I was inspired to write about off road navigation by this article on FJ Cruiser Forums.

Lance had a good question – what is the ‘best’ way to navigate in the off road environment?

Obviously, there is no single answer to this question. How we choose to navigate off road depends on several variables:
-Do you need in vehicle or in/out of vehicle navigation?

-What is your budget for maps and equipment?
-What areas will you be in most of the time?

--Are you already familiar with these areas?

-How much room in your FJ are you willing to give up for your nav system?

-How long do you want to spend out of your trail riding to figure out where you are?

Instead of covering every aspect of off road navigation, I thought I’d share my setup, and point out alternatives that I’m aware of.

Back to my SAR days…

When was involved with Search And Rescue several years ago, we purchased USGS 24K scale Topo Maps from MapTech. Back then, the entire set of 7 CD’s (Covering the state of Colorado), ran us about $700 – just for the software. We then loaded these CD’s into the laptop, plugged our Garmin 12XL into the serial port – and off we went.

Several things have changed in my life in the recent past:
-I need something that I can take hiking, biking, snowboarding, and skiing.

-I’m on a limited budget, but have a few dollars to spend on good navigation

-I’m familiar with the areas I wheel in, but there are many trails that I’ve not been on before.

-With my wife, dogs, CB, HAM, and other gear – space is limited in the FJ

-I don’t want to waste precious trail time figuring out which way to turn at an intersection. I also want to be able to follow the nav system when I’m driving.

With the answers to these questions, I now know what my Google Search will consist of:

-handheld color routable GPS with custom maps at a reasonable price

First hit – Garmin Streetpilot i3 – Not for me, it’s auto only

Second hit - Garmin eTrex Summit HC – Won’t work for me – there is no extra memory slot

Third hit - GPSMAP 60C – A great unit, but at over $400, a little pricey

The eTrex summit looks interesting, so I Google it further – and learn about the Garmin eTrex Legend CX. This device has similar specifications as the Summit, but with the ability to add a micro-SD card with MANY more maps on it. A quick Google Products search show’s that it can be had brand new for around $200. I decide to head over to eBay and check current auctions. I was able to get the Legend CX for $197 shipped to my door – with Garmin City Navigator (v6) software, and an adapter to allow me to use the USB cable in my car to power the unit. I figure I have nearly $300 worth of hardware & software.

The FUN Part (for a computer guy)

When it comes to custom topo maps for GPS’s, every vendor has something to offer:

-Garmin

--Topo U.S. 2008: This product covers the entire US, at a resolution of about 100K, Retails @ $116.65

--Topo 24K: This version supports the US National Parks and SOME national forest, at 24K resolution. 3 versions are available: East, West, Central. Retails @ $116.65 each

-Delorme

--If you go with the Earthmate PN-20 handheld GPS, you can get it bundled with the TOPO USA Product for $409. TOPO USA features some of the best topo maps you will find.  

-Magellan

--eXplorist series GPS devices are compatible with their MapSend Topo 3D USA product. MapSend TOPO features resolution similar to 24K. Retails @$149.99

-Lowrance

--Several of the iFinder series units are compatible with their MapCreate Topo software. I’m not sure what the resolution is like, but it only supports specific memory cards. Retails @ $99.95

As you can see, there are many options for custom topo maps. Each flavor is around the $100 mark, and the features are all similar.

Since I have a Garmin product, my options are either of the Garmin products – or another product that I found right here in Colorado. Above the Timber, out of Buena Vista, has created a set of custom Colorado Topo maps for use with Garmin devices. It’s priced at $79.99, and looks like a good product.

 Since my budget is limited, and I am after all an uhm….’computer specialist’ :)  - I did another Google search & found this site:

Custom Garmin TOPO Maps

While there are other sites that provide similar guidance, I found this one to be very helpful in my quest to build custom Garmin Maps. So far I’ve used the instructions on this site to build a custom (non-routable) basemap that includes Eastern Utah & virtually all of Colorado. I’ve added streams, lakes, roads, peaks, federal land, and placenames to this custom map. I’ve also began the process of creating 88 custom topo maps to cover the same area. While the basemap is broken up into 6 pieces, the topo maps will have to be done in the 88 pieces (30min X 30min each), due to their size & my computer’s processing power.

When it’s all done, I’ll have complete topo maps of the entire Eastern Utah & Colorado areas. The resolution will be better than 24K, and my contour interval will be about 20ft. These maps will not be routable, but I’m not using routing functions on the trail anyway.

Backup Maps
Of Course, I’ll always carry backup maps. I never leave home without my Colorado Gazetteer, and if I spend any great amount of time in another state (such as Utah), I’ll pickup the Gazetteer for that area as well. If you don’t want to go the GPS route, you can always purchase Trails Illustrated maps (created by National Geographic). While their not cheap, they do provide excellent coverage of the area’s you’re most interested in.

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