Enthusiast II
Which App is best?
- Thread starter BFR812
- Start date
HighVoltOverland
Rank IX
Builder III
- 13,487
- First Name
- Gus
- Last Name
- Caller
- Member #
-
31666
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- GMRS - WRVW409
- Service Branch
- Army
Explorer I
Pathfinder III
- 5,200
- First Name
- Kent
- Last Name
- Reynolds
- Member #
-
1632
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- K6KNT
- Service Branch
- Retired Firefighter
I use OB1 and Gaia. I have OnX but dont use it any more.
Gaia. Looked all the others, decided I liked the choice of maps and sometimes having multiple maps of the same area. Reason: All maps contain errors; either errors made at it's creation or errors that have "aged in" due to changes on the ground since the map was made). A lot of times I'm on a road that's not there on one map, but is there on another.
Off-Road Ranger III
- 13,288
- First Name
- Bjoern
- Last Name
- Eldracher
- Member #
-
20111
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- DO3BE
For offline navigation, I mainly use oruxmaps as an app. And also OB1. I chose oruxmaps because it is a bit more complex to use as there are many options, but you can get countless maps for it and there are import and export functions for tracks, POIs, etc. The OB1 app comes in handy, has good, and useful easy-to-use navigation functions and is a great tool for staying in touch with the community while out.
Explorer I
I ran across a YT video where they were using Gaia and ended up on private land. The landowner encouraged use of OnX because it makes it clear if it's private or not and Gaia does not. Is that true?
Advocate I
Not necessarily. There could have been different factors involved in their error.
Gaia premium does have a layer that shows private property and like all the layer options, it has a toggle to increase/ decrease the intensity of the layer view.
It could be they didn‘t have premium, had the layer off or minimized, or the map could have had incorrect info.
I splurged the other day and succumbed to the ad for 50% off OnX. Learning my way around it now. It doesn’t have the multitude of layers available like Gaia. The layers are also either on or off, it seems.
GAIA Premium , huge selection of maps. I like the older topos for exploring. Pop up an old Topo and your driving down the road how it looked 100 years ago, great for finding ruins and old homesteads. I spend hours researching, and have hundreds of waypoints marked for exploring and run around a 90% success rate on finding cool $hit. I also use Historic Aerials and Google Earth real time while on the trails. The ability to overlay multiple layers by percentage is great.
One feature I really like is being able to load pix with each marked waypoint. Then when I keep all my color coded tracks the pix are included in the trip for my research files.
One feature I really like is being able to load pix with each marked waypoint. Then when I keep all my color coded tracks the pix are included in the trip for my research files.
Last edited:
They all suck one way or another. I have yet to find a good trail app that isn’t useless while traveling. Gaia is reasonable for trails, OnX is hopeless for me personally.
I find OsmAnd the least worthless, but insanely infuriating to use.
Enthusiast III
Gaia. I find their route building and overlays much more detailed. Also like that Gaia is a bit more diy.
Enthusiast II
Thank you for your insight and yes I have to completely agree. I have yet to find the perfect Offroad app. I have been using OnX and Gaia and have found issues with both. However hopefully they will get better and listen to us the end users and make the necessary changes to their apps.
I need to put a qualifier on my opinion:
I'm personally NOT looking for just an offroading app. I'm looking for something I can plan a complete trip with. Something that lets me nagivate a two day or a two year trip. With PROPER navigation onroad (Gaia and OnX utterly suck, OnX is actually garbage for this), decent coverage of trails and unpaved forest roads, access to high quality maps, and maybe some trail ratings.
On a recent trip, I tried OnX, and for everything but very localized trails, it's completely useless. You zoom out, it doesn't show cities or large roads or even interstates in a way that you can ACTUALLY find something on the map, it can't search while offline, even if it has the maps local, the version I had was also buggy as hell. Gaia was slightly better, but also couldn't navigate properly, search doesn't work right when offline, routing often doesn't work when offline, you can't really download decent sized maps beforehand without going through a total nightmare routine ...
As I said, give OsmAnd a try – a try that's longer than a day or two, since usability is worse than any other app I've tried, but the functionality is there. It's 100% offline, there is no online component, so either it has a feature which works offline, or it doesn't have the feature at all. And it has TONS of features. We did a full trip with it recently, and the only thing missing was offroad trail information. And this is something I could probbably add from different sources if I was willing to prepare for the offroad parts.
And to be clear: I'm a pure customer to all these apps, I have full licenses for OsmAnd, Gaia, and unfortunately I wasted money on that PoS OnX.
I'm personally NOT looking for just an offroading app. I'm looking for something I can plan a complete trip with. Something that lets me nagivate a two day or a two year trip. With PROPER navigation onroad (Gaia and OnX utterly suck, OnX is actually garbage for this), decent coverage of trails and unpaved forest roads, access to high quality maps, and maybe some trail ratings.
