Garmin Tread 5.5" Powersport GPS Navigator with Group Ride Radio

2024-01-17T19:00:00

Favorite Christmas present. works great on my KTM 690 adventure bike & Land Cruiser

War m.

Originally posted at

2024-01-13T19:00:00

I got it a few days and I have not used it for trail riding here in Michigan and that is the primary reason I bought it. It seems to be overwhelming. Hoping when I get to use it later it well be a fantasist and useful tool while on the trails.

Bo B.

Originally posted at

2024-01-03T19:00:00

Need to add route names. Example would be Fourtuna Mine or Betty Lee Mine. Major off road attactions in the Yuma area.

Knute

Originally posted at

2023-12-04T19:00:00

Having purchased the Tread Basic, I was very frustrated for several days as I attempted to make use of its features. I almost returned the unit. Having a paper manual would have been a major asset. It took a week of daily interaction before I could comfortably employ the unit.

Jose2

Originally posted at

2023-05-07T20:00:00

Works ok but needs more work. I bought this mainly for the group ride. Most of the time it kept up with other riders, Big thing it does not move map when a particular rider moved out of the screen so you constantly have to manually move screen to keep up with them. I could zoom out but then i loose detail of street names or rd names. This is not good when your driving and have to pay attention to the road. If you want to get more info of what is important to a driver than you can send me one with the radio and i will test it thoroughly with out prejudice. I am a group ride leader in my area and have up to 35 rigs with me and it is important to keep track of as many as possible. I've already sold others on this mapping device.

The f.

Originally posted at

2023-04-06T20:00:00

We invested in these as a more functional alternative to Ride Command where you need cellular for the buddy tracking to work. This is my first garmin device and I've found it to be a lot less intuitive than some of the phone/tablet based apps. That said, I do believe it is probably superior once you learn how to configure it to your liking. I purchased it primarily for ATV riding. 3 in our group had them and we were excited about the group ride functionality. It is a little clunky/aggravating to get going. but once running it is pretty cool. The range is better than expected and worked reasonably well down on the hatfield mccoy trails this spring. Once you go around a mountain you are going to lose signal, but it is better than nothing and really pretty reasonable. Don't expect to split up and be able to use it to time rendezvous...you might get snapshots of where the other person is but not likely to have constant tracking. I did have the 18" antenna and I think that helped. No leaves on the trees yet though so I'm sure in summer that will hurt the range. We didn't use the voice communication yet, but at some point we will try to get the PTT working with our cardos for extended range. Pros: Bright screen, route planning, group ride Cons: battery life when not connected to power, limited range for group ride, garmin learning curve, "freezes" requiring a restart, relatively heavy radio mount (not an issue on sxs/atvs but would like it sleeker for moto). Example...We had a group of 7 vehicles. I was in the lead with a tread (+18" antenna) and another was in the tail. 4 vehicles made it to the trail head, but the other 3 went missing. I didn't have a current location for the tail vehicle, but the last known location showed we they were at least on the right trail. Turns out one SxS had a flat. We didn't have the ability to communicate that, but at least I knew they weren't lost and I could likely backtrack and find them easily if needed.

Rob J.

Originally posted at

2023-01-10T19:00:00

Garmin has gone above and beyond with the new Tread SxS!! It is very user friendly and extremely accurate! If you are looking for the best gps on the market, then look no further!! Garmin y'all killed it on this one!!

RAIZIN’ C.

Originally posted at

2022-12-25T19:00:00

Mapping and trails are not good in my area. Ouse it for mapping trails and as a backup

Chuck76

Originally posted at

2022-12-07T19:00:00

I love the garmin tread device I just wish they had a better way to go on the computer with other map card company to plan tracks

Dcash

Originally posted at

2022-11-29T19:00:00

I have had this about a month and I like it love the group ride and the radio like that you can plan a track like that you can track your ride I like it for a permanent gps that runs off of satellites what I don't like us that it could have more of the trails in Virginia and Tennessee where alot of the utv riding is I have downloaded maps on to it for that area but the plan a trip doesn't work right with them but overall a useful device I will probably Continue using it and my tablet with back country navigator on it together

