Friday, Aug 13, 2021 at 09:50
" I do a lot of off-roading and some is quite remote, so do I need Tracker,
EOTOPO and Traveller? I also want it for everyday city use. "
Charlie,
My needs are similar to yours. I have been using Traveller for years in outback and remote touring and found it to be excellent. I like to record my travels and Traveller does that. Traveller is also an excellent city navigator. It has highly detailed city maps. You can search for an address and get turn by turn navigation instructions just as you can with other navigators that you might be familiar with. With a bit of pre-planning you can also get turn by turn instructions for outback trips if you want.
You need Traveller and
EOTopo for the ExplorOz nav package. You don't need Tracker if you have Traveller - Traveller does the tracking for you.
First of all, the device. I would recommend a tablet with an inbuilt GPS. It's such a neat, all-in-one solution and only one device to maintain, keep charged and find space for.
That leads to operating system. Just about all Android tablets come with GPS, whether wifi only or with a SIM slot. Apple, on the other hand, does not provide inbuilt GPS on wifi tablets - if you want inbuilt GPS you have to buy the more expensive tablet with a SIM slot - even if you don't want to buy a SIM and data plan from your telco.
Both Android and Apple devices with a SIM slot are more expensive than their wifi-only counterparts. You'll find that size for size, Android tablets with GPS are much cheaper than their Apple equivalents and for normal day-to-day use such as this navigation task work just as
well.
If your budget directs you to a wifi only device, then with Android you will need to hotspot your tablet to your phone (any brand, so what you have will be fine) to get the data connection required to take advantage of all that the Traveller app has to offer. Thus two devices to maintain, keep charged and find space for.
With a wifi-only Apple device you will need the phone for the same reason AND an external GPS "mouse". That's three devices to maintain, find space for and keep charged.
My very unscientific observation based on questions and requests for help on this
forum is that there are more issues with Traveller on wifi-only Apple tablets than on any other device.
Having said that, there *are* people who are quite satisfied with their wifi iPads with GPS mouse and phone setups, so if you're wed to the Apple sphere, then an Apple solution is available to you.
There is one other thing. I have found it very useful to be able to tun Traveller and Ozi Explorer side by side in split screen mode on my tablet. Traveller can use only the one mapset,
EOTopo, which is excellent, but I have a gazillion other maps that I can run in Ozi. Each app has its advantages and being able to run them together gives me the benefits of both. Ozi is not available for Apple devices.
So my recommendation is
First preference - Android tablet with SIM slot and a data plan.
Second preference - Wifi Android tablet (which will contain built-in GPS) with any brand phone (which you undoubtedly already have) to hotspot for data.
I agree with Michael H9, Samsung is undoubtedly the best for Android tablets, but there are cheaper brands that will do the job. Like him, I have been using a Samsung tablet for years for navigation, eReader, music, movies, email, social media and club secretarial duties while on the road, so if you're looking for a brand recommendation, mine is Samsung.
Before buying a device read
this page. In particular look at System Requirements. Make sure you buy an Android device with Android 8 or above, or an iOS device with iOS 11 or above.
AnswerID:
637500
Follow Up By: Bazooka - Friday, Aug 13, 2021 at 14:01
Friday, Aug 13, 2021 at 14:01
If you decide, like many others, to go for the Android tablet with GPS option as Frank suggests Charlie this bloke's reviews of tablets might help:
https://www.youtube.com/c/MyNextTablet/videos
His focus isn't on navigation per se but performance and bang for buck. Memory and RAM are what you probably need to concentrate on (see the
Exploroz Traveller pages for recommended minimum specs), but screen size and quality may also be of interest (AMOLED being the top of the line iirc).
FollowupID:
915615
Follow Up By: Charlie147 - Friday, Aug 13, 2021 at 18:50
Friday, Aug 13, 2021 at 18:50
Thanks, Frank, for the detailed answer! Will print this off and have a slow look through each point. Cheers for all the info.
FollowupID:
915621