On a recent trip, I tried OnX, and for everything but very localized trails, it's completely useless. You zoom out, it doesn't show cities or large roads or even interstates in a way that you can ACTUALLY find something on the map, it can't search while offline, even if it has the maps local, the version I had was also buggy as hell. Gaia was slightly better, but also couldn't navigate properly, search doesn't work right when offline, routing often doesn't work when offline, you can't really download decent sized maps beforehand without going through a total nightmare routine ...
As I said, give OsmAnd a try – a try that's longer than a day or two, since usability is worse than any other app I've tried, but the functionality is there. It's 100% offline, there is no online component, so either it has a feature which works offline, or it doesn't have the feature at all. And it has TONS of features. We did a full trip with it recently, and the only thing missing was offroad trail information. And this is something I could probbably add from different sources if I was willing to prepare for the offroad parts.
And to be clear: I'm a pure customer to all these apps, I have full licenses for OsmAnd, Gaia, and unfortunately I wasted money on that PoS OnX.
Enthusiast II
LOL, yeah. Possibly. I've worked in the software industry for 30 years, I know too much about usability, user interface design, buggy software, etc. I don't just think that the current offerings all leave a lot to be desired one way or another, I know they do. (that's the most polite I could come up with, if the developers of these apps had worked for me when I was leading software teams, I would have fired quite a few of them).
Enthusiast I
Like others have said, they have their pros and cons... I use HEMA, which is basically an orange version of Gaia. I have used On X, and the garmin Tread... I personally like Hema/gaia best, but I like that OnX works over apple carplay and its one less screen in the car. The Tread has a ton of cool features but I am very new to it. I like on OnX that I can see routes even offline. we all plan our trip, but there is always an offshoot that looks interesting. Being able to map on the fly is great. I like Gaia/Hema for that since I have the maps with the topo and trails on there. The tread with the correct planning would be great, but if you don't get all your stuff setup before hand, its a pain to plan in the field.
Explorer I
I primarily use Gaia and have found it very good for the trail stuff (and Trails Off-road is great if they have mapped the trail) but use a Garmin (mine is Overlander) for a longer trip in conjunction as it has both trail and roads. My gripe with Garmin is that , imho, their manuals suck. I am still learning how to use the Overlander 3 years later how to do things and what features they have. A better manual would have made it a lot more useful for me.
I am also trying to use OB1 as often as possible and have downloaded the Baja Peninsula for our upcoming trip, it just takes time to learn and use the apps. We also chose to download LeadNav as recommended by NORRA (we are participating in the Mexican 1000 Safari this year) and it looks to be a pretty cool app with a lot of specialized features for off road route planning, adding waypoints, turns etc.
I am also trying to use OB1 as often as possible and have downloaded the Baja Peninsula for our upcoming trip, it just takes time to learn and use the apps. We also chose to download LeadNav as recommended by NORRA (we are participating in the Mexican 1000 Safari this year) and it looks to be a pretty cool app with a lot of specialized features for off road route planning, adding waypoints, turns etc.
Last edited:
Signed up for Gaia a few days ago and in messing around with it, I can't seem to get it to focus on overlanding vs hiking. It seems most things focus on hiking. I see how to create an overland focused route, but how about just general browsing?
Backpacker/Mountaineer first, Overlander second.
After about 10 years I finally left the Gaia platform. The last price increase did it for me. Gaia has been going downhill in tems of stability and growth since Outside bought it and the original developers left. I looked at OnX but it's siloed for different activities and I'm not playing that game.
I ended up going with CalTopo after running it and Gaia side by side for about 6 months. For my usage, it's mostly better. It's Satelite coverage is better quality and is updated more often. The maps print out better. It's more stable. Better folder organization.
There are a couple things about CalTopo that bug me. Only North orientation- no orientation based on movement. Definatly more annoying for vehicle based travel. By default- custom maps are saved for 7 days, not indefiantely. Gotta remember to change that with each map I create. Snap feature when creating routes seems a bit more finiky. I have to remeber that I am still early in with CalTopo so I will get better with time and experience.
I can tell you I am NOT missing Gaia- except for the Nat Geo maps- particularly the Baja Maps.
After about 10 years I finally left the Gaia platform. The last price increase did it for me. Gaia has been going downhill in tems of stability and growth since Outside bought it and the original developers left. I looked at OnX but it's siloed for different activities and I'm not playing that game.
I ended up going with CalTopo after running it and Gaia side by side for about 6 months. For my usage, it's mostly better. It's Satelite coverage is better quality and is updated more often. The maps print out better. It's more stable. Better folder organization.
There are a couple things about CalTopo that bug me. Only North orientation- no orientation based on movement. Definatly more annoying for vehicle based travel. By default- custom maps are saved for 7 days, not indefiantely. Gotta remember to change that with each map I create. Snap feature when creating routes seems a bit more finiky. I have to remeber that I am still early in with CalTopo so I will get better with time and experience.
I can tell you I am NOT missing Gaia- except for the Nat Geo maps- particularly the Baja Maps.
