Best Small/hand held GPS
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03_4x4Runner
Senior Member
Not sure if you want mainly off road or on road. You really need two different GPS's to do both well. Off road I like my GarminGPSmap 62stc. It was around $500 when I bought it several years ago. It is easy to save tracks and has many features such as a camera to identify way points. It is not good on road because you cannot type in destinations, find gas stations etc. For on road I like my Garmin Nuvi 2595 lmt. It makes it easy to find destinations, routes etc. We take the Nuvi even though I have navigation in my 2014. It is just easier to use for the passenger when going down the road that the factory navigation.
BigredTEX
New member
I've been using a Garmin 60csx for about 5 years. It's almost bullet proof. Maps are manually downloaded and updated by Garmin periodically, so no worries of it becoming obsolete. I do a lot of back packing and back country camping and there's nothing out there better other than the updated version 62 series, but the maps, compass and basic functions are the same. If you don't want all the bells and whistles, the Garmin eTREX series is a great deal and has all the performance of the 60 series for the basics, downloadable maps, compass and waypoints.
1traildriver
New member
+1 for the Oregon and Montana. Both have a nice color touch screen and usually come with topographic maps of North America loaded. The
Montana is a little larger, so you get a little better display IMO. I have used garmins for everything and trust my life with them. Garmin connect and Garmin base camp programs are really nice programs. Base camp allows you to program routes, load maps or even satellite imagery if you want. The Montana would be a decent size to mount up in the truck as well, the Oregon might be a little small for that purpose. Just my 2 cents worth.
Montana is a little larger, so you get a little better display IMO. I have used garmins for everything and trust my life with them. Garmin connect and Garmin base camp programs are really nice programs. Base camp allows you to program routes, load maps or even satellite imagery if you want. The Montana would be a decent size to mount up in the truck as well, the Oregon might be a little small for that purpose. Just my 2 cents worth.
Another vote for the Garmin units. Been using them for years. Since you weren't specific as to intended use, I'll echo what another poster stated above...You'll probably be happier with two units: One for car navigation, and another for offroad. I own the Montana 600, the eTrex 30, and the Nuvi 2595LMT. The Nuvi is my car unit, and mounts nicely in the front cupholder in the 4Runner. It's super easy to use, and really great for the road trips. The Montana is great for offroad/topo map use, but it's pretty bulky if you plan to carry it hiking. I use my Montana primarily on my kayak. For hiking, I prefer the simple Etrex 30, as it's light weight, water resistant, and uses AA batteries that last quite a long time. For your budget, you could easily buy the Nuvi 2595 LMT, and the eTrex and should still have a little change left over. I also have Backcountry Navigator on my Galaxy S5, but I wouldn't use that as any more than a backup, as you'll seldom get more than an 8 hour life from a mobile phone battery. The Garmin's are much better, but you should focus on your specific use case to get the best one, as I don't think there are any "one size fits all" answers.
rick25s
New member
Longtime GPS user
I have always had a deeper than normal interest in GPS units. I eat, sleep, and breath topography...and ATV's. Before GPS, I was stationed on a LORAN station (land based version of navigation before GPS) while in the USCG. I have owned so many GPS units and honestly pushed them to their limits. Many of them did not survive. Don't think I am bashing any other units, because most of the modern ones are perfectly fine. The best I have ever used is my current one, a Garmin 62s. I already had the topo maps, so I didn't need the 62st.
I like my previous garmin touch screens, but I broke two of them while trail riding. The 62s has withstood all the abuse I could possibly feed it. In May, it got ripped out of my ATV mount by a branch and I didn't notice it was gone until I was 5 miles down the trail. I went back to search for it, and while looking at what I thought was my GPS 20 feet in front of me, I ended up running over the real thing with my stiff 6ply tires. My friend behind me spotted it and picked it up. I was caked with crud, but still working perfectly. That says a lot about the durability. It also rarely looses signal, where my 60cs lost signal all the time. The 60csx was much better keeping signal than the 60cs, but the buttons on the 62s are easier to use, especially if have riding gloves on.
Any other questions, don't hesitate to ask me.
Rick
I have always had a deeper than normal interest in GPS units. I eat, sleep, and breath topography...and ATV's. Before GPS, I was stationed on a LORAN station (land based version of navigation before GPS) while in the USCG. I have owned so many GPS units and honestly pushed them to their limits. Many of them did not survive. Don't think I am bashing any other units, because most of the modern ones are perfectly fine. The best I have ever used is my current one, a Garmin 62s. I already had the topo maps, so I didn't need the 62st.
I like my previous garmin touch screens, but I broke two of them while trail riding. The 62s has withstood all the abuse I could possibly feed it. In May, it got ripped out of my ATV mount by a branch and I didn't notice it was gone until I was 5 miles down the trail. I went back to search for it, and while looking at what I thought was my GPS 20 feet in front of me, I ended up running over the real thing with my stiff 6ply tires. My friend behind me spotted it and picked it up. I was caked with crud, but still working perfectly. That says a lot about the durability. It also rarely looses signal, where my 60cs lost signal all the time. The 60csx was much better keeping signal than the 60cs, but the buttons on the 62s are easier to use, especially if have riding gloves on.
