{"id":4220,"date":"2019-11-15T15:03:38","date_gmt":"2019-11-15T22:03:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mattfife.com\/?p=4220"},"modified":"2019-11-15T15:03:38","modified_gmt":"2019-11-15T22:03:38","slug":"garmin-fenix-5x-and-custom-maps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/?p=4220","title":{"rendered":"Garmin Fenix 5x and custom maps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A good GPS can save your life out in the wilderness. I always carry one with me when heading out climbing or hiking. But GPS units are somewhat notorious for being expensive, heavy, burn through batteries, and often have clunky UI’s and features. Some units charge you money for map updates. Things are getting slowly better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I currently own a handheld Garmin Oregon<\/a>, but had a friend who has the Fenix 5x<\/a> watch. I was amazed how well the interface worked and the quality of the GPS. The Fenix 6 was just announced, and older units went on sale. I recently saw the Fenix 5X on sale for $299 during an early Black Friday sale and couldn’t pass the opportunity up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next question is – how are the maps for hiking. The default watch now comes with Garmin’s excellent maps and are upgraded regularly for free. My well-healed hiking friend says he has yet to find a trail in the Pacific Northwest that’s not in the default maps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was even more happy to learn that the Fenix 5X allows you to upgrade your maps yourself – including open map packs and systems. I tried out the maps on GMap<\/a> – which include more details and topo features than the default maps. Using the free Garmin BaseCamp software package, you can copy the free maps from GMap into the tool’s list of maps, then load those maps onto your watch. I found the process to be really smooth and worked without much fuss. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow the directions\/links on the Hiking Guy’s website for instructions on how to upload maps too<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Links:<\/p>\n\n\n\n