Oracle

Mike, I'm using a Samsung Galaxy s7. Screen set at full brightness. I messed with the other screen settings, i.e. blue light and such, with no noticeable difference. Mike, the Gaia app worked well. It has a feature called "snap to". This allows you to be looking at a trail on satellite view (or any other map view) and place a start point at the beginning of the trail and one at the end and the route will "snap" to the entire trail. Old ways was to do way point after way point after way point along the route, which was very time consuming. You can do it in the app on your phone or do it on a laptop before heading out. Building routes is definitely a lot easier than i used to be. Luna, I was running phone vertically. I messed with the angle of the phone as I'm used to doing this with a stand alone GPS. I was running in the topo mode because satellite view is too slow to load and seemed to be taking up some serious bandwidth while riding. I'll definitely try doing loading maps instead of streaming. No screen protector and I cleaned the screen with windex before setting out on the ride. Any more feedback is appreciated.

So I just knocked out a quick 400 miles loop using my phone for GPS navigation exclusively for the first time. I used Gaia for building my route and navigating. There are some pretty nice features in the app for $19 a year, including all kinds of map overlays including USFS maps. The navigation worked well. But the there was a BIG drawback....the screen just is not bright enough to see the screen well. Hand held GPS units work much better in this regard.

Sad to have missed this one. I was off adventuring on my big bike.

I'll work you an invite, just play it cool for now...

Sorry this happened. Heal fast, brother.

A good friend of mine has a 400ex for sale. Shoot me a pm if you want to be connected.

Nice. Sorry I missed it

You're welcome, brother. Glad this is all coming together. Going be out there with you ripping trails in the not to distant future.

Glad to hear it went so well. I've been enjoying the pics and reports.

That's a great deal. Thanks for sharing. If I didn't just buy that new pannier system for my 500 I'd jump on these.

I watched the entire series in one day last week when I was laid up with a sore knee. I thought it was entertaining...in a very weird train wreck type of way...

I"ve got to admit, that pancake looked good! Good having you along, Kevin.

That's a cool idea. I doubt those cowlings are cheap though.

In spite of my dirt nap, I had a great time. I thanks for helping me out, Mark.

I've been there many times. It's one of our (me and the kids) stops on our way to Super from OW. I've spoken to the owner a couple times. He sells parts to people all over the world.

nice. 100 likes

x4

Luna, as far as Caltopo and GE, do you have to convert the URL into a GPX file after you've created your route or can you just save it as a GPX file?? FWIW, I've been using GPSies.com. You might want to check it out as an option.

For those interested in more info on the phone option, this should keep you buys for awhile. I've read a good amount of it...more than once... https://advrider.com/f/threads/ultra-rugged-kyocera-phones-gps-smartphones-my-guide.1206076/

The dirt itself was fine. They ADDED the lime to the soil to "help" dry out the soil due to the rains. Of course it turned into a disaster so I HIGHLY doubt they would do that again. Not to mention, it doesn't look likes it's going rain this year.

I know. I wasn't talking about loading existing GPX tracks. I was talking about making routes / GPX tracks.

I hear you. But the vast majority of people are just downloading GPX files that are already created, for example the BDR routes.

I'm ok with Basecamp. It does seem a bit outdated and hard to navigate at first, but it gets the job done for the riding I've done thus far in life. As far as the phones, you just pointed out the primary weakness I keep reading about. The micro USB connection is neither robust, as you pointed out, or water proof. This is a concern of mine especially since I stand a pretty good change of riding through some extreme weather during my trips. Bags, the advantage of the phones, aside from being very cheap, is that you do not need Basecamp. You do have to have an app on the phone like Giai or Rever or any number of GPS apps though. Some are free. But most that are worth a damn are about $40 a year. You would just save the GPX file to the phone and access the file from which ever app you are using. The process is much easier than Basecamp.

I'm in the process of researching this too. I have an old 78 that has been faithful. But it's time to step up to new features and technology. To that end, I have discussed this subject recently with several guys I trust on the subject. The vast majority of users are recommending the Montata 600 series devices right now...But someone that are also recommending the Kyocera (smart phone) options. Personally, I'm considering the Garmin 66i. This is the first high end GPS exclusive of Garmin (not Inreach) technology. It is both a GPS with advanced features, including the ability to download maps directly from satellite feed (other devices require you to download maps before you leave), and a satellite communicator for emergencies. So I would get rid of my 78 and my spot 3 and just carry this. It's probably a little more than most day trip single track users need though. Personally, I'm not sure about the phone for hard charging local single track riders though. They seem more useable for adventure type riding to me. I think a Montana would be a good choice for you but the phone option is considerably less and you don't have to deal with Basecamp....hum? Bottom line is I don't know which way I'm going yet.

Nice. Yes, I came across with Kug in Salt Mine wash. But I hit Lizard, Quartz Mine, and any other trail I hadn't yet explored that I came across that day. When I got home, I spent some time on Google and thought how nice (and simple) for some of those washes to connect to Pinyon and/or Fish Creek...Such a bummer that we are closed out of so much of OUR land. I don't think being able to connect washes together is asking too much. After all, Mother Nature is constantly refreshing it.