[TheHermit]

I bought an Asus BR1100C mini laptop computer, 11.6" screen, to use for GPS in my Zforce 800 Trail. It is built to military grade standards for durability. It runs Windoze 10 pro, which is surprising fast for the machine only having 4gb memory. Price was $250.00 on Amazon with 384gb storage. While it does not have built in gps, I can tether it to my phone hotspot, or use a Garmin GLO 2 gps receiver, which I ordered, but did not have yet as of this post.

Unfortunately the display does not show up well in the attached photo. Gaia gps is in window on left, Google maps in window on right. I can quickly switch between windows, or make a window full screen for better viewing. I bought Jeep mirrors that extend out from the machine, which shows up in the photo.

The Ram Mounts Tough Tray II has two springs in the expandable part. I had to cut one of the springs shorter so it would extend out far enough to hold the laptop, which is why it does not fully retract. The laptop weighs 2.6lbs. The tray rests on the hand grip which helps support the weight. Ram Mounts are tough, it would likely support the unit vertical, but it would obstruct view out windshield, and being a professional hermit, I doubt I will ever have passengers.

I'm in the process of exporting the huge amount of data I have in gaia gps to be uploaded into Google Earth Desktop Pro, which runs nicely on this little laptop. Having a REAL computer program blows away the pathetic web based / tablet apps, both of which I thoroughly despise. The only useful thing about tablets is reading ebooks and viewing my surveillance cameras.

The attached screenshot of Google Earth Pro desktop shows what I've done for the state of Nevada. The trails were downloaded from https://ohv.nv.gov/trails - mostly full county areas, with a few smaller areas not included in the county files. The "Nuke Test Site" was created in Gaia & exported. Admittedly if all trail areas are selected, the program grinds to a halt, but I can quickly select / deselect areas. The green X's are gas stations in the "Nevada Gas" menu.

Unfortunately very few states have comprehensive gpx / kml files like Nevada. Would be be nice if Gaia made the overlanding layer available for download to subscribers, or purchase to add to Google Earth Pro desktop.

[NMKawierider]

Nice idea. Hope it works out for you. For me, I couldn't see anything with less then 620NITs in the sun and everything with unsealed buttons got packed with dust from our dusty trails. I have used Garmin and Magellan GPSs but they were either too small or just not bright enough for my old eyes.  I now use several special tablets from 7 to 9.7", all have more then 680nits, one has 1000 and is also built to military grade. I use it mostly with my drone. Anyway, good luck with yours. It's great to have the abilities out there.

[TheHermit]

I haven't had it out in the sun yet, machine is kinda torn apart doing mods / upgrades. I'm sick of using propane heater in garage - hot / cold / hot / cold. Waiting for 60 + temps to get back to it. I don't get why Asus markets this laptop primarily to kids, as I'm really pleased with it. Another serious aggravation is the model options sold in USA are limited. I did not see any with the LTE / cellular & internal microSD card option, or upgradable memory. The memory is soldered in on mine.    It does perform good with just 4gb tho.

The machine is supposed to be fairly well sealed - spill resistant keyboard & such.

https://www.asus.com/laptops/for-students/all-series/asus-br1100c/

[Ulfthednar]

I dunno man, thats looking awful coplike . . 

[TheHermit]

 

Polaris Ranger Crew XP 1000 Northstar Police

Phoenixville Police Can Am Commander XT

[solomon]

I dunno man, thats looking awful coplike . . 

"Bad boys bad boys... watcha' gonna do when they come for you"

[smitty42]

Don't understand why you prefer Google Earth over Gaia.  I have been using Gaia premium for a couple of years and IMO it is the best GPS system I have found. 
I use a Samsung A10e with Gaia loaded on it and have the phone on external power so I can have the screen on all the time.
I am one of the ride leaders for my club and having a track that I can follow makes it real easy to plan a ride, pre-ride it then lead the ride.
Your mounting system for the laptop looks like a good plan as long as you don't have a co-pilot.

[TheHermit]

Look at the folder view in Google Earth Pro in the screenshot in OP. Every folder shows up. Gaia does not display like this.

I will use Gaia in addition to Google Earth pro.

I do not like remote server based applications. While Google Earth Pro desktop needs internet connection to Google servers, the main program and all data is on my hard drive, mucho fastero.

Gaia is superior to ONx off road, as Onx does not allow creation of sub folders like I have in Gaia. I have most stuff sorted by state. In the state folders, I have routes, gas stops, way points. In the attached screenshot of Arizona folder, BDR is Back Country Discovery Route. OTG is Overland Trail Guides.

Gaia's interface in annoying. Using Firefox on PC, Gaia is painfully slow. The worst offense is the sort mode resets to Newest EVERY time after I change sort order to Title / A-Z, then click back. I have a Firefox profile strictly for Gaia. I regularly have to clear Firefox cache when issues arise. The first screenshot shows folders sorted alphabetically, the next screenshot shows Newest.

The Gaia folders in the Android tablet app did not jive with what I was seeing on PC, even though it said "sync complete". I cleared the cache in the tablet app - next time I logged into Gaia on PC / Firefox, ALL my folders were GONE, EVERYTHING was dumped into one folder. Why the tablet app caused this I do not know. Countless hours of sorting, re-arraigning, creating, gone. Fortunately I had exported most everything to .gpx files saved on my PC, most of my recreating time was spent making new folders.

