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Need a GPS?


appleblossom

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appleblossom

We are driving from Vic Falls up to Mana Pools. On the return route we may visit Gonarezhou, Hwange or Matusadona. If Zim kicks off, we may also have to venture into Zambia.

Question is - is a GPS recommended? We don't have one (map users), and are wondering if the outlay is necessary.

Can I ask how one gets around Mana Pools? Is there a map, signposts, etc?

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We bought a GPS before our self drive in Namibia last year, not really thinking we would need it. It turned out to be very useful, though. I will definitely not go without one again, at least not anywhere covered by Tracks4Africa maps. The sell maps for Garmin GPS units, and they covered pretty much every road, track and trail we traveled, including those not on our map (MapStudio).

 

So, while I wouldn't say a GPS is necessary, we found the much better precision alone (over maps) worth the investment. I would think you could get away with £50 for a small Garmin and £15 for a Zim T4A map.

 

Nothing beats a good old map for planning, though.

 

(And I wouldn't go driving without a map as well, of course.)

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I agree with savoche. As a non-driver I get to do a lot of navigating for people and the method I like best is a GPS with maps and tracks loaded and a paper map. The paper map gives a global picture of the land whilst the GPS tells you where you are on that map. Either alone will be usable but the combination is much better and less error prone.

 

It might be possible to use the GPS built into a smartphone plugged in to the car charger socket but not if you want to use the Tracks4Africa maps.

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Exactly as JohnR says, the combination gives the best of both worlds.

 

I see Tracks4Africa has maps available for Android devices, but then you have to buy the whole map collection, it seems - R750. The Garmin map for Zim&Zam is R149.

Edited by savoche
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appleblossom

Thank you, my husband has bought the Garmin GPS 62st. I hope it does all we need it too! Will be taking our paper map with anyway :)

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I just replaced my Oregon 300 by a GPSmap 62st. The interface is a little different from the Oregon (I haven't figured out how to bring up the satellites page yet) but the screen is good and we used the earlier GPSmap 60 to map the eastern Caprivi when we were up there. The button layout beats the touch screens and the eTrex style interface, so it's a good choice.

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appleblossom

That's a relief. Will see how we fare in a few weeks time!

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  • 2 months later...
SelfDriveAfrica

A GPS is not 100% necessary but definitely a nice to have. We have travelled around most of southern africa without GPS but now that we have one we could not imagine doing it without one. Most of the 4x4 hire companies including ours will hire a GPS preloaded with T4A.

 

You can also get some very good maps of areas but once you have spent the outlay on a number of different maps it is actually cheaper to have bought a basic GPS

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Just to say that we have returned from our trip to Zimbabwe. We used the GPS a great deal, even in the National Parks to pinpoint areas of interest! So pleased we took one with us.

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