VZ Navigator?

[BKeeper]

Is anyone familiar with VZ Navigator as a trail guide/off road tool? As I already have the phone with this capability I'd like to use it if I can. (And save some $$.) Does it compare favorably with GPS units designed for Backpacking? Pros and Cons,please. I have not used any GPS (or VZ Nav.) previously. Thanks, BKeeper.

[redhawk]

Not going to do you a bit of good in most places. it relies on cell coverage as opposed to the satellites a gps uses.

Plus my guess is that the unit won't show trails and other information that you can upload into a gps.

Plus you have to pay $9.99 a month

On highways it's a tool for turn by turn directions.
In the wilderness it's a toy thats useless 95% of the time.

You're better off getting a gps and using it in the car then getting the navigator and trying to use it in the woods if you can only afford one thing.

Hawk

[Grayelve]

Is anyone familiar with VZ Navigator as a trail guide/off road tool? As I already have the phone with this capability I'd like to use it if I can. (And save some $$.) Does it compare favorably with GPS units designed for Backpacking? Pros and Cons,please. I have not used any GPS (or VZ Nav.) previously. Thanks, BKeeper.

Going along with what Redhawk is saying. There are lots of places where you will loose reception. Power for your unit may well be an issue so easily replacable batteries are a plus. I use a garmin gps in the woods but I also carry an Ipaq pocket pc for keeping logs of my travels and National Geographic maps in a pocket topo program. It has a gps reciever attachment that I use in the car with CoPilot when traveling. I do not use the pocket pc to navigate in the woodland because of the dedicated batteries and the amount of time I may wander in the boonies. Double A's feed my camera and garmin nicely. I am not familiar with VZ navigator but if it is gps capable and can load good topos or has them in the program than I guess it will work for you leaving only battery power as an issue. A little fuel for your thoughts, good luck in this adventure.

[pico23]

VZ navigator isn't GPS. It's cell based. It might make use of GPS but it was never intended for the use you want to use it for. Can you enter coordinates at all? I think it's entire physical address based.

It's designed for finding starbucks on the corner of 42nd and Lex or something similar.

I assume you got the Premium plan? Use the hell out of it. It's pricey but worth it if you do.

I'm not much for monthly fees when avoidable, just added a GPS to the car for the first time, and it works on it's own for about 2-3 hours of battery if I was walking around. Kinda neat. I drive a lot. We travel 90% by car (about 60k a year between the 2 of us with me doing most of it), and even when we fly we end up driving a lot. If I'm driving I can't read the map safely, and I get frustrated by anyone else reading it. So this thing might save a few marital squables.

Thus far, playing with it the route selection was solid, almost what I'd do all the time. Just the drive to the Pepsi/TU center was weirdly routed.