Whats The Difference Between The GPS Apps? | Onx Off Road | Trails Off Road | GAIA GPS

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Whats The Difference Between The GPS Apps? | Onx Off Road | Trails Off Road | GAIA GPS
Today we are going over features of all of these apps and how they can contribute to planning an overland trip. They all have pros and cons, they all have their own interface, but they can all download maps for offline use which makes them incredibly useful for overland and off road travel. All 3 of these GPS apps work great, but lets dive into some of what they off to see whats going to work best for you and your travels.
OnX Off Road:bit.ly/3b7xOcA
Trails Off Road: bit.ly/30A2te3
Gaia GPS: bit.ly/3uSDRbv
Click a timecode if you wish to jump ahead to something specific!
00:00:00 Start
00:00:31 OnX Off Road
00:08:05 OnX Phone App
00:10:05 OnX Pros and Cons
00:16:54 Trails Off Road
00:23:48 Trails Off Road Phone App
00:26:06 Trails Off Road Pros and Cons
00:26:21 Gaia Maps
00:33:45 Gaia Phone App
00:37:22 Gaia Maps Pros and Cons
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[@wademay6807]

Very in-depth. At 35:20 you mention the overlapping map download boxes. The GaiaGPS software is smart enough to not duplicate map tiles, so for example, you don't download 2 Gaia Topo tiles for the same place. Like you, I delete all the downloaded maps after a trip. It saves memory space, but the maps get updated from time to time. By deleting and reloading the ones I need for my next trip I'm more confident I have the latest and greatest. I agree that after you have done years of planning on GaiaGPs you can end up with a lot of waypoints, tracks, routes, etc. That's why keeping EVERYTHING organized into folders and subfolders is critical. Thanks for the informative comparison!

[@IndependenceOverland]

Good to hear it doesn’t double data. I believe it used to, but perhaps I’m wrong. I wish they would get rid of some of their satellite layers that are no longer really supported and low resolution. I forget which is the correct one every so often. All in all, still the best app by far. Thanks for checking out the video Wade!

[@g1mpster]

Thanks for the deep dive. Very helpful. Subbed.

[@IndependenceOverland]

Your awesome! Thank you!

[@clikrf8]

I subscribe to all three plus Topo maps + and downloaded maps from free version of Avenza. One problem with Trails Off Road is the lack of any trails noted in Eastern Washington and Oregon, northern Idaho, eastern Montana and most of Wyoming and Nevada. We have a full sized truck with pop up truck camper which limits us to easy and easy moderate. I am going to reach out to them to become an advisor to add more routes. After 80,000+ miles of travel in the west we have a large number of off roads travelled. I am learning Gaia and have downloaded most of the west with private lands layer over Gaia Overland on my iPad Pro. I think it will be a useful tool. OnX is mainly on my phone downloaded with the private lands. Thanks for the informative comprehensive review.

[@IndependenceOverland]

I did this comparison several years ago, and all have come a long ways aside from Gaia. Gaia added their overland layer since then, but that's about it. OnX has added just about every feature I could have wanted. They have folder sharing, route building, and just changed their trail coloring to something that makes way more sense. I started using OnX almost exclusively last year after giving it another shot, and they have make huge improvements. The videos (Like my PNW series I just released) I filmed last summer shows me using it, and I was in no way sponsored by them at the time. It just serves at proof I was using it a lot before being paid to. Just a month ago they became a channel sponsor and I am very proud of it. Thanks for watching!

[@clikrf8]

I just found you by searching for the comparisons. It has been cold here lately so it’s a good time to watch your videos in my Watch Later file. Gaia has detailed maps even showing some obscure campsites and routes. I like Topo Maps+, also but need to use it more. I have the Trails Illustrated and Benchmark atlases downloaded for the western US as well as on Avenza. I use their free version for tracking, adding waypoints with comments. It is also useful for planning because you can search on their maps using GPS coordinates to mark POIs and other travel related places. Congrats on having OnX as a sponsor. Their off-road description of several trails convinced us not to try. We aren’t as nimble as the very capable SUVs equipped for off road. Thanks again.

[@kurtshetler9719]

Thanks for the details. Just loaded Onx on a rugged tab for my adv bike. I'm from Rifle. Saw your first map and had to double take "wait, is that Glenwood?". lol.

[@IndependenceOverland]

Hey man! Glad I could help a local! Enjoy the fall colors Kurt! They sure are popping off!

