One size never fits all, so I thought it might help to note in one place some of the many navigation options we have now and what they would be used for. I don't know much about non Garmin devices so I'm keeping my comments to Garmin devices and Android and IOS apps and as yet I've yet to really use the apps in anger but have done some research.
The use cases I can see are as follows:
1) A to B routing
Put in a destination and sometimes a start point, make some selections about type of route such as fastest, avoid motorways, etc, and off you go with voice and turn by turn directions
2) Follow a pre-planned road route
You know exactly which roads you want to take and have planned a route somewhere, on Basecamp, or Via Michelin etc, and loaded them to your device, found them on the device and pressed go - off you go, again with voice and turn by turn.
3) Follow a pre planned route with unsurfaced trail or off road sections
For off road, since there's no auto routing, this usually means following a track that you've downloaded, as in from the TET website or elsewhere, scrounged off mates or authored yourself on some kind of software, then loaded and followed as in 2, but no turn by turn directions - just follow the line on the map.
Software
Basecamp
Love it or hate it, it's a good tool for authoring routes (on the road) or tracks for trails, works with both Garmin maps and OSM and other free maps, lots of tools available for this if you want to bother. Good for planning routes, multi day routes, quite a nice library function and the easier way to get tracks or routes to your Garmin device. It has point and click routing, route shaping with the mouse and also track drawing
Kurviger
Seems pretty good for on road route planning, lots of options for how you'd like your route to look, you can import routes and export routes and it works with it's own app on Android and age Scenic app on IOS. There are paid and free versions. As far as I can see, though, you can't use it to draw a route or a track, so you have to rely on it's own route calculation algorithms and it wouldn't therefore be usable for a trip with unpaved/offroad sections - though I stand to be corrected. You could use it to generate a route which than then be loaded up into a Garmin or another device or app.
Via Michelin
Unsurprisingly good for finding hotels and restaurants along the route, but it's an A-B planner, with ability to choose preferences for type of road, tolls or no tolls, etc. Again, I don't think any ability to drag to shape a route to get what you want exactly, or to draw a track. Still a good resource for trip planning, as it will calculate costs including fuel and tolls. Disappointingly, it uses Booking.com as a hotel booking engine
Most of the other software seems to be linked to an app, so maybe cover it there.
Here's a one liner on some of the Garmin devices.
1) Garmin Montana 6xx series
These fulfil 1) 2) and 3) above
Initially the 600 and 650, with 650 having a camera and a "t" suffix meaning Topo maps were loaded, and now replaced by the 610/680 series.
They have the capability to run Garmin City Navigator maps as well as the Garmin branded UK OS maps, previously GB Discover now Topo Great Britain Pro and so are great for trail riders, being also remarkably tough. One of the most useful things about these devices is the Profile capability, which allows you to choose a set of parameters for whatever you are doing and switch easily between them - for instance I have one for trail riding in the UK, which switches on the OS maps and a few other bits, a Road Bike UK, and a Van mode for where its (unsurprisingly) in the van. They can handle tracks and routes easily, and lots of flexibility around the number of points, track visibility, etc. To load routes and tracks, the easiest way is BaseCamp, but also you can just drag and drop with a file manager but really a PC of some sort is needed although there are a few daffy workarounds. Data can also be shared with other Montana 6xx.
They have a relatively inexpensive powered mount, but decent battery life too and will work on AA batteries, and they work with ANTS devices, like the Garmin Tempe and tyre pressure monitors.
Weak points are the screen is a bit small for these days and also not the brightest, but I've no doubt it will stay on my 350EXC for a good while yet.
2) Garmin Zumo
Fulfils 1) and 2) above
I have a 590 and 595. They are good road devices, screen is a decent size but can be hard to read in sunlight, come with Lifetime City Navigator Maps, can play music from and SD cars or Spotify, have a curvy roads setting (which mostly takes you via every housing estate in the land), good search, route tracking, search along route etc.
You can again add other open source maps, but not the GB OS maps, so they could in fact be used for off road outside the UK, if you get the right maps. The battery life is usually not very good.
Again work best with Basecamp.
I'll be replacing these shortly, I think.
