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Trail Tech Voyager Pro GPS questions

R
Nov 16, 2016
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I am thinking about buying 6 of the Trail Tech Voyager Pro GPS systems for our family. I like the idea of the buddy tracking feature.
I'm hoping to find a dealer who will give a multiple order price break.

The sleds are 2013 and 2014 XM 800 E-tech, 2015 SP 800 E-tech, 2015 SP 600 E-tech, 2017 800 E-tech and a 2018 850 E-tech.
I don't think that we have a need for the engine monitoring feature.

I'm asking for opinions and real-life experience comments on this model.
If you are an owner of the Trail Tech Voyager Pro, what are your thoughts?


Thanks in advance,

Rick E.
 

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FriscoProx

Well-known member
Premium Member
Nov 29, 2007
753
189
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I searched for a while before I bought mine. I called and asked TT but they wouldn't do a group buy discount. I found some on eBay for about 10% off but ended up going with RMATV (bought the KTM kit for my dirtbike but also using on sled), which was MSRP minus using the ATV rewards or about 5%. Buying 6 may bump your discount up a decent bit too.
 
R
Nov 16, 2016
350
164
43
75
I searched for a while before I bought mine. I called and asked TT but they wouldn't do a group buy discount. I found some on eBay for about 10% off but ended up going with RMATV (bought the KTM kit for my dirtbike but also using on sled), which was MSRP minus using the ATV rewards or about 5%. Buying 6 may bump your discount up a decent bit too.

Are you saying that you DO have the Trail Tech Voyager Pro?
If so, what do you think of it? Is it worth the expense?

Rick E.
 

FriscoProx

Well-known member
Premium Member
Nov 29, 2007
753
189
43
Yes. Had it for a couple rides on my dirt bike but not super familiar with it yet so my review will be some what limited. The best thing about it is you have to manually turn it on and off. It runs on DC power while the machine is running and auto switches to a 45 minute internal battery when you shut the bike\sled off so you can review tracks or whatever when not running. And no more having to wait for GPS to relocate (Polaris PIDD).

On my MX bike its great having all the gauges, on the sled I haven't used it yet but only plan on running GPS and buddy tracking.

The GPS base maps are good and show a lot of information for trails and contours, but they are not as vibrant and easy to see as the display pic on the box or their literature. The tracks are easy to read which is going to be big plus for sleds.

Otherwise seems like a well built unit.
 
R
Nov 16, 2016
350
164
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Thank you! I was hoping to hear good things about these units.

If anyone else has experience with these, please keep the comments coming!

Rick E.
 
K
Dec 9, 2015
31
5
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Mill City, OR
I own and have used the Voyager (previous gen of Voyager Pro), Garmin Montana, Garmin Monterra and now have a Voyager Pro.

The Voyager was useful as a display and for keeping track of speed, temps and breadcrumb tracks. I found I had to work a bit harder to manage it for following tracks, mainly because it is only a grayscale display. It was useful for quick installs of GPX tracks for some longer dual sport rides though.

The Montana is a great device and has a good display, but, at least for the model I had, it was difficult to zoom and manage the display with riding gloves on. It also was difficult to manage the import and sharing of the tracks since it tended to like Basecamp installs vs. just dropping files into folders on the MicroSD card. The card was also inconveniently located under the battery. Probably a great idea of waterproofness, but a pain for accessing.

The Monterra is the Android version of the Montana that I believe has been discontinued. It can be a little buggy at times, but a quick restart resolves any issues I have had. I much prefer the Monterra over the Montana due to the Android OS, ability to run other GPS apps (Kurviger for instance), share track and routes and updates with WiFi and Bluetooth, email, browse and even use file managers to install, edit and move contents on the SD card. I particularly liked and used the ability to upload custom map overlays on both the Montana and the Monterra. They were super useful for riding and following trails in unfamiliar areas and for staying out of off limits areas when snow biking and boundary markers are sparse or non-existent. By installing a trail map overlay, the GPS would overlay my location icon right on the local trail map. You can also install just about any map type you want (Street, OSM, Topo, etc.). The display responds well to gloved fingers for pinching and zooming and, IMO, overall just works much better than the Montana for a guy who is already used to an Android phone. With Bluetooth, it also works great for streaming music and GPS route notifications to your Sena and Cardo headsets.