[@mcurtis7696]

Amazing. Thanks a ton. Appreciate the insights and the fair, objective analysis

[@IndependenceOverland]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@langzikesch25]

Great video. Gaia is the only one that is remotely good for Australia, I was stoked to see the REDARC sticker on your laptop mate its great gear!

[@IndependenceOverland]

Redarc is the best there is as far as I’m concerned! Can’t wait to start my new build so I have somewhere to put more of their gear! I just wish it was a 70 series like you guys can get. 😩 Thanks for stopping by Lang!

[@HikerDoc]

Great in-depth look at these options. I agree Gaia is more robust (by far). I actually like and use OnX because it is simpler. We are business owners and the best I can usually do is a quick weekend getaway. One day I'd love to have the time for longer excursions that might make the Gaia learning curve worthwhile. For now being based out of Texas, OnX having better nationwide trail coverage is key. One slight point I'll disagree with you on! I agree the top tier pricing on OnX needs to come down, but off-roaders and overlanders would be hard pressed to convince me they have budget issues with hundred bucks. A budget lift is hundreds by itself. A rig build out is easily thousands without going crazy. Its all just priorities. Get all three subscriptions and then get value priced traction boards. 😉

[@IndependenceOverland]

Yeah I heard you on the cost, but it’s significantly more for reasons unknown to me. I just think comparatively it could be more affordable.

[@IndependenceOverland]

UPDATES: 1.)OnX Off Road now has shared folders. You can build a trip and share with others in your group who are using the software. This a major update, and one of my biggest complaints. Another OnX Update: They Now have a route builder, as well as more simplified trail colors that make sense. Green is easy, blue moderate, black hard, red extreme. I am very impressed with the updates. 2.)GAIA reached out, as well as Wade May (see below) to inform me that GAIA does not double up on data. Gaia seems to have more issues with downloading sattelite data in the past few years. I have often needed to delete some as the amount is capped. Please let me know if you have experienced issues with Gaia in the past year since the buyout. I will update this post as time goes on.

[@psybain]

Thanks for the update

[@bluestormcloud791]

A little test you can try. Make a note of your memory used/available. Then download an area onto your device. Make a note of your memory used. Download another area that significantly overlaps the first one. Look to see how much memory you have now used. Compare the values.

[@psybain]

If you do a pt 2 or an update to this video I'd love to see how the overland bound one app compares to these ones

[@IndependenceOverland]

Forgot about that one, I will keep that in mind.

[@EricBuenoo]

Im a diehard traills offroad+Gaia fan, just wish they had more trails mapped out.

[@IndependenceOverland]

My favorite combo for sure!

[@mstott22lax]

Great video. Probably the most in depth ive seen. Im not really a fan of on x either. It is quite buggy on android and the software in general is very stupified cookie cutte. Im only using it because i got a discount on a subscription. Will switch to gaia next year

[@IndependenceOverland]

It has it perks for sure, but I definitely prefer Gaia.

[@gregskannal7235]

Does anyone used OsmAnd? If so what's your opinion?

[@NomadicLiving]

Many of us old-time Giai users are concerned that Giai was recently purchased by a company that by all appearances seems to be more interested in data mining as opposed to the passion the original developers had for their app the best at what it does. A recent update automatically put me in beta mode for 'map packs' which seemed totally unusable and took away all of my map layers. I got the beta switched off, and much to my relief the layers came back; however, I am terrified of updating the app.

[@IndependenceOverland]

This is the second concern I have had in 24 hours about the buyout. I’m going to send an email this week voicing it. I heard they laid off 15% of their workforce last week. It really is unfortunate if their goals now lie elsewhere.

[@NomadicLiving]

@@IndependenceOverland One of the reasons I watched your video; looking for potential replacements.

[@proto7688]

Its getting worse, the full screen ads on mobile that take up entire screen are insane...I'm riding trying to see trail .. BOOM full screen ad. WOW

[@toddhoffmaster6057]

My main grip with Gaia is the time that it takes to download a map. I am going to travel to Georgia and I want to do the Georgia Traverse route 390 miles. I have to tile 3 to 4 sections of Georgia just to get the area and surrounding areas with it. Do either of the other 2 apps download quicker and use less space on the tablet? I have 6 states downloaded on Gaia with 3 layers and I have used up over 90 gigs of space on my tablet. I can't afford to buy a new tablet with more memory just to travel cross country.

