I have always used the Garmins for hiking and Military work. However, for auto nothing beats the Lowrance I-Way 500 or 600. The screens on EVERY other GPS is about 2.5 freakin inches. You cannot read them. You need to be able to glance and get back on the road. In addition, Lowrance won the Best New Auto technology award at SEMA!!! TWO years straight. Lowrance came out of nowhere to stomp Garmin and Magellan for auto use. Trust me I love my Garmin. Used my e-trex Vista in Iraq. Awsome! Auto too darn small. I mounted my Lowrance I-way 600 on the dash where Jeep shows their 2 inch screen Garmin. Nuff said!! -Jimmy

 

I ordered a TomTom One. I'll report back soon how it works out.

 

Dude, for $179 bucks, you cannot beat the Mio C220. I picked one up 2 weeks ago, and am VERY VERY impressed with this unit. Anyone looking for one, I believe Circuit City has them at that price now. Otherwise, look on Ebay. Read the reviews though so you know if it's for you or not.

 

While I don't own the TomTom One a quick read about it makes it sound like more of a street GPS.

You said you wanted something for off-road also.

IMO, there are very few choices that work good for everything. I've got a Garmin Quest and I'm quite happy with it.

It works for fine on road, off-road, blue chart (for marine use), Topo maps, is waterproof, will run for 17+ hours on a charge and if you choose to. . . it works with the factory Jeep Trail Guide mount. (Yes, the mount is waaaaaay overpriced, but it looks nice, the speakers are clear & loud, and no more using the power port.)

$225 for a Quest on ebay.
$250 for the mount and wiring harness.


Finally, one of the things that I like best about it. I can sit at the computer and plan the routes, or when I get back from a trip I can load the tracks (Bread crumb trails) in Google Earth and see where I was.

I'm leaving Saturday night for a trip to Colorado and maybe Moab. As I type this I'm in the process of mapping out some of the trails, Ghost towns, etc., in MapSource. (The software that comes with the Quest.) Once I'm done I'll just upload it all to the Quest.

(See, unlike a lot of GPS units, the Quest / Quest 2 will hold 50 routes, so I just make xx days worth of routes. Each day will have all the trails, scenic drives, POI, etc. that I plan to hit. I have 90% of the vacation mapped and ready before I leave the house.)

 

I also have the Garmin Quest I and it works great for offroad use. Granted the screen is a little small but I just use the window mount/charger it came with and put it almost right behind the steering wheel so it is easy to see. The bread crumb feature is a must for off roading it makes it so easy to find your way out or tell when you have been down a trail before. And like Hip2u77 said you can hook it up to Google Earth and see exactly where you have been or you can use GE to plan a track (I think that is what it is called) then send it to the GPS. There is also a nice free program at (http://jdmcox.com/) that uses the images from terraserver.microsoft.com to show you where you have been.

I used the jdmcox software to create this picture, it is zoomed way out but it shows the entire days drive.

 

Do any of these GPS systems work with macs?

 

You would have to check the manufatures web page, but I would think they would but not sure.

 

From most reviews I have read of Garmin units, they do not support Macs.

 

Hey. Did you also find the harness on ebay? I need to get me on of those

 

This is the type of info I was looking for. I read tons of reviews on the net, but rarely did I find one that was writen by an offroader. The factory-written descriptions told me little that I needed to know. I'll play with it a day or 2 and if it won't fit my needs, I'll return it.