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Gaia GPS or On X Offroad?

smokeythecat

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I have the paid version of all trails because it allows you to download the maps.
I think no matter what you go with, make sure it has this option. And don't forget to download the maps for your destination before you leave home, while you still have connectivity. 🙂
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chiefkaiser

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I love Gaia, but it is designed with power users in mind. It's still fairly easy to use, but you need to understand how the layers work. Once you get that, it's insanely powerful and really empowers you to explore. Prepare to find things you won't find with any other app (that I've used).

With Gaia, you have a base map and you can add "layers" on top of it. There's a great default base map, but you can choose things like National Geographic maps and maps from the 1930s as the base map. Then on top of the base map, you add multiple Layers. These add items on top of the base map. Which can be things like private land lines, cell coverage, MVUMs, and a ton more.

I've been using the following map with a few layers on top:
  • (Base map) Gaia Topo - this is a good base level map that scales/redraws as you zoom in and out. You'll see more detail zoomed in, and some relatively accurate notes where campsites are
  • (layer) MVUM - this shows you where the offical forest roads are. This is not super up to date, will show FS roads closed for years as open. But it's a good clue where to go.
  • (layer) Private Lands - this shows you where private land lines are and who owns it. Very useful to get past the jerks who put up ambiguous Private Property signs on public forest service roads. I LOVE going past those signs knowing I'm not trespassing. Take that, lying homeowner in Tate City, GA!
  • (layer) Mines and Mineral resources - uses data from USGS to show you where mines and mineral resources are.
One other observation I have made, OnX Offroad has very little content in Georgia and it seemed like the Southeast. Seemed very geared towards the Western US.
 

smokeythecat

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I love Gaia, but it is designed with power users in mind. It's still fairly easy to use, but you need to understand how the layers work. Once you get that, it's insanely powerful and really empowers you to explore. Prepare to find things you won't find with any other app (that I've used).
I second that. I started using Gaia because my friends were using it. Initially I found it confusing and I truly disliked it. Then, while using the web app and having my routes sync up with my phone I started to really get it. Now I love it.
 

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I'm familiar with both, they each have pros and cons, but I do prefer onX. One of the main reasons is Gaia was not as user-friendly (to me) and was missing too many roads that should have been there.

I've used onXhunt for years to locate public lands, and will probably switch to onXoffroad as soon as they offer Android Auto compatibility ("soon").😊

onX is now compatible with Apple Carplay, which is a fairly recent development, so I'm sure AA is next.

Like Gaia, you can add/remove whatever layers you want in onX, and they are pretty good at keeping the data current (although, it's still only as accurate as the source data is).
 

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I have both but just can't get along with either.

Gaia works with Android Auto. OnX is supposed to, but I have it installed and it refuses to show up in my Android Auto setup - I've tried going into the settings to ensure it's not hidden/disabled/etc and it's not. Super annoying.

Aside from that, being in Texas, I do more offroad parks than public land, and none of the local ones seem to be setup on the apps, unfortunately. It's *really* obnoxious.

I have the time - is there a guide somewhere that I could spend a few hours with the paper map and manually build in all of the trails, and then share those publicly?
 

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Suffolklou

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With Gaia GPS, there are a multitude of you tube videos showing how to make your own routes. You can do it on your phone, tablet or computer and it is shared automatically across all of you logged in devices.

I like to make my routes on my computer and sync them from there. you sync them by opening the app.
 

Bryce

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I have both but just can't get along with either.

Gaia works with Android Auto. OnX is supposed to, but I have it installed and it refuses to show up in my Android Auto setup - I've tried going into the settings to ensure it's not hidden/disabled/etc and it's not. Super annoying.

Aside from that, being in Texas, I do more offroad parks than public land, and none of the local ones seem to be setup on the apps, unfortunately. It's *really* obnoxious.

I have the time - is there a guide somewhere that I could spend a few hours with the paper map and manually build in all of the trails, and then share those publicly?
I contacted Onx a few times since November. They keep giving me the same story that they ran into issues, Android Auto Support is delayed and should be out soon. I'm regretting paying for a year subscription. They'll have to really wow me to get a renewal.

