Garmin Tread 2 - Overland Edition?

[iklo]

Anyone has this gizmo? Any thoughts?

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[nU7OuxIx]

I do not but I've been tempted.

I think most people will say to use your phone with OnX or Gaia. Or just get an iPad and run those apps on that. I have, and I have not had great experiences. It seems like the phone's compass (android) is always whacked up so you're always guessing which way you should turn. The iPad's apps would lock up and quit after about 10 minutes of use. I think I solved it, but I was again having issues.

I love the idea of OnX and Gaia on my phone, but I personally have not had positive experiences with them. That's why I was tempted to buy the Garmin unit but that's a lot of cabbage for a device. I basically want something reliable and I feel like a standalone unit like that would solve the problems.

 

[Terrymo]

Anyone has this gizmo? Any thoughts?

Before you decide do a Google search regarding Garmin’s long term product support. It appears Garmin drops support after a relatively short time on previous generation products and only focuses on their newest product line. I was gifted a Garmin Overlander which allowed the use of 4 cameras until they stopped selling the cameras and then stopped providing tech support.

We use Trails Offroad and OnX and have yet to decide which one to keep as they are both good but slightly different. We do still have the Garmin Inreach mini 2 since it seems to provide better satellite texting under a tree canopy than our iPhones.

 

[Traveller128]

Before you decide do a Google search regarding Garmin’s long term product support. It appears Garmin drops support after a relatively short time on previous generation products and only focuses on their newest product line.

This. Be careful of legacy products from Garmin. They'll support it for awhile past the new generation, but will drop it just like all the dedicated GPS manufacturers.

I own a Tread, and they're already starting to lean out the support and it's only a couple years old. But, Tread 2 came out, and the Tread is based off the older slightly smaller screen design so it's going to be less supported going forward.

These things aren't cheap, and they would love you to keep spending $700 every time they pop a new one out, but where does it end?

 

[iklo]

I am tempted because of two years of the (losing) battle with glitchy Gaia. I also had it on the iPad, where it is a tad better, but only just. I invested in the Bulletpoint two arm iPad mount, which, while rather sturdy, places IPad just in front of the passenger airbag. So, no go.

 

[FlatTJ]

I have the Tread. Like it, works great. It is out of date but it works as well as my android phone and tablet for nav. It has extra functions that I value such as the GPS speed display. I use it in my Sprinter van for offroad travel as well as my JL. I have not found a way to recalibrate the speedometer in the Sprinter so GPS speed is useful, no math... You can also side load apps onto the tread. As far as no longer being supported that all depends what you use it for, trail maps don't change. Over time there are just less trails you can use each year. Just as important is it is tough. Dropped it a bunch still works. Battery life sucks! Mine is on vehicle power all the time.

 

[Ratbert]

I do not but I've been tempted.

I think most people will say to use your phone with OnX or Gaia. Or just get an iPad and run those apps on that. I have, and I have not had great experiences. It seems like the phone's compass (android) is always whacked up so you're always guessing which way you should turn. The iPad's apps would lock up and quit after about 10 minutes of use. I think I solved it, but I was again having issues.

I love the idea of OnX and Gaia on my phone, but I personally have not had positive experiences with them. That's why I was tempted to buy the Garmin unit but that's a lot of cabbage for a device. I basically want something reliable and I feel like a standalone unit like that would solve the problems.

Have you calibrated the compass in your phone? I haven't had those issues with my Android phones, but I usually calibrate it every few months.

 

[Traveller128]

I have the Tread. Like it, works great. It is out of date but it works as well as my android phone and tablet for nav. It has extra functions that I value such as the GPS speed display. I use it in my Sprinter van for offroad travel as well as my JL. I have not found a way to recalibrate the speedometer in the Sprinter so GPS speed is useful, no math... You can also side load apps onto the tread. As far as no longer being supported that all depends what you use it for, trail maps don't change. Over time there are just less trails you can use each year. Just as important is it is tough. Dropped it a bunch still works. Battery life sucks! Mine is on vehicle power all the time.

Not a fan of the screen going into 40% brightness any time it's not on shore power, but the battery is chewed through even then. The "3 hour" battery life is laughable. But it works on the quad and I just got another power cable (ATV/motorcycle one that goes in the mount) that I'm putting a 12V outlet plug onto. That should work in the Jeep mount and keep the screen backlighting up while driving. The USB will not even begin to keep up with charging while using the unit. Power cable is arriving today actually, I'll build it and put it on the mount this weekend.

