I've eyed the Tread for a while and I think I am about to pull the trigger. Just can't decide on 8" vs. 10" model. I currently use a combination of my 16" Tesla style head unit plus my iPhone running a variety of nav apps but mostly OnX and plain old Google maps/nav. The reason I am leaning toward Garmin type device is to get a more robust and reliable nav solution. What I have works, especially where I have cell coverage but when I really need Nav, I generally don't have cell coverage. Yes, I plan my trips and download maps so that I have them off line, but I also don't always follow the plan. Downloading maps mostly works but is a PITA and with OnX, time consuming. Downloading files to the Tesla unit wifi is painfully slow. My Tesla HU and I have a love/hate relationship. I love its concept but hate its buggyness. Its just not reliable enough plus I ask the iphone and HU to do a lot of other things. Nav is important enough to me to justify a dedicate device. Here is my current set up:
The pic shows Gaia on the phone and OnX on the HU. Perfect in concept but only ~66% in reality as a third of the time I'm dealing with some issue. Most of the time I can resolve whatever the issue is but it sucks the fun out of the moment and the whole point of all of this (the big THIS) are the moments. But I digress.
What I want is a dedicated Nav that is always loaded with detailed maps and satellite overlays of the whole US and doesn't care if I have internet or not. I believe the Tread will do this. No more, damn, I didn't download the map or get the detail/overlay I wanted.
One thing I am curious about is how easy it is to build off road routes on the fly or even pre trip at home and then use these routes in "turn by turn" mode. I understand that it will auto route me from where I am to where I want to go, but generally, I want to decide the path or rout. What I currently like to do is pre build my planned routes in OnX, load my offline maps on both the Tesla HU and my phone, then use the phone in "turn by turn" mode but have the HU set to show a birds eye view of the whole route. This way the phone tells me left ot right and at a glance I can see where I'm at in the world without pushing buttons or swiping screens. If I'm going to replace the phone with the Tread, I'll want the routes to be the same. Essentially, I want it to do what I currently do in OnX. Has anyone build three day backcountry routes on the Tread? And I'm hoping route building is easy on the Tread.
Another thing I'd like confirmation on is how the Tread gets powered. I believe that it gets powered from its "dock" and the "dock" gets powered from a cigarette lighter plug. I would hardwire the doc which might just mean I cut the cigarette plug off and splice to a power circuit. I believe it has a USB connection but that is to connect it to a PC, not power or charge the unit. It seems weird to me that a device like this isn't powered and charged with a USB-C. Especially given that it is intended to be able to operate when not on the doc. Pulling it out of the truck and sitting around the campfire with your buddies planning the next day is an awesome use case. So is using it in the house while I plan/prep for my next adventure is awesome too but I think there is no way to charge it if it's not on the doc in the truck. Is that true?
Also, on a side note, as the Garmin is an Android device, theoretically it will also run any app available for Android so I could run OnX on it if I wanted to and have the built in Garmin maps always there for backup or additional info. This requires hacking the unit a bit and is not supported by Garmin and probably voids warranty. I don't think I'd really do that as it may risk reliability which is my primary driver but the idea is intriguing.
www.garmin.com