3) Garmin GPS Map 276cx
Fulfils 1), 2) and 3) above
This is quite a big unit, great battery life, uses the same powered mount as the Montana 6xx. Great screen, very clear and bright - probably even better than the new XT and Montana 7xx devices. It's not a touch screen and uses a rocker wheel and buttons, which is good for not getting the screen dirty. Runs any kind of maps and has stacks of features so the learning curve is quite steep. It would be a perfect dual sport unit if it wasn't let down by a slow processor which can mean some lag with complex maps like the OS series. Still my favourite, though.
4) Garmin XT
Fulfils 1) and 2) above
I don't have one, so comments from owners welcome. As far as I can see, it runs City Navigator and OSM maps, but not GB OS maps. It doesn't work with Gamin ANT devices, but has a good screen and after a few oddities in navigation for the first few firmware releases seems to have settled down. Again, could be used for off road, I think, if the right maps were installed.
5) Garmin Montana 7xx series
Fulfils 1), 2) and 3) above
Again, I don't have one but have spent some time looking at one. Quite big, good screen, the 700i and 750i also have Satellite Messenger capability, think of it has having an inbuilt Garmin Inreach. This needs a subscription. The 700 base model (no Inreach, in the US no City Navigator) uses GPS, Glonass and Gallileo satellites, the 700i and 750i (a 700i with a camera) drop the Glonass satellites, (something to do with the satellite communication. Lots of base memory, fast processors. Installed maps aren't clear. They do run the Great Britain Topo Pro maps, but not the old GB Discoverer. Garmin say they come with Topo Active Europe maps only, but the unit I saw (a 700i) also had City Navigator on it. This is important, since if it doesn't, and you want to use it for UK trail riding and switch between OS maps and street maps it's a trail side SD card swap.
There's a new powered mount which is quite expensive at £70 odd, and it has a step down transformer in the cable, quite a big box near the battery end of the cable which make cutting the cable down and putting in inline connector in to switch between bikes less easy. ]
I don't know if they run ANTS devices ( I keep going on about this as I think the ANTS Tempe temperature device is quite handy on dirt bikes that don't have temp read out)
With both the XT and Montana 7xx, there are ways to get routes loaded without a PC which could be a help on a trip.
Next up, Locus, Viewranger, TomTom Go, Myroute and a couple more
The use cases I can see are as follows:
1) A to B routing
Put in a destination and sometimes a start point, make some selections about type of route such as fastest, avoid motorways, etc, and off you go with voice and turn by turn directions
2) Follow a pre-planned road route
You know exactly which roads you want to take and have planned a route somewhere, on Basecamp, or Via Michelin etc, and loaded them to your device, found them on the device and pressed go - off you go, again with voice and turn by turn.
3) Follow a pre planned route with unsurfaced trail or off road sections
For off road, since there's no auto routing, this usually means following a track that you've downloaded, as in from the TET website or elsewhere, scrounged off mates or authored yourself on some kind of software, then loaded and followed as in 2, but no turn by turn directions - just follow the line on the map.
Software
Basecamp
Love it or hate it, it's a good tool for authoring routes (on the road) or tracks for trails, works with both Garmin maps and OSM and other free maps, lots of tools available for this if you want to bother. Good for planning routes, multi day routes, quite a nice library function and the easier way to get tracks or routes to your Garmin device. It has point and click routing, route shaping with the mouse and also track drawing
Kurviger
Seems pretty good for on road route planning, lots of options for how you'd like your route to look, you can import routes and export routes and it works with it's own app on Android and age Scenic app on IOS. There are paid and free versions. As far as I can see, though, you can't use it to draw a route or a track, so you have to rely on it's own route calculation algorithms and it wouldn't therefore be usable for a trip with unpaved/offroad sections - though I stand to be corrected. You could use it to generate a route which than then be loaded up into a Garmin or another device or app.
Via Michelin
Unsurprisingly good for finding hotels and restaurants along the route, but it's an A-B planner, with ability to choose preferences for type of road, tolls or no tolls, etc. Again, I don't think any ability to drag to shape a route to get what you want exactly, or to draw a track. Still a good resource for trip planning, as it will calculate costs including fuel and tolls. Disappointingly, it uses Booking.com as a hotel booking engine
Most of the other software seems to be linked to an app, so maybe cover it there.