It's rugged, it maps trails well but has some software shortcomings and a battery that needs to be about twice the size.

It can be updated to the latest maps, I just did ours a couple months ago. Like I said, Garmin will keep the maps updated (since it's Zumo based) but not necessarily come out with more unit software updates. They're pushing the Tread 2 now.

Tread 2 has a bit larger screen, it's basically a Zumo XT2 for overland/offroad.

The good thing about them making a platform that has different versions, is the more they sell the longer they're likely to support it.

 

[yokramer]

I am tempted because of two years of the (losing) battle with glitchy Gaia. I also had it on the iPad, where it is a tad better, but only just. I invested in the Bulletpoint two arm iPad mount, which, while rather sturdy, places IPad just in front of the passenger airbag. So, no go.

I started with Gaia since it was free and I wanted to make my own routes when I lived back east in NC. I quickly found that it isnt the best software to begin with, something more geared towards the off road crowd like OnX and Trails Offroad was much better for what I wanted.

I tend to think of them as the difference between Windows and Linux. If you want to tinker and figure things out as you go (linux) run Gaia otherwise just go with something already built and curated for you (windows) in OnX or Trails Offroad

Ive used OnX for like 4 years now both back east and now in Coloardo, and have had 0 issues with it, I download the areas I tend to be in a lot so I never am without information.

 

[nU7OuxIx]

Have you calibrated the compass in your phone? I haven't had those issues with my Android phones, but I usually calibrate it every few months.

Thank you and I have....numerous times. Between taking a picture of the front of my house to doing the figure 8. It will say 'high accuracy' and then 5 minutes later I'll reopen google maps and it says 'low accuracy'. I've had this happen on a Pixel 7 and Pixel 10. The iPad, from what I remember, worked a little better but OnX would keep crashing on it while Gaia worked.

From what I recall, if I opened google maps before OnX or Gaia, it seemed like it would work better for a bit.

 

[TORRyan]

I love the idea of OnX and Gaia on my phone, but I personally have not had positive experiences with them.

Give Trails Offroad a try and see if you have a better experience.

 

[TORRyan]

We use Trails Offroad and OnX

Mind if i ask what it is specifally you like about each one, that the other does not do as well?

 

[Ratbert]

Mind if i ask what it is specifally you like about each one, that the other does not do as well?

OnX goes for quantity over quality. That's good if you're in most of the county where trails are severely lacking, but it's overwhelming for places like Colorado and Utah. At this point I pretty much only use it for tracking my tracks.

TOR focuses on the better trails, which is greatly appreciated. Follow mode (when it works) is awesome. It's pointed out some really cool stuff that we would have otherwise missed.

Don't, however, click that red dot in the lower left corner unless you mean it. Your options are to pause it, resume it, it finish it. You're recording a track and there doesn't seem to be a way to cancel.

And it's nuts that it doesn't retain search history. I don't know how many times I've had to retype trail names to get back to what I was looking at earlier. Sure, it has Lists now, but that requires too much forethought and isn't always easy to figure out how to get things into those lists. My brain immediately says WTF?? every time I bring up that empty search screen that deleted my previous searches.

For example: bring up search and type "yankee". You get a list of relevant hits. Click one to check it out, then go back to search to see the next. You have to start from scratch. Seriously.

 

[nU7OuxIx]

TOR focuses on the better trails, which is greatly appreciated. Follow mode (when it works) is awesome. It's pointed out some really cool stuff that we would have otherwise missed.

This actually sounds really cool, but I'm just not sure how popular it would be. By me there's not many routes as it is, but the history and POI's would be great.

 

[sarguy1941]

I run the Garmin Overland orginal version. I still get map updates as well as software updates. I wouldn't travel without a dedicated GPS. But thats just me. Too many times I'll be following a map and wife will unplug my phone or hers and map disapears. On top of limited cell in many of the places we go the GPS just makes sense for us. We have all of ours wired to come on with vehicles and off when we shut down.

We do use OnX for trail riding and such but also record all our trips to the Garmin. Just old school preference I guess.

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