Cash

Originally posted at

2022-11-08T19:00:00

We have been using our Tread for over a year now, and it's a necessary piece of kit. It works well for on-road navigation and feature finding. The speed limit notifications have saved us from a ticket more than once. We love how we have it paired with our power switch to remotely turn on or off rock lights, scene lights, or ambient backlighting. We also paired it with the reverse camera, which, when mounted high, has the best range and clarity of picture of any reversing camera system we have used. It is fantastic to take it from the dashboard of our rig and mount it directly on our motos. The off-road navigation features are superb, especially if you add an SD card and download a birdseye view for the area you are exploring. The only thing we haven't used much is the group ride feature. Not because we don't want to, but because there just isn't anyone else in our group who has the units. it would be amazing if there were a tile you could hand out to have their GPS location show up on our device to be able to track the group from there. Other than that, this is one amazing piece of kit.

Our L.

Originally posted at

2022-10-25T20:00:00

I purchased this with the thought of talking to everyone else who we ride with but not now. Extremely hard to use. I also purchased more maps and not sure y I did. This looks like a regular car gps when I was expecting one for off road use

Kenny&Donna

Originally posted at

2022-08-11T20:00:00

I bought this for snowmobiling in NW Wisconsin and found that there are almost ZERO trails loaded. The trails have been around for 30 years and they sell the treats as an option on the sleds up here yet no trails are loaded on it.

Ba69

Originally posted at

2022-08-08T20:00:00

After much deliberation and research, I finally bought the Tread. Wanted to use it on Hatfield McCoy trails in WVa which was listed as one of the 5 best places to go on the website for the Tread. After mounting it on my side-by-side and traveling 5 hours to WVa., I was disappointed to find out that the trails are not downloaded on the Tread. I have tried to figure out how to download then but I can't figure it out. So, I have a very expensive GPS for my car.

crumcap

Originally posted at

2022-06-27T20:00:00

I bought this so I would ride the transamerica trail. I was able to create routes but the tread would add a vehicle on its own and change my route to include highways, which is what we are trying to avoid, and narrow hiking trails which the sxs was to wide to fit on.. It would change my route and try to send me through private property and on horse and hiking trails. At times I would use my phone's google maps which worked just as good as the tread. I have to admit that the tread was a lifesaver in the back country. I would have to look at the map and then make sure it was routing me on the correct path. I couldn't just trust that it would route me in a way I didn't have to backtrack.

Utah r.

Originally posted at

2022-06-22T20:00:00

I am using on my motorcycle and really like the features especially the built in MVUM as I ride mostly off pavement and over a wide area. Great bright screen that can be read easily in any light. My biggest complaint is the discontinuation of the ANT sensor for Tempe. Only temp is from the phone and then the closest station and of course only when in cell coverage. Where I live I can ride up a mountain and the temp difference can be 20 degrees also a good bit of my riding is in areas without cell coverage. Ambient temp is much safer once the temperatures hover around 32 degrees

Empedrado

Originally posted at

2022-06-19T20:00:00

Love the GPS, Love the features... Why it doesn't support backup cameras is beyond me and something that makes me give it 3 starts

LMTLESS

Originally posted at

2022-06-14T20:00:00

I dont care for the trun by trun for the sxs. Its take you spot that you are not Allowed on. For the most part it's pretty good.

Rzr t.

Originally posted at

2022-06-14T20:00:00

I was talking with someone from Garmin and told them I needed a waterproof, off road GPS with a big screen for my motorcycle. They talked me into getting a Tread. It turns out it is way more GPS than I could use on a motorcycle and has many features that only work on a SXS, Quad or small 4 wheeler (or big 4 wheeler). I ended up getting a Zumo XT which is the same as the Tread without the 4x4 features. If you have a 4 wheeler the Tread would be a great GPS, especially if you travel in packs.

