How to Choose a Good Travel Navigator

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

An honest list of criteria to look out for when choosing a GPS navigator and features you don't really need. Everything is based on many years of travel experience.

We warn you right away that in the text you will not find the names of manufacturers and specific names of devices. Every year, dozens of new gadgets appear on the market, while the old ones are removed from production, so such an article will quickly lose relevance. We propose to focus on general issues and find out what you need to pay attention to when choosing a GPS navigator for walking or cycling.

Why do you need a navigator on a hike

Yes, in the past, people did just fine without them. And still, sometimes there are old school tourists who use exclusively a paper map and a compass. But progress does not stand still, and such people are becoming less and less, because even the most inveterate conservative sooner or later realizes that a GPS is necessary on a hike.

With the help of the navigator, the following important tasks are easily and simply solved:

1. At the stage of preparation for the hike, a route is laid and the necessary points are indicated (springs, parking lots, interesting places).
2. During the hike, the GPS navigator allows you to determine your current location and accurately follow the intended path.
3. After the hike, you can view the saved track to analyze your mistakes, remember details or share the route with friends.

Navigator or smartphone?

Now in all smartphones, without exception, there is support for the GPS system. In addition, there is a huge amount of navigation software that allows you to use mobile phones to solve the problems listed in the previous paragraph. Therefore, many novice tourists are tempted to save money on buying a navigator.

You can only do this if you are going on a picnic or on a short, light hike around your summer cottage. But in difficult long journeys in sparsely populated areas, you still cannot do without a special tourist navigator. And that's why:

1. GPS-navigator has an enviable margin of vitality, while ordinary smartphones are not very suitable for difficult operating conditions. Rain, frost, sand, sun, falling on stones will easily disable your mobile phone, and you will be left without navigation.
2. Most tourist navigators use replaceable batteries, so you can easily calculate and take with you enough batteries for the entire route or, if necessary, buy them along the way.
3. The navigator is designed for only one thing - to determine the location. In this regard, it is much more convenient to use it than a smartphone - a device that combines many different possibilities.

I do not want to deny that smartphones have a number of attractive qualities. Thanks to the abundance of software, you will not be limited to only those maps that are supported by the manufacturer of the GPS navigator. Sometimes you may need to contact someone, especially in extreme situations. Many tourists, even on hikes, do not want to deny themselves the pleasure of reading a book or listening to their favorite music.

Therefore, the following conclusions can be drawn:

1. In rather difficult travels in sparsely populated areas, a GPS navigator is necessary primarily because of its reliability and autonomy.
2. The smartphone in this case can only play an auxiliary role, that is, it can be used for safety net and because of additional functions.

What to look for when choosing a travel navigator

A GPS navigator, like any other high-tech device, has many different characteristics, but not all of them are equally significant. Sometimes the manufacturer focuses the buyer's attention on a bright, but not very necessary function (for example, the presence of a thermometer) in order to distract from other, much more important qualities.

Brand

I recommend choosing products only from manufacturers who have been working for a long time and have earned authority in this area. Perhaps - what the hell is not joking? - your life and health will depend on the navigator, so let's put aside experiments and savings.

Durability and protection from external influences

Be sure to pay attention to this issue. On a hike, sometimes there are completely extreme conditions, so special requirements must be made to gadgets.

Autonomy

This parameter affects a lot. Some manufacturers strive to wow users with large touch screens, loud beeps and powerful processors, but they are modestly silent that all this significantly increases the device's appetite. Therefore, look for a reasonable compromise between technical bells and whistles and battery life, preferring the latter.

Maps, cards, cards

Travel navigators can be sold with or without built-in maps. In the latter case, it is important to find out whether it is possible to download and use custom maps, including raster maps. If the manufacturer has blocked this feature, you will have to separately purchase "branded" cards, the cost of which may eventually exceed the price of the device itself.

PC compatible

You will prepare the route on your computer. And there you will load the track after the hike. Therefore, make sure that your navigator has PC-compatible interfaces. The days of fascination with proprietary connectors are almost over, but it is still worth paying attention to this issue.

Design, convenience, control

These parameters are rather difficult to estimate from pictures on the Internet, but they also matter. Try to find a gadget that you like externally and which is comfortable to handle with one hand.

Specifications

The navigator must have a powerful processor to scale maps quickly and enough memory to store them. However, most modern devices can easily cope with such tasks, so this aspect can be ignored.

What you shouldn't pay attention to at all

Manufacturers often integrate a number of additional functions into modern GPS navigators. Some models thus turn into multifunctional harvesters equipped with a barometer, altimeter, thermometer, camera, wireless interfaces, auto-routing, area measurement and other engineering achievements.

Do you need all these bells and whistles on a camping trip? Most likely no. Here is about the same situation as when buying a multicooker that can cook three hundred dishes: it looks tempting, but in practice, few people need it. Therefore, do not overestimate the availability of additional functions. It is much more important to focus on how the GPS navigator fulfills its primary purpose.