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Off-Road GPS Apps: MotionX vs Gaia Review


Frederic

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in our search to have a decent GPS app to guide us in the desert, today i wanted to review and compare MotionX and Gaia GPS, which are both apps specifically tailored to Off-Road driving or hiking.

As i had an old Samsung Note 5 laying around which had a very big screen, i decided to use that phone and mount it in my car to use it as a dedicated GPS. Unfortunately when i found out that MotionX is only for IOS platforms, i was forced to look for something else and stumbled upon Gaia GPS.

In the Youtube tutorial below, this gentleman makes a great comparison and it's worth having a look at:

As a summary, i come to the following:

MotionX:

+ Completely Free with full functionality

+ Easy to use, set up

- No Android support

- No possibility to create multi-bend tracks

Gaia GPS:

+ Easy to use and set up

+ Customizable Bar Tiles on the home screen

+ Overlay Maps 

+ Possibility to create multi-bend tracks.

- FREE version only has only 1 basic Topographic map, but the paid version costs 10USD per year that gives full functionality and satellite map. Full Premium Membership costs 30USD for year in case you want to add more maps and resources, but is more tailored to hiking.

https://help.gaiagps.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003524547-Free-vs-Membership-vs-Premium-Membership

Surely there will be more specific PROS and CONS once having used these programs. Please add them in your replies so we can share our hints and tricks to use these great apps.

Both apps support map download, so you can download the area in case you have no data coverage in that area, or if your phone simply has no SIM card in it :)

So there you have it, two apps which are perfectly capable of doing the things we want them to do for our Off-road adventures in the UAE deserts.

Do share your questions, suggestions, experiences ! 

 

 

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Very nice review and very useful for tons of offroader including myself who has been looking, trying and hoping to find one good offroad gps to beat motion x.

I love motion x but im still using old iphone 6 and wanted to try android gps on my note due to bigger screen.

I will try this and share my review, soon.

Btw, Motionx is not free either, Its 7.29 AED to install and 17 AED for custom maps. I believe this 17 is for lifetime as I vaguely remember paying them once and after that I haven't paid them again.

Anyone having iPhone, must use Motion X it's worth its price in GOLD.

image.png

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Let's root for each other & watch each other grow.

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I am using wikiloc for recording tracks and you can put additional way points with pictures so you can remember what's where seems decent up till now...and while recording the screen turns off to save battery... haven't had the chance to to replay any particular track until now but will soon see that side of it too... It's also having paid version but I am using the free one

Edited by shadow79
More info
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I use ViewRanger it is easy to use and works with Android I have it in my Jeep's Android player console and it works perfectly I can follow and record all tracks and it gives me the direction I'm going. It's really good. 

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Small thing to add: Gaia has a desktop version, which is very useful to store, edit, or make new tracks from the comfort of your desktop PC. 

www.gaiagps.com

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

UPDATE:

for the GaiaGps app users, the Google Maps like Satellite, Terrain, or Hybrid, which is my favorite, are not standard built in, but can easily be added by using the GaiaGps website.

This is the procedure:

While logged into Gaiagps.com, add a custom map source via TMS here:https://www.gaiagps.com/mapsource/add/

And use this TMS URL to get Google Terrain:https://mt0.google.com/vt/lyrs=p&hl=en&x={x}&y={y}&z={z}&s=Ga

Then hit "add this map source" and the saved map should show up in your Gaia app the next time you sync. :)

Some other map links:

Google Maps: https://mt1.google.com/vt/lyrs=r&x={x}&y={y}&z={z}
Google Satellite:https://www.google.cn/maps/vt?lyrs=s@189&gl=cn&x={x}&y={y}&z={z}
Google Satellite Hybrid:https://mt1.google.com/vt/lyrs=y&x={x}&y={y}&z={z}
Google Terrain:https://mt1.google.com/vt/lyrs=t&x={x}&y={y}&z={z}
Google Roads:https://mt1.google.com/vt/lyrs=h&x={x}&y={y}&z={z}

ESRI Sattelite Imagery:https://server.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/World_Imagery/MapServer/tile/{z}/{y}/{x}

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  • 6 months later...

I am using MotionX, wanted to test a setup with sharing live location with other MotionX users. 

Trying to download the app on my wife's phone, seems that the app is not available anymore.

Can please somebody try to search for it in the store? And if possible, which country settings do you have in your account?

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5 minutes ago, Xaf said:

I am using MotionX, wanted to test a setup with sharing live location with other MotionX users. 

Trying to download the app on my wife's phone, seems that the app is not available anymore.

Can please somebody try to search for it in the store? And if possible, which country settings do you have in your account?

I think MotionX stopped supporting the GPS version. They are now focussing on other fields, like sleep pattern tracking.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

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18 minutes ago, Xaf said:

I think MotionX stopped supporting the GPS version. They are now focussing on other fields, like sleep pattern tracking.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Oops just saw that now also that it is not available in the store anymore. Do you happen to have an icloud account from the Netherlands that you can try with ? I tried with both my UAE and Belgian account but it does not seem to be available anymore.

I am a GAIA GPS user because of the availability to use your desktop pc also to make / prepare routes and tracks. Also because i am using a dedicated Samsung Note 5 in my car for this specific purpose ony, so i downloaded the offline maps on it.

 

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