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Trans America Trail

cgflyer

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Steve
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We did 1100 miles of the TAT from WV to NC in September. I used a Samsung Galaxy TabE running Garmin explore, which is free. It accepts direct import of Sam's tracks, and was THE BEST thing to have for the trip.
I have the tablet mounted to my CMM mounts on the navigator's side.

We have to re-route several times due to bridges washed out, etc. It was ideal for that purpose.
I also converted the tracks to turn-by-turn for my Garmin road GPS. It was okay, but the Tablet with Garmin explore was amazing.

tablet.jpg
That is good to hear, I am leaning towards the tablet as well, but didn't know what mapping app/software to use. So knowing Garmin Explore worked, will likely be my way to go. I have a CMM mount on my grab bar too for this same purpose. Not that I want to do a ton of video watching while on the trail, it will be nice to have a tablet that can do things other than just navigate although I will likely have my laptop and phone and e-reader lol...maybe I don't need a tablet haha
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Mark Doiron

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I'd second that. Running a phone, the infotainment, and a separate tablet for navigation is really helpful. Also it's great to have redundancy - if the tablet fails you can run GAIA on your phone or vis versa.

I ran my phone and an iPad Air with GAIA on some recent stretches of the TAT in VA and NC which worked really well.

navigation.JPG


Only other thing to think about for the tablet is storage space on the device. If you're doing big chunks at a time where you won't have data available (or just want to prevent using a lot of data) you'll want to pre-download map sections ahead of time. They can get pretty big depending on how many layers you download.
Good point about the phone and maps. I had all maps and all .gpx files divided up by states, loaded onto my table, my phone and my laptop (as backup copies). Each time we crossed a state border (except NM, which I included with CO), I'd take a couple minutes to load up the new map and .gpx file. That helped to ensure my (old and tired) Nexus 7 was able to work.
 
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Circuitous

Circuitous

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I have used Gaia and an iPad for quite a while. I dont connect it to the uconnect though. Im messing with music or podcasts too much. I just used this set up again a couple weeks ago doing the GA Traverse. It works really well, as well as in other countries. I have use the combo in Iceland, Australia, Puerto Rico and Canada. Join that with Ioverlander and i am very happy with it.
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