Indeed a bit of a learning curve but it is powerful. Some good youtube tutorials out there as well. Here is one I just watched and got some great tips…
A lot of the functionality you can check out for free, with a free account you can't access maps when you don't have internet connection.
Good point, several of the National Forests we’ve seen using Avenza. Kind of interesting since it takes the motor vehicle use map pdf and just drops your position on it.
Using this app I've found a bunch of good camp sites in places that people try to make it look like private property but it's actually public land. It's especially useful when looking for camp sites as close to NPs as possible. When you camp close enough to a NP that you can throw a rock into it, it's literally as close to primitive camping in the NP as you can get. And it's all perfectly legal.
Trails Off-road + Gaia GPS is what we use and it works extremely well. OnX does have more trails but I don’t care for the interface as much. I still keep it as a backup in case I run into a trail that isn’t on Trails Off-road. Haven’t had that happen yet though.
If you download “Jeep Badge of Honour” it will offer you Onx Off-road elite free for 6 months. I live in Canada so we do not have the app yet just the hunting version. I asked them and it will be available this year for all the Canadians on the forum.
Dual makes excellent GPS bluetooth devices. Anything is better than iOS's built in "GPS" which is really "A-GPS" due to it's dependency on cell towers.I use Gaia Premium as well and it has a lot of features, so many that I haven’t had a chance to use it to its fullest capacity. Still have to learn more about it, there are a lot of YouTube videos to help with the learning curve. I also add a extra gps in which I use the Dual GPS and it’s SkyPro app for better accuracy and especially when you have no cellular service . It’s very accurate when using the Bluetooth gps and it can connect to several devices at ones so I can connect it to my iPhone and iPad at the same time. I use both during my trips . The gps plugs into the Jeep as well and is a small flat unit . The gps is a Dual XGPS160 GPS Receiver($160-180) here is the quick info for it . Good bang for the bucks . I like that it’s also portable if you hike as well. I believe this is a great combo package. The unit works great with Gaia maps.
“Meet the SkyPro® - a brand new GPS Receiver with fast signal acquisition and 10Hz positioning updates, making it an ideal GPS for pilots, race car drivers and other fast moving applications. The WAAS receiver is compatible with both GPS (USA) and GLONASS (Russia) systems and it connects via Bluetooth to up to 5 Apple or Android devices.
The GPS receiver will run for up to 10 hours on a charge, and can be recharged using the included 12-28VDC cigarette lighter adapter, from any PC, or from the USB charger which came with your tablet/phone.
This GPS Receiver also comes with a useful GPS Status Tool app. (Available free on the iTunes App Store). The app allows you to turn on and off the automatic route recording feature, and to export the stored log files.
I don't understand the need for external GPS receiver. I have an iphone 6 with GAIA on it and the mapping works very well when we are out of cell signal range. I don't use an ipad for maps but I do carry a Garmin Inreach Mini so I could use that as the GPS receiver.
