is only limited by your willingness to scan them.

[waynep]

If you're using HEMA maps then these can be gotten in digital and paper form so you don't even have to scan them yourself in order to have both.

The maps you can use is only limited by your willingness to scan them.

Most of the AUSLIG topo maps and makers like Wesprint, Rooftop etc can be obtained in OziExplorer digital format now. I very rarely need to scan a paper map.

[Captain_Rightfoot]

In magellan speak they call it a track log and I think it's in pretty much all of them. It's been useful a few times.