Is there an "ultimate" tablet for Gaia/GPS?

[Oscar Mike Gulf Yankee]

This morning someone said they would send me a route from GAIA, I asked them where Gaia was, I Know Nothing, Nothing At All!

With that out of the way, I'm not really following all this, I think I have an iPad computer, I'm interested in getting a navigation system.

I have a double din, Alpine INE-Z928 HD, bought it a few years back and I'd like to put it in my 99 F-150. It won't fit but I'll need to do something to the dash to make it fit.
So, please, will my Alpine work with a nav mapping/GPS system, this GAIA type.

 

[alia176]

Welcome to the madness! You may want to go to Alpine's website to see if they support Android Auto or Apple Carplay to see GAIA maps on your head unit.

 

[Metcalf]

I've moved onto using a tablet full time for Nav with Gaia now. I actually had a very good experience running it on my phone for the last few years, but found myself not using my phone for other things like getting some pictures and videos. It just sat in the mount and I didn't want to be pulling it and changing apps and all that. The phone was also pretty small and my eyes aren't as good as they once where.

I ended up finding a pretty generic 8" Android tablet on Amazon to test the idea. It was a middle range unit that had a built in GPS antenna ( this seems to be more common on tablets that will take a SIM card for data if you are looking ). The tablet also has wifi, micro SD card slot, an all the other normal stuff. The only thing if didn't have that I wanted to experiment with was wireless charging. No issues with heat. The screen could be brighter, but honestly not a huge issue for this application unless the run is shining right on it.

I've been using these aluminum 'mountain bike' style phone and tablet holders for a bit. I had to change to a new style to accommodate the tablet ( AND fit my phone if I wanted ), but this one seems to hold the device very secure and I have yet to have anything fall out.

The last trick is using a magnetic charging cable conversion. This makes for MUCH less wear and tear on the device as the power cord can't get tweaked. This makes it easy to pull the tablet out in like 3 seconds if needed to scout a line or direction with the 'nav' tablet. I can also steal power and charge my phone without having to worry about if the cable is the same end as all my electronics have the same magnetic cable adapter system.

 

[yfarm]

Manufacturer of the above mount, please?

 

[Metcalf]

Manufacturer of the above mount, please?

 

[Herbie]

What's everybody's favorite Android Tablet here in mid-2022?

We're currently using the Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (2019 version) and while it is generally fine, I AM finding it gets a bit sluggish in Gaia or Backcountry Navigator XE when the maps are dense or I'm trying to move around a lot on the maps. Was hoping there's something in that small (~8") range with a little more pep.

 

[4X4N]

I'm using the Samsung Tab A 32g 2020 version. I bought off eBay 2 years ago for $170. It's worked perfectly, I use it for Gaia all the time and have zero problems. I also enjoy using it for waze or Google maps, or even downloaded Netflix shows. It's been fun for small games even, I play Slay the Spire on it and have sunk tons of hours into it. It's been amazing and I couldn't ask for more given the low cost of the device. I have really enjoyed it, way more than I thought I ever would.