GPS for Oman Offroading

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ryanyuk
ryanyuk

Hi,

For those of you who went off-roading in Oman, I want to ask for your opinion using GPS.
Which brand/system is the best one to use? Do I need one? Is it a must? Were you able to secure one from your rental car company? If not, did you rely on physical print maps? Thanks in advance for your insight.

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genghis_caterpillar
genghis_caterpillar

There are two ways you might want to use a GPS for off-roading:
1. To have a base map of existing roads etc for visual navigation purposes, which you would be able to rent from a car hire company. These systems are designed for in-car use, and assume a level of stupidity which means that you cant normally get useful things like coordinates out of them, and are only really a visual display.

  1. To use as a proper navigational tool where there are no roads. If you plan to use an off-road guide like the Explorer books, then this works on coordinated way-points. An in-car GPS cant do this, because you cant input coordinates, only named locations, roads etc. If you want this, then you need a navigation hand-held GPS. You cant generally rent these and will need to buy your own. Garmin is the best brand (IMHO).
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genghis_caterpillar
genghis_caterpillar

Oh, and they're not compulsory. But they are incredibly useful, and make life a lot easier and a lot safer. I would recommend that you have one. They dont need to be expensive - an Etrek is only a couple of hundred dollars.

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