Any other questions, don't hesitate to ask me.
Rick
OP-
By "small" are you restricting yourself to a handheld device? If so, the Garmins recommended by the other posters are really nice, pretty much the reference standard, but spendy. They are also, by design of course, tightly focused in their application.
A gps based NAV app in a smartphone may be also be suitable for your needs. Additionally, if you mean "small" but for use primarily inside a vehicle, then you may want to consider a tablet.
My NAV devices are a Samsung Galaxy Smartphone and a Sony Experia Tablet Z (Android) tablet loaded up with the OSM (Open Street Maps) app and a suite of downloaded maps. My particular tablet is 10". (I wanted a big screen because I use it for reading books, light duty browsing, and also wanted comfortable viewing in the truck, etc.)
A 7" tablet would also be really nice (and super versatile), portable enough for large jacket pocket transport, and could be made pretty weather proof with the use of an Otterbox or similar case.
Tablets have come way down in price. If you are willing to buy slightly behind the bleeding technological edge, you can get a really nice one for around $200.
If you are interested, here is a link to an article on Expedition Portal that I found very useful in getting me started on tablets for navigation.....
Overland Navigation: New Opportunities with Tablets | Expedition Portal
Good luck.
By "small" are you restricting yourself to a handheld device? If so, the Garmins recommended by the other posters are really nice, pretty much the reference standard, but spendy. They are also, by design of course, tightly focused in their application.
A gps based NAV app in a smartphone may be also be suitable for your needs. Additionally, if you mean "small" but for use primarily inside a vehicle, then you may want to consider a tablet.
My NAV devices are a Samsung Galaxy Smartphone and a Sony Experia Tablet Z (Android) tablet loaded up with the OSM (Open Street Maps) app and a suite of downloaded maps. My particular tablet is 10". (I wanted a big screen because I use it for reading books, light duty browsing, and also wanted comfortable viewing in the truck, etc.)
A 7" tablet would also be really nice (and super versatile), portable enough for large jacket pocket transport, and could be made pretty weather proof with the use of an Otterbox or similar case.
Tablets have come way down in price. If you are willing to buy slightly behind the bleeding technological edge, you can get a really nice one for around $200.
If you are interested, here is a link to an article on Expedition Portal that I found very useful in getting me started on tablets for navigation.....
Overland Navigation: New Opportunities with Tablets | Expedition Portal
Good luck.
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JB.
New member
OK, I need to be brought up to date on all things Garmin and it sounds like this is the thread to do it.
I've owned nothing but Garmin Quests and Quest 2s for the last decade and I like the Map Source software (except for the oppressive DRM and installation nightmares). I prefer (and find it more productive) being expert with known, older tools as opposed to fiddling around with new tools and formats all the time.
I'd like to upgrade to units with better antennas (both on and offroad) and continue uploading tracks manually to a computer and using the Map Source software to load whatever maps I want. (Last I looked, the GPS units still had 10k track limits which blows my mind).
Are there units that will enable me to do what I described and avoid whatever cloud based mapping schemes I presume Garmin probably wants to go to exclusively? Recording tracks that I can use is the priority for me. Navigation is so easy already, I don't really find myself wishing for better tools there.
I've owned nothing but Garmin Quests and Quest 2s for the last decade and I like the Map Source software (except for the oppressive DRM and installation nightmares). I prefer (and find it more productive) being expert with known, older tools as opposed to fiddling around with new tools and formats all the time.
I'd like to upgrade to units with better antennas (both on and offroad) and continue uploading tracks manually to a computer and using the Map Source software to load whatever maps I want. (Last I looked, the GPS units still had 10k track limits which blows my mind).
Are there units that will enable me to do what I described and avoid whatever cloud based mapping schemes I presume Garmin probably wants to go to exclusively? Recording tracks that I can use is the priority for me. Navigation is so easy already, I don't really find myself wishing for better tools there.
barryhiram
New member
Garmin's Monterra might be another one to consider...............
Garmin Monterra Review In Detail
Definitely considering one for our ATV rides.
Garmin Monterra Review In Detail
Definitely considering one for our ATV rides.
Question for those with Garmin GPS units and 4Runners with bluetooth capability. Is it possible to sink the GPS with the vehicles bluetooth, in the absence of a smart phone, so that the GPS voice input/output utilize the car's speakers/microphone? In other words, can the Garmin GPS be linked to your vehicles bluetooth so that if you're listening to a CD, the audio stops while the GPS issues a verbal direction through the car's speakers? I believe that is how the entune navigation works, but I opted out of that on my 2014 SR5. Thanks (and I'll appologize in advance if this is a silly question).
jrandom
New member
Dude it is only 2014 and Consumer gps has only been out for twenty years, there is no way onions could have that tech figured out this early in the game, hell they can't even get your phone to connect right.
Sarcasm aside, it does irritate me how slow they are to adopt any kind of useful tech or at least make the system open source so smarter people than I could build bridges to all these useful tools.