Here's a one liner on some of the Garmin devices.
1) Garmin Montana 6xx series
These fulfil 1) 2) and 3) above
Initially the 600 and 650, with 650 having a camera and a "t" suffix meaning Topo maps were loaded, and now replaced by the 610/680 series.
They have the capability to run Garmin City Navigator maps as well as the Garmin branded UK OS maps, previously GB Discover now Topo Great Britain Pro and so are great for trail riders, being also remarkably tough. One of the most useful things about these devices is the Profile capability, which allows you to choose a set of parameters for whatever you are doing and switch easily between them - for instance I have one for trail riding in the UK, which switches on the OS maps and a few other bits, a Road Bike UK, and a Van mode for where its (unsurprisingly) in the van. They can handle tracks and routes easily, and lots of flexibility around the number of points, track visibility, etc. To load routes and tracks, the easiest way is BaseCamp, but also you can just drag and drop with a file manager but really a PC of some sort is needed although there are a few daffy workarounds. Data can also be shared with other Montana 6xx.
They have a relatively inexpensive powered mount, but decent battery life too and will work on AA batteries, and they work with ANTS devices, like the Garmin Tempe and tyre pressure monitors.
Weak points are the screen is a bit small for these days and also not the brightest, but I've no doubt it will stay on my 350EXC for a good while yet.
2) Garmin Zumo
Fulfils 1) and 2) above
I have a 590 and 595. They are good road devices, screen is a decent size but can be hard to read in sunlight, come with Lifetime City Navigator Maps, can play music from and SD cars or Spotify, have a curvy roads setting (which mostly takes you via every housing estate in the land), good search, route tracking, search along route etc.
You can again add other open source maps, but not the GB OS maps, so they could in fact be used for off road outside the UK, if you get the right maps. The battery life is usually not very good.
Again work best with Basecamp.
I'll be replacing these shortly, I think.
3) Garmin GPS Map 276cx
Fulfils 1), 2) and 3) above
This is quite a big unit, great battery life, uses the same powered mount as the Montana 6xx. Great screen, very clear and bright - probably even better than the new XT and Montana 7xx devices. It's not a touch screen and uses a rocker wheel and buttons, which is good for not getting the screen dirty. Runs any kind of maps and has stacks of features so the learning curve is quite steep. It would be a perfect dual sport unit if it wasn't let down by a slow processor which can mean some lag with complex maps like the OS series. Still my favourite, though.
4) Garmin XT
Fulfils 1) and 2) above
I don't have one, so comments from owners welcome. As far as I can see, it runs City Navigator and OSM maps, but not GB OS maps. It doesn't work with Gamin ANT devices, but has a good screen and after a few oddities in navigation for the first few firmware releases seems to have settled down. Again, could be used for off road, I think, if the right maps were installed.
5) Garmin Montana 7xx series
Fulfils 1), 2) and 3) above
Again, I don't have one but have spent some time looking at one. Quite big, good screen, the 700i and 750i also have Satellite Messenger capability, think of it has having an inbuilt Garmin Inreach. This needs a subscription. The 700 base model (no Inreach, in the US no City Navigator) uses GPS, Glonass and Gallileo satellites, the 700i and 750i (a 700i with a camera) drop the Glonass satellites, (something to do with the satellite communication. Lots of base memory, fast processors. Installed maps aren't clear. They do run the Great Britain Topo Pro maps, but not the old GB Discoverer. Garmin say they come with Topo Active Europe maps only, but the unit I saw (a 700i) also had City Navigator on it. This is important, since if it doesn't, and you want to use it for UK trail riding and switch between OS maps and street maps it's a trail side SD card swap.
There's a new powered mount which is quite expensive at £70 odd, and it has a step down transformer in the cable, quite a big box near the battery end of the cable which make cutting the cable down and putting in inline connector in to switch between bikes less easy. ]
I don't know if they run ANTS devices ( I keep going on about this as I think the ANTS Tempe temperature device is quite handy on dirt bikes that don't have temp read out)
With both the XT and Montana 7xx, there are ways to get routes loaded without a PC which could be a help on a trip.
Next up, Locus, Viewranger, TomTom Go, Myroute and a couple more