Gaia vs Onx

I just purchased. The peo level 5 year Gaia. Now I see onx advertised here. Anyone do a comparison? On. Looks. Good but is expensive at $100 a year. Vs 169 for 5 years with Gaia?
 

GregSplett

Adventurer
I run OnX at the thirty dollars a year level. I went with OnX for one reason. Their maps for my state were spot on where Gia was not. Gia was way off in some examples. Gia is not alone in struggling with my state particularly the DNR lands. I am a little different in that I am not an Overlander but do my exploring at a more micro level. OnX original purpose is to identify property lines both public lands and private to inform hunters where they were hunting. They have compiled everybody's property and public information into their maps which I am sure is the reason for the cost difference. I can tell you who owns every piece of property in Washington state and contact info . I hope this helps.

Edit: After taking a second look at gaias mapping of the DNR lands here they have upgraded I am guessing, and are spot on.
 
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1Louder

Explorer
I run OnX at the thirty dollars a year level. I went with OnX for one reason. Their maps for my state were spot on where Gia was not. Gia was way off in some examples. Gia is not alone in struggling with my state particularly the DNR lands. I am a little different in that I am not an Overlander but do my exploring at a more micro level. OnX original purpose is to identify property lines both public lands and private to inform hunters where they were hunting. They have compiled everybody's property and public information into their maps which I am sure is the reason for the cost difference. I can tell you who owns every piece of property in Washington state and contact info . I hope this helps.

Post up a readable screenshot of an area. PM me the coordinates if you like. I would love to compare the difference between OnX and Gaia.
 

1Louder

Explorer
I just purchased. The peo level 5 year Gaia. Now I see onx advertised here. Anyone do a comparison? On. Looks. Good but is expensive at $100 a year. Vs 169 for 5 years with Gaia?

The OnX OffRoad app is horrible in its current form. IMHO too many issues to list but a few are the record function was not working properly in iOS. No way to import GPX tracks in the app. I think you can do it via the online dashboard. That wasn't working for me either regardless of browser I used. Harder to download large map areas in OnX as compared to Gaia. OnX isn't anywhere close in its map offerings either.

One day they may get there and offer a more competitive product. I think that is why they keep extending the free trial for the app.
 

Wrathchild

Active member
Haven’t used the OnX off-road maps. But have been using OnX hunt and my inreach maps for a few years. The combo works well for me.
 

GregSplett

Adventurer
I just poked my nose into Gaia online and have to correct my two prior posts. It has been a couple maybe three years since I did my comparison and made my decision and since then they have updated the maps and I would use them all day long and may give them a try.. So unless having private property info is important I would say no the extra cost is not worth it. I am going to delete my two prior posts sorry guys.
 

tlivingston

New member
The OnX OffRoad app is horrible in its current form. IMHO too many issues to list but a few are the record function was not working properly in iOS. No way to import GPX tracks in the app. I think you can do it via the online dashboard. That wasn't working for me either regardless of browser I used. Harder to download large map areas in OnX as compared to Gaia. OnX isn't anywhere close in its map offerings either.

One day they may get there and offer a more competitive product. I think that is why they keep extending the free trial for the app.

Hey 1Louder,
1st off, thanks for giving onX Offroad a try. I'm sorry to hear that you've had trouble with the app so far. Maybe I can help? Thank you for your feedback.

Yes, you are correct, you can upload GPX and KML files via our web map. Here is a short how-to video:


Here are other onX Offroad how-to videos. I hope this can help.

Please let me know if you have any other issues, we're here and happy to help. You can also reach us here in Montana! (406) 545-2055
 

tlivingston

New member
I just purchased. The peo level 5 year Gaia. Now I see onx advertised here. Anyone do a comparison? On. Looks. Good but is expensive at $100 a year. Vs 169 for 5 years with Gaia?

Hi! Here's a bit more info (I work for onX :)) onX Offroad is only $29.99 a year for all 50 states. We're also releasing Baja Mexico and Canada soon!

Free 7 day trial.
No credit card.
No strings attached.
Download the onX Offroad App for free.
After your 7-day free trial, subscribe for $29.99/year.


Cheers!
 

Rando

Explorer
I have been using Gaia but recently tried OnX backcountry and OnX off road, and there for my use there is really no comparison, Gaia wins hands down. Gaia has far more map resources, which is the primary purpose for using these apps. The ability to layer the maps in Gaia is also key - for instance layering the MVUM (which has no terrain info) over a topo map (with terrain) gives you the best of both worlds. There are some other minor advantages to Gaia - such as the ability to import/export points and tracks within the app.

The UI for Gaia also seems to be far more refined, but some of that may be my familiarity with it.
 
I use Gaia also really like it. But I am a map freak by nature also a geologist so I love working with maps. On my Gaia base map I used way points to mark the San Andreas. Fault trace can you. Say geology nerd. But I ramble.
I thought that the big advantage to Onx was the identification of ownership of land. Public like national forests and blm and privately owned land One area i would love to explore vid the Tejon Ranch along side the grapevine on I 5
 

Rando

Explorer
Gaia also has a public lands map layer. The nice thing is that you can layer this with whatever map you are using for navigation.
 

TroySmith80

Adventurer
Gaia even has a land ownership layer (premium maybe) that names the owner of the land. It's not perfect and i'd guess the onx one may be better since it sounds like that is one of the primary functions of onx.

Gaia is far from perfect and pretty frustrating in some ways, which keeps leading me to look for others thinking there will be something else that's better. I keep coming back to Gaia though.

To be fair, i've never been really all that happy with any mapping software ever and i think it may come down to the reality being that mapping software may be something that is very challenging to create for a variety of reasons. I imagine the market isn't all that large and there are very diverse customer types and usage requirements. So perhaps there just isn't the money to pay for the development of a really sophisticated and mature piece of software that could have all the features that all the people want. And if there was one, it would probably be too difficult to learn, lol. Or maybe there is great software out there and it's very expensive and I won't pay for it, ha!
 
Years ago you could a lowrance
Preloaded with topo. I had the entire
Western us at my fingertips. They were very tough some were used in Baja race cars I had the Baja version in my old. H-3. 5 inch screen
And a10” screen hard mounted in the dash of a 2007 Chevy pickup. That truck had the potential to be great but I got talked into going with a lift that replaced the torsion bars with coil springs it was the most awful thing ever. But I digress I loved those gps units great topo back when it was just about having topo we don’t need no stinkin’ way points. ? I don’t remember wether you could plot routes or not.
 

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