Overland GPS on a budget

[old_man]

Correct.

I disagree. Location via cellphone with no gps requires that your cell phone has access to at least three strong cells in order to triangulate your position.

 

[jimmynotjim]

I disagree. Location via cellphone with no gps requires that your cell phone has access to at least three strong cells in order to triangulate your position.

That's not what he asked. He asked if his tablet is cell capable does it have GPS capabilities too. There may be some of off-brand tablets where this isn't true, but 90% of tablets that have a network chip also have GPS on the same chip. The cool part is each can work with the other turned off even though they come combined.

The GPS chip hits the satellites without a care in the world if there's a tower connection, and is just as accurate with a clear view of the sky as any other GPS device. The hitch is if your tablet doesn't have a network capability, it probably doesn't have GPS either. Google it if you don't believe me but this is well documented.

Now, if your device for sure doesn't have a GPS chip at all, then yes, you're out of luck. It's pretty easy to test this though, turn on airplane mode and open a map app. If it can pinpoint you, even if it won't display the map itself, then you have a GPS chip.

 

[Kesp]

Hey guys this is literally my first post on overlandbound. This post is what convinced me to register an account because I have have some experience with cheap gps builds.

Some background: I have been running nav for a 3 to 5 car Gambler 500 team (we have ran 4 different Gamblers). If you don't know what the Gambler 500 is Google it, you won't regret it.

As far as cheap nav is concerned you really just need 4 things; a cheap tablet or phone, a blue tooth gps device, a map app, and mount.

For our tablet we use an ancient WiFi only iPad, it does the job and I don't care if it breaks (we do some pretty stupid things).

For a Bluetooth gps device we use a Dual XGPS150A, you can get them on Amazon for around $85. It is literally just a little puck that picks up gps and sends the signal via Bluetooth to a device. It is rock solid and awesome.

For a mount I use a ram xgrip tablet mount. It is a suction cup mounted device mount that is also rock solid, with us driving like idiots in the Oregon back country it has never come loose or fallen.

As for navigation we use offline Google maps, it does literally everything but show topographical changes. If you are ok with a subscription Gaia looks interesting. Whatever map you choose make sure you can go offline.

If I were to build a set up now for around $200 I would get the Dual XGPS150A ($85), a ram xgrip that will fit a tablet ($50ish), scour Craigslist for a cheap tablet or buy a cheap Amazon Fire tablet ($50-80), and depending on what I am doing I would either use offline Google maps (free) or get a subscription to Gaia ($20-40).

Just a side note, if you get an Amazon Tablet just make sure you Google how to install the Google play store on it, it's not hard (there are easy to follow instructions) and opens up the app market a lot.

 

[T.Shack]

That is some Good information Kesp! going to look up the gambler 500 too. what if you already have an old Gamin auto unit? I know you Can type in way points I wonder if i can bring up topo's on it?