[@IndependenceOverland]

For a trip like that, it’s probably going to eat a lot of data with any app. How many layers are you downloading? If it were me, I would probably download each state with something basic, like the overland layer. And then download satellite and more detailed layers to specific areas. Areas near towns can be left off because cell service will pick up somewhere in there. I also delete all of my maps every so often and download the maps for upcoming trips. 6 states worth will add up fast! OnX definitely downloads faster. Not sure if the files are that much smaller or it’s setup to download more efficiently. I have been using OnX a lot this year and it’s grown on me. It’s not ideal for everything though.

[@toddhoffmaster6057]

@@IndependenceOverland when I download, I do 3 layers Natgeo, Gaia topo, and nfs. The time that it takes to download an area that I will be traveling to can take several hours to do. I have 6 states downloaded with 3 of them Utah, Colorado and Arizona that are always needed. The other 3 I am building for my next trip. The original 3 I travel to all the time and so I need the entire state as I hate to drive down the road and the map get blurry because I am in an area that wasn’t downloaded, yet that trail looks pretty interesting to check out.

[@wayne2101]

Same here. Downloading is a pain. Takes forever. Before a trip I start downloading weeks in advance and hope for the best. Otherwise, I love Gaia.

[@christopherthorgesen902]

I realize this was made a while ago, but which app is better for downloading a gps map and creating your own trail and recording it so you can follow the same trail repetitively. Being in remote Alaska, I am not really interested in other people's trails and since I am creating my own trail, I am leaning towards Gaia and I guess I download it on an ipad of some sort? Thanks for your time

[@IndependenceOverland]

Gaia is the best way! It excels at this. In remote areas like Alaska, I think Gaia would be the best all around anyway.

[@christopherthorgesen902]

Awesome! Thanks for your reply. If you ever want to take our new trail in from Denali National Park to our remote lodge, we are looking to do a group ride-in special.@@IndependenceOverland

[@clikrf8]

One thing I dislike about Gaia is that the same layers download on all your devices. I would like private lands/Gaia off-road on my cellphone and a USFS layer over Gaia Overland on my iPad Pro. Several weeks ago, private lands layer was removed due to a glitch but has been returned.

[@IndependenceOverland]

Yeah their layers sometimes disappear for me too and it drives me crazy. And also downloading maps is painfully slow, I usually need to leave my phone on for a good hour or so to download multiple layers. And if I maxed out my satellite squares, I need to delete a bunch to proceed.

[@jwmmitch]

man, I don't have a lot of experience with onx-hunt, but it seems like the Elite version ads the hunting stuff to the offroad app

[@IndependenceOverland]

Yeah which is moderately useful. Private land use can be useful on an offroad app, but really we just need to know if it’s public or not. I will say though, OnX has improved since making this video so I do plan to do an updated version.

[@OhWhatATaco]

No off road trails in the Bay Area? What do you suggest? I got the off road Trails map and there is nothing.

[@IndependenceOverland]

Damn that sucks. Since doing this video Onx has come a long way. I plan to do an updated video soon, because the game has changed.

[@kayakuprising5914]

Re: Gaia GPS: "Much more professional app" Re: Cell Phone Reception: "Oh I don't know how accurate that is." Re: 24 hr Forecast: "Oh I don't believe that." lol

[@IndependenceOverland]

Not sure what your referring to on the cell reception quote. As far as weather, I don’t believe any weather forecast in Colorado.

[@RetrieverTrainingAlone]

I like GAIA better because I can store waypoints in a hierarchy of folders, ONX has only one base level of folders. I like GAIA because I can add my own text to waypoint as labels, ONX does not have that feature. Also GAIA has hundreds of waypoint symbols the user can select while ONX symbology is limited for waypoints. High resolution imagery in GAIA is clearer compared to the same high resolution imagery displayed in ONX.

[@IndependenceOverland]

I’m with you, by far my favorite option!

[@JoeTaco83]

Both OnX and Trails Off Road have that GPS Lag when you switch between apps. But Trails Off road is ok

[@asherdog9248]

I use all of these except Gaia. I find that Gaia lacks the intuitive feel of the other apps and I spend too much time figuring out how to do what I want to and not enough time interecting productively with the map.

[@IndependenceOverland]

It can be intimidating, definitely a learning curve. Once you spend some time with it though, it’s way more powerful and just as easy to use.

[@stevemcgavren7645]

Do you know what Avenza has that these three don't?

[@IndependenceOverland]

I do not

[@IndependenceOverland]

It looks like it has a paywall to use it on more than one device. So using it from an Iphone to an Ipad would be double the price.

[@clikrf8]

You can use Avenza on multiple devices and add maps from your downloaded maps to a new device.

[@justingere1824]

If you were to just get only one, what would it be?

