Old school GPS worth hanging on to?

[headednorth]

I have a Magellan RM 5230T-LM portable GPS unit that I havent used in prob a good 12 years or so. I stumbled across it while de-cluttering the house and am wondering if its worth stashing away with the rest of the preps. Reason being it would be a way to navigate without being tracked? (at least Im assuming there isnt a way to track via those older units like a driving ap on a smartphone, or really just the smart phone itself)

Stash away or toss?

 

[June4th]

GPS function is receiving only, at least the old school units, such as yours, do. Phone based navigation app talk to servers because of crowd-sourced real time traffic and routing. Car-based GPS should have downlink only unless your car has data uplink such as OnStar etc.

 

[headednorth]

Are they still functional (aside from the maps being out of date) or are they obsolete? I havent looked at it in years and Im assuming 99.9% of people are using driving apps.

 

[grey]

I have a Magellan RM 5230T-LM portable GPS unit that I havent used in prob a good 12 years or so. I stumbled across it while de-cluttering the house and am wondering if its worth stashing away with the rest of the preps. Reason being it would be a way to navigate without being tracked? (at least Im assuming there isnt a way to track via those older units like a driving ap on a smartphone, or really just the smart phone itself)

Stash away or toss?

I keep an old garmin and use it for no cell service areas up north. Works great when the phone apps don't. I also keep map books under the seat

 

[headednorth]

I keep an old garmin and use it for no cell service areas up north. Works great when the phone apps don't. I also keep map books under the seat

I do still have a map book wedged between the seat and the console as well. Ok Ill tuck it away. Hardly taking up any room anyway.

 

[Cap'n Mike]

I’d keep it.
Probably remove the batteries or swap them for Energizer Lithium Ions.
If it just plugs in you obviously don’t have to worry about batteries

 

[413guy]

I had this same predicament last year when decluttering as well. I recycled them as I was trying to remove unnecessary old batteries from the house after finding a couple swollen ones. I tried to update the two units I had, both tomtoms, but they were no longer supported. I recycled them when the town did a free thing at the dump. I am a AAA member and just went and got free paper maps for all the New England states, lightweight and they sit in the trunk out of the way by the spare tire with a bunch of other light preps. If I plan on traveling further I will grab a map for there too.

 

[ThePreBanMan]

I would junk it myself... I junked my old Tom Tom years ago and never looked back.

 

[walter62]

my old Nuvi's battery died.

Besides, first thing they'll do is jam GPS

 

[HorizontalHunter]

my old Nuvi's battery died.

Besides, first thing they'll do is jam GPS

They are easily replaceable and available. I did my 205 way back when. Short money when I had lifetime updates tied to the unit.

 

[walter62]

I looked into it but reality is that it's so much more useful to use my iPhone

 

[Varmint]

I keep an old garmin and use it for no cell service areas up north. Works great when the phone apps don't. I also keep map books under the seat

Same here, when I was doing field service I carried a Garmin in the car for when Waze or my phone does’nt work.

 

[TG Pioneer]

I’ve still got mine. I’ll try it again today. There’s an old pharmacy tote in back filled with Delorme Atlases, a couple of protractors, Cammenga lensatic compass, and lead pencils.

When the Chicoms shoot down the navigation satellites, you’re all welcome to follow me.

 

[thesyguy]

my old Nuvi's battery died.

Besides, first thing they'll do is jam GPS

 

[Reptile]

Keep in mind that you can still use an old GPS unit for the map even if there is no GPS signal.

YOU wont appear on the map but you can scroll around the map and zoom.

That reminds me...

I have a Nuvi that I need to update. It's been 3 years and I think it will still update.

 

[OMM 0000]

I have 2 of the old hand held hiking units with downloaded topos. Nice little units for the woods. Driving, not so much. Put some energizer lithiums taped outside of them and put em in a faraday bag for a worst case scenario; or maybe carry as a backup when hunting in the woods. If you are a boater, my buddy had downloded (like 10 yrs ago) marine maps to his. Unless you are an apartment dweller and cant handle the space its pretty high on the potentially useful list IMO. An old hoodie takes up more space.

 

[Reptile]

Keep in mind that you can still use an old GPS unit for the map even if there is no GPS signal.

YOU wont appear on the map but you can scroll around the map and zoom.

That reminds me...

I have a Nuvi that I need to update. It's been 3 years and I think it will still update.

Tried to update my Nuvi.

Didn't work.

Reviewed tech help but it's just too old.

I was considering a paper atlas but it was $70 on Amazon.

For $30 more I got this:

Garmin Drive™ 53 | Car GPS

Garmin Drive 53 is a car GPS with a high-resolution 5” touchscreen display, speed change alerts and a national parks directory.

www.garmin.com

Now I'll have updated maps for a few more years.

If cellular and GPS goes down I can at least use this GPS for a map even if it wont receive signal.

 

[Parker Schreiber]

I keep an old garmin and use it for no cell service areas up north. Works great when the phone apps don't. I also keep map books under the seat

Google maps allows you to download an area ahead of time for just that situation.

I last took my Garmin on a 2017 trip to Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming for the eclipse. I also went to AAA and got paper maps. I ended up using neither, even though we are on roads where the population per square mile was us.

 

[Reptile]

Google maps allows you to download an area ahead of time for just that situation.

I last took my Garmin on a 2017 trip to Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming for the eclipse. I also went to AAA and got paper maps. I ended up using neither, even though we are on roads where the population per square mile was us.

That's a great idea!!!

I'm going to download some maps on my iPhone.

But, hey, redundancy can't hurt.

Had a tough time today after getting my new Garmin GPS.

Took multiple attempts to get the download to work.

I have an old iPhone, too. I'm going to put some maps on it and keep in under my spare tire.

 

[Parker Schreiber]

Had a tough time today after getting my new Garmin GPS.

Thanks to this thread, I dug out my Garmin Nuvi 1490 and updated the maps. After all, just because I haven't needed it for 7+ years doesn't mean I won't need it tomorrow, right? The battery still won't hold a charge worth a damn, though.

 

[Reptile]

Thanks to this thread, I dug out my Garmin Nuvi 1490 and updated the maps. After all, just because I haven't needed it for 7+ years doesn't mean I won't need it tomorrow, right? The battery still won't hold a charge worth a damn, though.

Get yourself an iPad series 10 for $270.

Put google maps on there and download the ones you want to keep on the device.

I just put 2 GB of maps on my iPhone and will put them on my spare phone, too.

Going to AAA soon, also.

 

[Parker Schreiber]

Get yourself an iPad series 10 for $270.

While I have an iPad that I almost never use, I’ve yet to run into a situation where the iPhone didn’t suffice.