To answer your question, no not to my knowledge. I have been looking into this for the last few years off and on and it has always ended up in disappointment. I have found only very limited and/or expensive options that are nowhere near my expectations and they aren't high either.
Why can't we simply mirror the device? Bummer truly.
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:lol:
How true. When I ordered my 2014 last November, it only took a little bit of research to conclude that paying $500 plus for the "premium" entune was probably just paying good money for increased aggravation in my life (I'm not tech challenged, just old enough to no longer be fascinated by shiney/blinky/new things versus simple, functional things). I don't travel a lot, but if/when I need gps, I'll just dip into that $500 in my pocket and purchase a high end garmin for less than half of the balance. No offense to those who have had great luck with entune NAV or don't mind the challenge. In reading the Garmin reviews on Amazon, I found it interesting how many folks either used it in place of their vehicles NAV or had vehicle NAV systems that just plain don't work. Somewhat reminiscent of the fifties and sixties, when despite the fact that American companies made some of the best vehicles in the world, they couldn't make an electric clock for those same vehicles that would run much past the warranty. Not to mention eight track tape players (which somebody recently posted a photo of a full box of).
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jrandom
New member
[MENTION=112567]NMJack[/MENTION] LOL automakers are having a seriously difficult time with Moore's law that's for sure, we are just getting pass Space Shuttle Enterprise/Columbia tech.
My factory NAV has done really well for me as long as I am on the streets, particularly city/suburbs out west where roads haven't been changing much.
Offroad on the other hand is a bummer and a half, then when you are out of cell data range even more of a bummer. I always have at a minimum DeLorme atlas/gazetteer for the states I frequent in my back seat pockets BUT your navigator/wife/partner has to be able to umm... navigate
Some of those handheld mentioned are looking really tempting! I really have been wanting to give them my money, for years now, I just feel the prices points for a decent unit are a bit too high for what I think you should get, so I wait. I can feel it is almost there just not quite. I have early adopted enough stuff in my life, dealt with the aggravations, now I have grown to be more patient, mostly :cell::madgrin:
My factory NAV has done really well for me as long as I am on the streets, particularly city/suburbs out west where roads haven't been changing much.
Offroad on the other hand is a bummer and a half, then when you are out of cell data range even more of a bummer. I always have at a minimum DeLorme atlas/gazetteer for the states I frequent in my back seat pockets BUT your navigator/wife/partner has to be able to umm... navigate
Some of those handheld mentioned are looking really tempting! I really have been wanting to give them my money, for years now, I just feel the prices points for a decent unit are a bit too high for what I think you should get, so I wait. I can feel it is almost there just not quite. I have early adopted enough stuff in my life, dealt with the aggravations, now I have grown to be more patient, mostly :cell::madgrin:
ic0517
New member
Ah - a chance to rag on TomTom.
I bought a TomTom Go730 some time ago before I bought my 2013 Trail with Navi. 730 was last made in 2010 after Microsoft sued so they could not use FAT32, they switched to all Linux.
I had bought several TomTom map updates along the way. The last one I bought, in say July 2013, the last update was in May 2014. After loading that, the map was too big to install into internal memory. So I followed instructions and installed to a 4G SD card. After that, the touch screen no longer works. After following some notes on somebody's post on a GPS site, I was able to get the touch screen working, but then once I install the map, again, no touch. Worst of it is, I didn't find until too late, I was supposed to back it up NOT using their software - the backup I have is of something that was no good (didn't follow instructions, my bad).
So now I have a lump.
I am going to try one more time, but I am royally pissed at them, sell me a map knowing full well its going to screw up my unit. This elephant won't forget.
So, any brand other than TomTom.
I had come across some Android App that allows downloading of maps. Make sure to do it with WiFi on. That would be my vote.
Remember anything with a battery, the battery is only going to last so long. GPS, cell phone, car, cordless drill. At least cars you can easily get a new battery.
I bought a TomTom Go730 some time ago before I bought my 2013 Trail with Navi. 730 was last made in 2010 after Microsoft sued so they could not use FAT32, they switched to all Linux.
I had bought several TomTom map updates along the way. The last one I bought, in say July 2013, the last update was in May 2014. After loading that, the map was too big to install into internal memory. So I followed instructions and installed to a 4G SD card. After that, the touch screen no longer works. After following some notes on somebody's post on a GPS site, I was able to get the touch screen working, but then once I install the map, again, no touch. Worst of it is, I didn't find until too late, I was supposed to back it up NOT using their software - the backup I have is of something that was no good (didn't follow instructions, my bad).
So now I have a lump.
I am going to try one more time, but I am royally pissed at them, sell me a map knowing full well its going to screw up my unit. This elephant won't forget.
So, any brand other than TomTom.
I had come across some Android App that allows downloading of maps. Make sure to do it with WiFi on. That would be my vote.
Remember anything with a battery, the battery is only going to last so long. GPS, cell phone, car, cordless drill. At least cars you can easily get a new battery.
