Newbie advice

Hi Charlie
You can get an iPad. They can have GPS already built in, or you can buy them without. Very convenient with the GPS built in, because you just turn it on. Only need to plug it in to charge the battery.
Traveller and EOTOPO are excellent, and necessary, and Tracker is great if you want to keep records of travels.
The whole package is very good value in my humble opinion, and gives you fantastic quality maps for all of Australia.
You don't have to use Apple, as other systems are also supported eg Windows 10 and Android. Read the System Requirements for Traveller.
Michelle and David are very helpful if you want to ask the advice of the developers. Go to Help Desk.

Cheers
Jim

Just about every Android tablet has inbuilt GPS and is probably cheaper than an iPad. Only iPad's with a mobile SIM slot have inbuilt GPS. I swapped from Apple to Android after the iPad version 1 and have never regretted it. I've had a 12" Samsung since 2014 and used it for at least 2 hours every single day and it's fantastic as a GPS in the car, movie viewer in the tent, web browser, email, I can't fault it after 7 years. It's wifi only so I hotspot it to my phone when I'm out and about and need internet on it. Samsung is probably the best Android tablet available. I had an external Bluetooth GPS using a Windows laptop before my iPad and Samsung and they are fine but it's just another thing that you need to charge and find room for on the dash, so inbuilt GPS is way better.

" 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.

Hi Charlie,
Just to add to/clarify what's been said by others:-

*a GPS receiver is required in whatever device you use. Either inbuilt (standard in all phones, and most Android tablets) or external (but instead of USB connection thesedays they use Bluetooth which is very convenient and easy to use). If you need to buy a Bluetooth external GPS receiver I would recommend you look at Garmin Glo2.

*Tracker is a service available to people with an ExplorOz "member" account. There is annual cost for Membership but is very cheap. Seehttps://www.exploroz.com/membership, To use the Tracker service, you can EITHER use the free standalone Tracker app (which is just a simple tracking app) and does not have maps, or if you use the Traveller app (which does provide mapping and navigation tools) then there is a feature in the Traveller app that allows you to Enable the Tracker service. So as Frank says, you can just use the one app.

EO Navigation app review

You may find this review helpful.

JE