atvgps.net

Garmin nuvi 500 supplies are tight!

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 19:31:55 -0700

Now that Garmin has discontinued the nuvi 500/550 that was our favorite pick for ATVs, we realized it was high time to pick a new favorite.

Actually we settled on two favorites.

First, we recommend the motorcyle-oriented Garmin zumo 350LM. Although it is not inexpensive, it offers the ruggedness you need on the ATV, while also giving you year-round service on your motorbike or snowmobile, or even as a normal GPS navigator in your car.

Second, if you also like to hike/fish/hunt, we recommend the Garmin Montana 600. The large 4" touchscreen shows map detail clearly, but the unit offers the battery life and portability for any outdoors use. You can add optional topo and street maps to the Montana.

ATVGPS supports new Garmin Montana, eTrex and Rino GPS models

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:51:17 -0700

Garmin recently added three exciting new series of outdoors GPS units. ATVGPS ATV and SledGPS snowmobile trail maps are fully compatible with all but two of the new models. The Garmin Montana series builds on their popular Oregon and Dakota models, with a 4" touchscreen, optional digital camera with automatic geotagging of pictures, and spoken turn-by-turn directions (with optional ATVGPS/SledGPS or Garmin street maps). These units will be perfect on the handlebars or dashboard of an ATV or snowmobile, and may supplant the Garmin nuvi 500 as our top recommendation. The new Garmin eTrex 10, 20 and 30 update their long running eTrex series of budget navigators, with larger screens and long battery lives. ATVGPS/SledGPS are supported on all but the entry-level eTrex 10. Last, but not least, the Garmin Rino 610, 650 and 655t are new additions to their Rino walkie-talkie/GPS combo units, offering larger screens and an optional digital camera. ATVGPS/SledGPS are supported on all but the Rino 610.

Garmin GPS ATV Maps now available for 43 US States!

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 16:53:20 -0700

We are excited to announce that we've dramatically increased our coverage area for ATVGPS to now encompass 43 states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

We've also rearranged the states into three convenient and high-value regional sets: East, Midwest and West, as well as the best-value National set.

As a Mountain Dynamics Garmin GPS map product, ATVGPS is a fully supported, commercial product, created using Garmin's toolkit through our membership of Garmin's Third Party Developer Program, as with our SnowRanger ski resort maps and SledGPS snowmobile maps.

ATVGPS's content is supplied by US TrailMaps, Inc. who has addressed the complex issues surrounding creation and management of GPS grade trail information by forming a team of industry professionals highly skilled in Geographic Information System (GIS), to create a massive geo database populated with trail data from various sources. Use of GIS for recreational trail mapping has allowed US TrailMaps to maintain a database of over 250,000 miles of recreational trails for use in GPS navigation.

If you're a ATV rider you need ATVGPS on your ride now! The maps start at just $49.99 and work on a wide variety of Garmin GPSes. If you are looking for a new GPS for your ATV we particularly recommend the motorcycle-oriented zūmo series, followed by the ruggedized 500/550 n�vi models, the large touchscreen Oregon series, or the inexpensive eTrex Legend HCx.

Note the seven states not currently available are: Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio and Rhode Island.

Welcome to ATVGPS

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700

June 2010 brings the launch of ATVGPS - the first detailed, nationwide (coming soon!), commercially-supported series of ATV trail maps for Garmin GPS.

Although the maps are new, the companies behind them are not. U.S. TrailMaps, Inc. has addressed the complex issues surrounding creation and management of GPS grade trail information by forming a team of industry professionals highly skilled in Geographic Information System (GIS), to create a massive geo database populated with trail data from various sources. This team rectifies the raw information with proprietary analysis techniques developed by U.S. Trailmaps to obtain the high degree of accuracy demanded by location based navigation systems such as GPS. Essentially they are leveraging the same type of technologies employed by civil engineers and municipalities to document underground utilities and mechanicals. Use of GIS for recreational trail mapping has allowed US TrailMaps to maintain a database of over 250,000 miles of recreational trails for use in GPS navigation.

Mountain Dynamics Inc. was founded in 2005 to publish and support recreational GPS maps. Although there's a thriving "cottage industry" of GPS mapmakers and hobbyists--to whom we all owe a debt of thanks--Mountain Dynamics saw the opportunity for professional quality map products with the level of support, ease of purchase and ease of use that technical and non-technical consumers alike expect. SnowRanger ski resort maps were launched for the 2005-06 ski season, initially as North American maps for Garmin, and were followed by Magellan versions and by a series of European ski resort GPS piste maps. Mountain Dynamics launched its enormously successful SledGPS snowmobile trail maps for Garmin in December 2008.

The two companies have joined forces to create ATVGPS. By taking US TrailMaps' ATV trail and points-of-interest data, and publishing it through the proven Mountain Dynamics platform we can bring an unusually high level of maturity to what would otherwise be a raw new product.

If you're a ATV rider you need ATVGPS on your ride now! The maps start at just $49.99 and work on a wide variety of Garmin GPSes. If you are looking for a new GPS for your ATV we particularly recommend the motorcycle-oriented zūmo series, followed by the ruggedized 500/550 nüvi models, the large touchscreen Oregon series, or the inexpensive eTrex Legend HCx.

Contact us if you have any questions--we're here to help, and we know our stuff!

Choosing a GPS for your ATV

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700

Picking a Garmin GPS for your ATV can be difficult, both because of the potentially harsh conditions it needs to survive and because of the sheer size of Garmin's product line. Here's a quick guide to the models that we think are most suitable.

The key question is whether you have a convenient 12V DC outlet that you can use to power it. If you do, then you can mount a GPS on your handlebars or dashboard, power it from the outlet, and not worry about battery life. A recommended model for this setup is the Garmin nuvi 500, which not only works with our ATVGPS and SledGPS maps but also comes with full USA street and topographic maps built in. Use it in the truck on the way to the trail head, and use it year-round for travel and adventure. The Garmin nuvi 550 is similar, though comes with full North America street maps rather than the topo maps. The Garmin zumo series of motorcycle oriented units are also good choices.

If you will be using it off batteries then the life of those batteries, particularly in the cold, needs to be considered. The nuvi 500 mentioned above remains a good choice BUT will only get around 4 hours use per charge, so you'd need to switch it off part of the day or take spare batteries. (It uses a special Garmin battery, but is easy to swap with a spare.) A better option is the Garmin Oregon 450t, which can get a couple of days use out of a pair of rechargeable NiMh AA batteries. The Oregon is an "outdoors" GPS unit, waterproof and rugged, but has a large, sunlight-readable touchscreen and a very easy to use, and either be kept in a pocket or mounted.

A lower cost alternative to the Oregon is the Garmin eTrex 20, a smaller but still feature-packed model.

Another great outdoors GPS model is the Garmin Montana 600, which is similar to the Oregon but has a much larger screen, and the Montana 650 which includes a 5MB digital camera. Both Montana models offer full in-vehicle navigation features, although you need to purchase street maps from Garmin in order to tap-into that capability.

Finally, so long as you can keep it warm and dry (in a pocket), any of Garmin's nuvi series of vehicle navigators work great with SledGPS maps. Except for the nuvi 500 mentioned above, the nuvi models are not rugged or waterproof, but if you look after them just like you would a cellphone they will be ok. Battery life can be a problem--only 2-3 hours--but these nuvi models are great for using in the car too, and can often be found for less than $100.

To mount your GPS we recommend RAM Mount and Touratech.

Montjoux, Mountain Dynamics Team Leader