Best GPS for UTV Trail Riding

Things to Look For in a GPS for UTV Trail Riding

When you’re trail riding, it’s critical to plan before you go to ensure a safe and fun trip. One of the easiest ways to plan for your trip is to know your route, and that’s where a GPS can be incredibly helpful, but only if you choose the correct one for your needs.

Portable vs. Permanent

When you go out trail riding in your UTV, do you typically stay in the vehicle, or do you venture out for hikes and activities? If you typically keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle, then you’ll be fine with a unit that attaches between the driver’s and passenger’s sides of the dash, but if you want to wander freely, then a portable option is vital.

Where Do You Venture?

No matter how you adventure, you’ll want to ensure that your GPS allows you to provide corrections to topographical or road information. You’ll also want to ensure that your GPS provides backtracking to get you back from whence you came so you don’t get stuck out in the woods for the night.

Durability

If you’re trail riding, then you’ll need a durable piece of equipment. You can’t expect the kind of sleek GPS you’d use in a vehicle to last out on open trails, especially if you’re inclined to remove your doors and windshields once in a while. Look for a device that can take a beating.

Size and Display

Whether or not you choose to have a handheld device will likely affect the size of your unit, but there are other considerations when it comes to size. If it’s portable, does it have a clip? If not, will it fit in your pocket easily? Is it lightweight? How difficult is it to type in a destination on the screen? You’ll also want to ensure that your screen is easy to read in direct sunlight.

Reception and Trip Tracking

We mentioned before that you’d want a more sophisticated unit if you use more adventurous trails or go completely off-road. The reason for this is because more sophisticated units often have trip tracking to help you get home and also get back out to where you went a second time by saving your trips for future use.

Sophisticated units likely have better reception as well. GPSs use satellites to find your location, but that requires a powerful antenna. The best units will use latitude and longitude to track your location precisely.

Top 5 Best GPSs for UTV Trail Riding

We’ve chosen our top five GPSs, including the overall best GPS for UTV trail riding, for you to check out below.

Best Overall GPS for UTV Trail Riding

Garmin GPSMAP 64st

The Garmin GPSMAP 64st GPS is a highly sophisticated GPS device. It is small and light at only 8.1 ounces and 2.6 inches, but it packs a big punch. Its screen is ready to read in direct sunlight. For storage, this device has 8GB built-in, but it’s also got an SD card slot when you want to store more trip data than the original 8GB can provide.

The Garmin GPSMAP 64st contains 100 thousand US topographical maps, 250,000 preloaded caches for geocaching, and a quad-helix antenna. If you’re one for venturing into canyons or deep cover on adventures, then the best GPS for UTV trail riding definitely will need this type of antenna.

This GPS works for up to 16 hours on two AA batteries. Although it is easy to read the screen on this device, the user interface isn’t the easiest to navigate, and the map downloads are a bit slow, but overall this is an excellent piece of equipment.

Pros:

• 100K topographical maps
• 16 hours of battery life
• Works well in deep cover or canyons
• Easy to read in sunlight
• Plenty of storage space

Cons:

• Slow download times
• Awkward user interface

Best GPS Under $500

Magellan TRX-7 CS

The Magellan TRX-7 CS is a dual-mount GPS with all of the bells and whistles you’d want for optimal off-road trail riding. It not only comes preloaded with more than 100,000 maps of trails across the country, but it also uses crowdsourcing to get updated trail and attraction information from other riders across all 50 states.

This device comes with lifetime maps and software updates. It also comes with a companion app to use with your smartphone so that you can share your travels and help others find new trails and attractions as well.

It’s very easy to read this screen with its seven-inch touch screen display that is easy to see in both direct sunlight and at night. The case on this GPS is drop and shock resistant as well as water and dustproof for durability.

Pros:

• 115,000 preloaded trails
• Durable case
• Large, easy to read screen
• Lifetime map and software updates
• Crowdsourced trail information

Cons:

• Can’t download all additional trails
• Downloads and updates are slow

Best GPS Under $300

Magellan TR5

If you’re looking for a device that’s easy to read in bright sun or at night, then you’ll want to check out the Magellan TR5. This system offers a five-inch touchscreen display for easy reading and typing. It’s also decently durable, but it isn’t quite as rugged as some.

This GPS is the type of device you’ll want if you’re looking to stay mainly on trails. It comes preloaded with 115,000 snowmobile, ATV, 4WD, and motorcycle trails across the US. You can easily use the device to find your location and even share it with friends and family, which can increase your safety when traveling solo or hitting new territory on a trip.

There is even an online community tracking database available through this device that you can use to find new trails or attractions and to tell others about those you discover. Battery life and download speeds are a concern with this device.

Pros:

• Five-inch, high-resolution display
• Community tracking database
• Sunlight and night rated screen
• Built-in camera
• Preloaded with 115,000 trails across all 50 states

Cons:

• Slow map download times
• Only one hour of battery life

Wahoo ELEMNT GPS Bike Computer

Although Wahoo created the ELEMNT GPS with cyclists in mind, this is still one of the best GPS for UTV trail riding. It’s got a simple and effective map view on its fully-customizable 2.7-inch screen. It easily pairs to devices or sensors via Bluetooth or ANT+, and it comes preloaded with maps of bike-friendly trails around the world.

This simple device has an app that goes along with it so that you can connect it to your workout monitors if you want to use it for biking or hiking as well. It tracks where you’re at and does allow backtracking, but doesn’t have a ton of storage to keep your previous riding information around for later.

Pros:

• Small, but simple screen
• Compatible with third-party apps
• Dual-band technology
• Portable or mountable
• Preloaded with maps from around the world

Cons:

• Not meant for UTV trails
• Low levels of in-unit storage

Best GPS Under $200

Garmin eTrex 20x

The Garmin eTrex 20x is an excellent option in terms of durability and convenience. It’s a high-sensitivity device with a sunlight-readable screen, which means you can use it almost anywhere.

Garmin designed this system to receive location information from both GPS and GLONASS satellites, which means you’re less likely to lose reception. The eTrex is one of the best GPSs for geocaching. It has a great internal memory of 3.7GB plus a micro SD slot for even more storage when you need it.

If you need a system that will last for hours and hours without needing to charge, then you’ll probably love the eTrex 20x. This system uses dual battery power and can last up to 25 hours. That makes this a nice system for rustic camping as well as trail riding.

Pros:

• 25-hour battery life
• 2.2-inch color display
• 2000 waypoints
• High-sensitivity GPS
• Micro-SD card slot for added storage

Cons:

• User interface is tough to navigate
• Updates download slowly

Verdict

Of the five GPS systems, we reviewed here, the one we think is the best GPS for UTV trail riding is the Garmin GPSMAP 64st. It’s got pretty much everything you could need in a portable GPS, including the ability to work off of multiple types of satellites to ensure you can stay connected to your location information even in deep cover or in canyons.

It comes preloaded with over 100,000 trails across the USA and has plenty of storage space to keep your trails stored for future use and easily utilize backtracking to get back on the road. It’s also durable and easy to read in the sun. It is, however, on the smaller side, so it won’t work if you need a large display.