The latest update of Gaia is pushing them forward with AA support well, but still needs more.

OSMand is now supporting AA also. With a bit of work, it could be as good or rival Gaia on Andriod Auto.
 

Suffolklou

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Well, when Gaia first announced Carplay support, they said soon. Took them a year so longer than they guessed......
 

dustdriver

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I have both but just can't get along with either.

Gaia works with Android Auto. OnX is supposed to, but I have it installed and it refuses to show up in my Android Auto setup - I've tried going into the settings to ensure it's not hidden/disabled/etc and it's not. Super annoying.

Aside from that, being in Texas, I do more offroad parks than public land, and none of the local ones seem to be setup on the apps, unfortunately. It's *really* obnoxious.

I have the time - is there a guide somewhere that I could spend a few hours with the paper map and manually build in all of the trails, and then share those publicly?
Android Auto for onX apps is still in the works, but it can't be far off now that they've rolled out Carplay. I think it will show up this year, since they released it previously in some kind of beta test mode, then pulled it back to fix whatever bugs need to be fixed. In the meantime, you can still use it on your android devices, but I really want to be able to ue it on my OEM nav screen.

There were local trails missing in my area as well, but I contacted onX and they were able to get many of them added. As time passes and more people pitch in, the data will only get better. And they have a convenient, "tap and swipe" way to report errors directly from the app, which makes it easier to get things updated by the people actually out there getting dirt on stuff.

And if you have time and really want to help improve the maps, you can try to sign up as a "Trail Guide", which is pretty cool idea:

https://www.onxmaps.com/offroad/trailguide
 

johnbyron

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I'm familiar with both, they each have pros and cons, but I do prefer onX. One of the main reasons is Gaia was not as user-friendly (to me) and was missing too many roads that should have been there.

I've used onXhunt for years to locate public lands, and will probably switch to onXoffroad as soon as they offer Android Auto compatibility ("soon").😊

onX is now compatible with Apple Carplay, which is a fairly recent development, so I'm sure AA is next.

Like Gaia, you can add/remove whatever layers you want in onX, and they are pretty good at keeping the data current (although, it's still only as accurate as the source data is).
Not sure if they are doing a gradual rollout or what, but OnX has been available in my AA for the last week or so, you might want to update your app and check again 😊
 

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DavidArmen

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I received an email from Jeep yesterday telling me that onx off-road is now available for apple carplay and android auto and since I still have jeep wave, they are offering me a 6 month subscription to onx elite for free so you might wanna look into that if you still have jeep wave!
Jeep Wrangler JL Gaia GPS or On X Offroad? 7AFFFD00-3E00-45EE-A607-A7FB48C25F97

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JL MADDOG

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Not sure if they are doing a gradual rollout or what, but OnX has been available in my AA for the last week or so, you might want to update your app and check again 😊
I just received an email from onX yesterday on the AA update. I'll be updating my tablet today and trying it out tomorrow.
 

silverstonepgt

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I tried out OnX Offroad a couple of weeks ago right after CarPlay support was announced.

I have a JK with a phone mount on top of my dash that allowed me to have the app open and see a zoomed out top-down view to help keep track of our intended destination while the CarPlay map was zoomed in to show a better view of upcoming turns, forks in the trails, clearings, etc.

Overall it worked well but I wish OnX would allow us to toggle/highlight 2-track/Jeep roads the way you can toggle High-Clearance 4x4, full-size roads, and others.

The highlighting around the other road/trail types makes them super prominent on both maps and I didn't catch several of the two-track options that would have been more challenging in the area we were at (St. Helen in mid-Michigan). This could just be my inexperience with the app.
 

Bryce

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Onx is now available on AA for me. Pretty limited in its abilities without using touching the phone to interact with it. Hopefully they keep working on it.
 
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JL MADDOG

JL MADDOG

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Onx is now available on AA for me. Pretty limited in its abilities without using touching the phone to interact with it. Hopefully they keep working on it.
I think it's a work in progress and more enhancements will be coming. They are always looking for user input so if there is a specific function, or set of functions, they will welcome the input.
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