This progress is leading to the Voyager Pro...

The Voyager Pro is every bit as good as the Monterra in most areas, exceeds it in others, and still lacks in a couple of areas that area supposed to be addressed in future updates.

In no particular order...

1) The Voyager Pro has the best display of any option I have tried including cell phones. It is the most responsive and effective of any display in terms of using it with gloves and all kinds of whether conditions from snow and ice to 115 degree days. It does suffer, just like the Monterra, from issues sometimes where water droplets end up being perceived as touch inputs and messing with the display. A quick swipe of the screen usually resolves the issue.

2) The integrated display and configurable alerts for water temperature and other bike aspects is really nice. For snow biking, coolant temps are pretty critical and this display works better than anything else I have used. The fact that it seamlessly integrates into one display makes for a really clean cockpit.

3) The built in topo map is really solid and the route tracking and display is very visible. You can specify colors on the tracks to help identify A, B, and C level routes, 2-track and single track, etc. But that all has to be done a little painstakingly ahead of time. Once the library of everyone's efforts is a little more complete, it will be less of an issue, but it takes a lot more work to do than loading a custom image overlay on top of the GPS (Montana and Monterra). Also, it is not a routable display meaning that you can display a planned route (what I usually do for dual sport and long distance dirt rides), but it does not provide real time routing, map planning and rerouting like a typical travel GPS will. This is supposed to be addressed in future versions, but for now will be a limiting factor to me selling the Monterra for street and travel trips where that feature can be helpful.

4) It has a very capable Bluetooth connection strategy that supports 2 connections each for riders and passengers including the ability to let you share each others music and, supposedly, bridges Bluetooth connection challenges between off brand helmet comms. Having the music stored locally or the ability to stream is a nice feature too, but the onboard system does not have a shuffle option yet. Not a big deal, but you find yourself already humming the next tune in the lull between songs after a while.

5) The buttons on the unit are really easy to access with gloves on the menu displays are pretty intuitive as well. The best of all of the other devices listed above.

6) The buddy tracking feature is something you look forward to when purchasing it, spend a lot of time thinking about before using it, and then forget about it while using it since it seamlessly runs in the background... UNTIL you start wondering, "what happened to my buddy?" Then you glance at the screen and either see their icon following along behind or a red dot with an X showing that you lost their connection. Turning around and running back on your track will take you back to the last connected location and it usually restores the link on the way back showing you were they went awry. 1/2 to 2 miles ranges work great for everything from dirt to street and even snow. It helps avoid track congestion, following in the dust and adds peace of mind when leading less experienced riders. It is a great supplement to 2-way comms in the winter as well.

7) The docking station is secure and simple to install. They make a nice unit for mounting right between the triple clamps making the display accessible and easy to read.

8) They unit has a limited battery for use when not connected. If you want to do a lot of playing with your unit and doing route and track planning at the desktop, you will want to buy an additional mounting unit and their external power supply. The Monterra and Montana had replaceable liPo batteries and even allowed for using AA. Not to mention they have USB charging ports. The only option for charging the Voyager Pro is through the docking connection, so it presumes you will be doing most of that work on the bike.

9) The MicroSD card is readily accessible from the side of the unit from a simple rubber cover. Adding tracks and routes is pretty easy that way, especially if you have a chip reader for your Android phone. It would be nice if the Pro allowed you to share tracks and such to it by Bluetooth.

I have been happy with the purchase so far and plan to use it for all my riding except for street. Hopefully they will come up with an update that offers GPS routable riding and then I can make it my dedicated unit.

As for phone, I love my Android, but display visibility including constant on kills the batteries, generates a lot of heat, runs into limits in heat an sunlight where it gets too hot to charge, can be challenged if the charge port gets even a little moisture, doesn't always work so well with dirt and street riding gloves, requires a pretty aggressive holder to make it even remotely as secure as a dedicated GPS, etc.
 
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