Garmin 64s
 

Hi Guys

I am looking at the Garmin 64s for a trip from the UK to Cape Town next year. I've seen on here that one round the world traveller has recommend it and was wondering if anyone else had used one. The price is good and I don't need lots of features just something that gets me from A to B. I also looked at using a phone but I think that a separate satnav is best, what do you guys think?

Thanks

I've used a 64s for about 50,000km and it's predecessor the Garmin 62 in a Ram mount for about the same distance. It's been used for navigating across most continents including a similar journey to the one you plan. I've found them fine, very reliable and virtually built proof.

The pros:
1. Reasonably small and compact, meaning it's easy to pull off and put in your pocket when off the bike / take hiking etc.
2. Will take OSM maps easily, meaning you don't need to buy any maps.


The cons:
1. Small size of screen takes a bit of getting used to, but I find it fine for navigating with.
2. Garmin's software - it is non intuitive and takes awhile to learn how to use the functions/ set up the unit to suit you.
3. The way the power cable plugs into the back causes them to fail frequently. Their internal wires start to break after awhile and cause intermittent loss of power messages. The solution is to take some spare power cables with you - they are cheap. Also recently I've found an elastic band looped around the cable and hooked over the unit antenna seems to solve the problem by damping out the vibration that I think causes the problem.

Hope this helps

Sent from my Moto G (5S) Plus using Tapatalk

Hi Martin

Thank you for your reply it helps a lot. I like the elastic band fix, elastic bands cable ties and gaffa tape can fix most things eh? :thumbup1:

I have one myself and have been pretty pleased with it. It was recommended to me by another forum member. It does take a little getting used to, especially when it comes to mapping etc. But once you are used to it, it's a really good tool, and extremely bullet proof. I recently had a crash and the Garmin survived with use a little crack on the screen. More than can be said for many other things I was carrying!

You can use Open street map on it. I download my maps for free from here, which come garmin ready:

Free worldwide Garmin maps from OpenStreetMap

You simply copy them over to the root of the SD card or internal memory when you need them. I only ever load one map per country, as having too many maps on there seems to slow things down. You can also use custom maps. I have made custom maps by scanning paper maps / photographing / screen capture and georeferencing the images and then uploading them to the Garmin.

As for the screen size, it is very small, but that does not bother me. I do all my planning from a large paper atlas, or a computer with a large monitor. I would just get too frustrated planning the full trip on a tiny screen. Once I plan it that way, I then upload the route to the Garmin using basecamp, or I write down key points along my route and simply plug these into the garmin as I go.

Hope this helps

Get Tracks4Africa (T4A) map software, they cover the entire Africa and have a lot of detailled and small roads you wouldn't find on other maps.