Skyliner

Originally posted at

2022-06-14T20:00:00

Very slick accessory for my side-by-side. Displays known trails and lets me know if the trail is compatible with the width of my SXS. Wish it was more affordable so those I ride with in my group also had the Tread. I can only imagine how it can improve communication between each other and so we can keep an eye on each other if someone gets in trouble.

Champ47

Originally posted at

2022-06-14T20:00:00

After figuring out how to download maps with bird's eye it's awesome

RS-1

Originally posted at

2022-06-14T20:00:00

Ever since Polaris came out with a shared ride on their sleds I wanted a similar feature for my Jeep and motorcycle. This gave me exactly what I needed and more. Love hooking up a Bluetooth and still being able to chat to someone with tread headset

Jeff o.

Originally posted at

2022-06-14T20:00:00

Designed with group UTV use, but I chose it for Dual Sport motorcycling and others. Its rugged with a screen of unmatched clarity in daylight. No more leaning in to view your route. For my use, I separated the charging block from the mount to eliminate the hand mic and battery connection and use a short USB cable to ports on my machines. I do wish however, there was available a cradle or mount with a Ram ball and just power.

The D.

Originally posted at

2022-04-19T20:00:00

Bought the unit with my snowmobile so I would have Northern Wisconsin snowmobile and ATV trails only to find very few to NONE of them have been mapped.

Mudd D.

Originally posted at

2022-03-18T20:00:00

Turn by turn navigation does not work on ORV trails During my last winter ride unit would not stay on and could not get brightness to go above 40% so couldn't see the screen On the good side Garmin support sent me a new unit We'll see what happens

Burchsc

Originally posted at

2022-01-27T19:00:00

I got my tread last month i love the gps but i cant connect with my buddies cause the group ride mount dont work. And im not the only one who had this problem

Jeff123

Originally posted at

2021-10-24T20:00:00

We have taken it on 9 outdoor adventures so far. Up to the mountains, and down to the coastal dunes. It's sometimes easy to loose your way when your off road. We love it that you can see your tracks and find your way back. We hope to use the group ride feature more later when more of our friends get a tread.

DebZrad

Originally posted at

2021-09-16T20:00:00

After some initial issues I now have my Tread working well and able to create and download routes. first off, having to use my phone and the internet site and the tread just to be able to sync seems equipment heavy but that's not what I'm reviewing. The tread works great for my needs in the truck, as it installs easily on my ram mounts in the cab and the screen is big enough to see well but small enough that it's not in the way of other controls or risks falling off when bouncing around off-road. Where it does not shine so well is on the motorcycle. the ram mount is far too clunky to fit in a cramped bike cockpit so I use my Hondo Garage phone mount which is juuuust big enough to accommodate the Tread. It's got a bright enough screen and the touch screen is truly a glove friendly screen. Almost too friendly? I will inadvertently select something by just hovering my finger above it. The one real issue I find is that the battery life diminishes quickly if you're only charging with a 1.2a or even a 2.4a charger on the bike, especially if you stop for breaks and don't turn it off. Also if you don't turn the Bluetooth off it will diminish faster. I brought an old phone with Gaia on it as a backup if I had any issues with the tread and I'm glad I did as the battery ran out halfway through the second day of a four day trip, even with it plugged in. I will need to upgrade to a larger output charger for this to work on the bike. Nice product though, and I think it would be great for the truck and side x side market. Just not incredibly compatible with the trail bike/adv market just yet, in my opinion.

OregonBackroads

Originally posted at

2021-09-02T20:00:00

Not a fan of this at all. The demo mode is incredibly annoying and interferes with the initial setup. Mine won't stay connected to my wifi or my phone. It also crashes whenever I try to change the vehicle type. The UI is pretty clunky. I sent it back since customer service said I had a bad one but the new one does the same. Maybe they just sent me the same one back? Anyway I'm over the frustration. I had much better luck running my Inreach with a tablet. I bought this for dual sport trips and thought it would be a good solution since previously I've just used my phone and Gaia. But I think I was wrong.

Ipooponthis

Originally posted at