GPS and Maps

How We Use Our GPS Unit

1. We have our unit on all the time while we are driving. Before we start driving, we usually input a destination so that we can see how far away it is and how long it might take us. Sometimes the unit is pretty good at predicting 30 mph roads. While driving, a big screen is useful - the tiny handheld units don't work well for this application.
2. When we go on a bike ride or hike, we usually bring our GPS unit with us. It helps us not get lost and/or figure out where we are going (is that the same thing?). Sometimes, instead of the GPS we bring our Nexus 7 if we have an offline Google Map of the area (see below).  We usually keep the unit turned off for most of the bike ride or hike because of battery life. This is where having a little handheld GPS unit would be useful since the auto-centric Garmin units aren't designed for this application.
3. To find nearby gas stations, hotels, campgrounds. Many of these things are included with the free OSM maps that we downloaded from garmin.operstreetmap.nl (see below for more info).
4. We save favorite locations to visit later and/or share with friends (or strangers).

What We Use (Garmin GPS and Tablet)

We own a Garmin Nuvi 1450 (purchased June, 2011). We have a love-hate relationship with Garmin. Most of it is hate. We are glad to have a GPS unit and are happy to be able to load country specific maps for free (PanAmNotes.com, SongOfTheRoad.com and LifeRemotely.com have info about this), but the technology feels straight out of 1995. It's hard to use when you're used to tablets, smartphones, and even computers. The touchscreen is horrible and the functionality pales in comparison to online map programs (like Google Maps). I don't think there is anything better for worldwide travel, but I sure hope there isn't anything worse.

One thing we do love about our Garmin model is that it has a micro-SD card slot that enables you to expand the storage capacity of the unit. We can copy all of our country specific *.img files directly to the unit. We download the .img files from garmin.operstreetmap.nl, rename them to the appropriate name (i.e. Colombia.img), and copy them to the "Map" folder on our SD card. For that reason we don't use the BaseCamp software as an intermediary to load the files to the Garmin. See this write-up by Song Of The Road.

An Alternative or Backup Solution To a Garmin GPS Unit

If you have a smart phone or tablet (android or iphone) with GPS, you can use the free app, MapFactor Navigator (search for "osm navigator"). After installation of the app it will ask you which FREE OSM maps you would like to download for offline use. The OSM maps are those that are frequently used with the Garmin unit by overlanders. We have found that this is a great companion to our Garmin GPS unit because sometime it works better than the Garmin, but unfortunately sometimes it doesn't (I'd say 50/50).

We have a Nexus 7 Android tablet. In addition to MapFactor Navigator, we also download various Google Maps for offline use (using the Google Maps app). To do this, zoom into the area you want to download, hold your finger down in the search field, and wait for the text "Make this map area available offline" to appear. It is our backup mapping/routing tool when the GPS and/or MapFactor Navigator (see above) isn't working well. If you're having trouble getting the map to download, you can also zoom into the section of the map you want, and type "ok maps" into the search field (then press enter).

Paper Maps

Paper maps rock. They are the best and so much more fun. Check wikioverland.org for paper map recommendations per country. We wish that we would've ordered more paper maps before we left. LifeRemotely.com and others recommend Reise Know How for many countries. For Mexico, we highly recommend Guia Roji Mexico.