[@IndependenceOverland]

Gaia

[@brandagency760]

As a newbie I will participate in the Carta Rallye in Morocco. So all in the dunes of Morocco. So normal maps with roads , campings etc is not something we need. We will be going for the GPS cups. This means, we get GPX points, we have to import on the evening or morning before we race. From the GPX points we have to make routes for our waypoints. The one who has the fastest route and finds all waypoints is the winner. What system do you recommend?

[@IndependenceOverland]

First off, AWESOME! Gaia has satellite/Topo planet wide but you wouldn’t get much value out of it for that region. I would call Garmin and see if their Overlander GPS unit would be the hot ticket. They may even be willing to loan you one for the race. Also HEMA maps may do some work there. If you have no choice, Gaia will do the trick cost efficiently I imagine. You can still all the waypoints, route tracking, study topography to see the quickest way into some of the coordinates you will be working with. You just wouldn’t have a vast selection of map layers, which is a huge perk of the app for North America use.

[@AngryOscar]

are there any decent FREE or one time fee non subscription trail map apps?

[@IndependenceOverland]

The Garmin Overlander. But the cost is like 7 years worth of yearly subscriptions. Im not sure you would want that to be honest, even though it would be cheaper. These map apps update constantly with what’s closed, what’s open, what’s seasonally open, and what is closed for natural regrowth. So if you do find one that is a pay once type, be mindful that you might plan a trip and end up at a parked gate somewhere.

[@micahnuckols5046]

Seems like it would be hard to tell overland from atv and singletrack for dirtbikers adventure riders.

[@IndependenceOverland]

This is an old video, since this published OnX has made a TON of improvements. Pretty much every complaint I had has been corrected. It’s easier to share, trail colors have changed to green/blue/black/red so it’s easy to identify. And you can choose to not see dirt bike trails and only full width trails. I started using OnX almost exclusively for the last half of 2023 because they really made some huge strides.

[@micahnuckols5046]

@@IndependenceOverland that's good to hear. From what I can see on KZbin, OnX's trail colors make them visible when zoomed out, so it's easy to see if an area has a nice trail system worth visiting. I was looking into Gaia, but, at least in the free version, the trials aren't highlighted in any way. I got used to that with an app for MTB'ing called trail forks. I liked that feature to plan my next adventure. I am getting into dirt biking, so I am looking for trail systems with a lot of single track.

[@papatravels61]

im staying with on x

[@IndependenceOverland]

I can understand how it fits some people’s style a bit better.

[@FreedomIsntFree2023]

The other thing that bugs me about OnX offroad, is we used to be able to "straight line" navigate to a waypoint. Now the app wants to "Open Google or Apple Maps"....what the heck?? Google and Apple maps won't work where we go..... and $99 for the Elite is a joke, considering property and landowner info used to be included in the premium! We get almost the same benefits from the free Polaris Ride Command app... Things are going backwards with this company in my opinion....

[@baileyaversano7551]

I cant find the Trails Off-Road app with apple. Does anyone else have this problem?

[@IndependenceOverland]

I just double checked mine, it showed up just fine. Are you in the US?

[@baileyaversano7551]

Yes. And I think I may have found it… it just shows up as Offroad in my Apple store but when you click to open the app it says trails off-road

[@michaelgalvidis1805]

I tried Gaia gps app a year ago and it was hardly usable, crashing and freezing. I am researching the market of navigation software again now and the most recent version of the Gaia app is now even worse than before. Even the trail guidance itself is no longer working leaving no sense in this app at all for me. It is extremely pity because functionality wise Gaia would be the best app, if t worked.

[@IndependenceOverland]

Have you reached out to their customer support? I’ve never heard of crashing issues from Gaia users. I’m curious if there is something with your phone settings that can be adjusted to correct the issue.

[@michaelgalvidis1805]

@@IndependenceOverland Yes, I have. Hopefully they will fix the issue (or advise how to fix it on my end).

[@michaelsun9155]

In OnX disadvantages, you make a big deal about a GPS lag after you switch to another app and switch back to OnX. You go on-and-on about this issue, but say that it only happens when switching apps. You say that “most people ARE switching apps” - that’s not true. If I’m following a trail, I’m not going to be switching to Spotify, Pod casts, or a drone app. So for most people it will NOT be a big deal. Please consider that YOUR method of switching to other apps and then back to OnX is not typical.

[@IndependenceOverland]

I just assume other people use Spotify I guess. I will be doing an updated video on all this soon. OnX has come a LONG way since I made this, and I am starting to use it more and more.

[@Sea1fly]

Con cost 100$ per year no thanks!!!