If I export a state folder in Gaia, everything gets consolidated into one file, it does not retain the folder structure. Google Earth Pro desktop does. I save folders created on PC, copy file to laptop, import & it's exactly the same.

I attached screenshots of gas stops & Walmart's in Idaho. After a few uses of Gaia, the waypoints stop showing up in a full state overview, I have to zoom in to an area for them to show up. I have to "archive" the folder then unarchive it to get state overview back.

If a personal situation ends in my favor, I will be selling my house & become a full time RV'r. A side x side is a recreational vehicle. My Zforce 800 Trail is street legal. Everything I own will be on the machine & in a gear trailer. It is much easier to work on mapping tools using multiple 27" monitors right now at home. If I go full time RV, I will only have the mini laptop.

[smitty42]

Have one suggestion if you do go full-time on the road with an RV I highly reccomend that you acquire a GPS desigined for RV'ers;  Garmin has various systems.
The reason I say this is from experience.  We spent 9 years full-timing from 1997 to 2006 in a motorhome and there were numerous times we wished we had such a system vice the gps system designed for a car.  Can't remember the number of oh-shit times when we started down a road that was not designed for our RV.....like the 8' high underpass that I luckley saw while I could still turn a 32' motorhome towing a car around, or after we upgraded to a 40' and had to disconnect the car to turn back (would have had to do it in a 32' also)
Have fun, you will meet a lot of good people on the road and a lot of good adventures.

[TheHermit]

Have one suggestion if you do go full-time on the road with an RV I highly reccomend that you acquire a GPS desigined for RV'ers;  Garmin has various systems.
The reason I say this is from experience.  We spent 9 years full-timing from 1997 to 2006 in a motorhome and there were numerous times we wished we had such a system vice the gps system designed for a car.  Can't remember the number of oh-shit times when we started down a road that was not designed for our RV.....like the 8' high underpass that I luckley saw while I could still turn a 32' motorhome towing a car around, or after we upgraded to a 40' and had to disconnect the car to turn back (would have had to do it in a 32' also)
Have fun, you will meet a lot of good people on the road and a lot of good adventures.

Your advice & shared experiences is much appreciated.    I drove semi from 1998 to 2008, had a similar experience with an unmarked low bridge just west of down town Chicago, off I-55 interstate. FORTUNATELY there was a tiny factory right at the bridge with barely enuf room to turn around in their parking lot. I used Delorme Street Atlas USA on a laptop with Delorme LT-20 gps receiver for route planning. Back then no maps were designed for RV's / trucks, but it still helped tremendously. I REALLY miss having a full blown mapping program that can be used offline.

I just received a Garmin GLO 2 gps receiver, got it to work with the mini laptop & an Android tablet. While my plan is to primarily use the laptop for navigation, the tablet will loaded with Gaia as a backup.

Wilson electronics makes the Weboost cellular signal booster, which is on my gear list. I used a Wilson signal booster driving semi, and had one in my house, so I know they work.

Starlink satellite internet is on my luxury list.

My street legal Zforce 800 Trail pulling a Marlon gear trailer will be my RV  Pavement will be avoided as much as possible. I'm waiting for warmer weather to finish mods / upgrades, weary of temperature swings using propane heater in garage.

A couple from Canada drove Polaris atv's from Canada to Mexico back in 2007. Their website is still online!   http://quadtrek.net/html/accueil_eg.htm

A 5 minute youtube video of their trip was uploaded in 2010.

[NMKawierider]

Have one suggestion if you do go full-time on the road with an RV I highly reccomend that you acquire a GPS desigined for RV'ers;  Garmin has various systems.
The reason I say this is from experience.  We spent 9 years full-timing from 1997 to 2006 in a motorhome and there were numerous times we wished we had such a system vice the gps system designed for a car.  Can't remember the number of oh-shit times when we started down a road that was not designed for our RV.....like the 8' high underpass that I luckley saw while I could still turn a 32' motorhome towing a car around, or after we upgraded to a 40' and had to disconnect the car to turn back (would have had to do it in a 32' also)
Have fun, you will meet a lot of good people on the road and a lot of good adventures.

I have been just using the nav system in the truck(an aftermarket) and/or one of the other apps on the 8" tablet I use to monitor systems in the truck for RV routing but as you know, that's limited. I have been considering an RV app for that 8" Android tablet only because it has GPS, compass as well as a solid bright Super AMOLED 420nit display. Looked are several that looks like they should serve my needs well. Just wondering if you have a recommendation.     

[smitty42]

Sorry no reccomendations, have been out of the RV'ing world since 2006. 
I'm sure there are numerous websites that could help.
We were members of Family Motor Coach Assc. when we owned a motorhome and went to a lot of their rallys when we were on the road.
Got a lot of excellent information at these.

[TheHermit]

I have been just using the nav system in the truck(an aftermarket) and/or one of the other apps on the 8" tablet I use to monitor systems in the truck for RV routing but as you know, that's limited. I have been considering an RV app for that 8" Android tablet only because it has GPS, compass as well as a solid bright Super AMOLED 420nit display. Looked are several that looks like they should serve my needs well. Just wondering if you have a recommendation.     

I know your question was for other poster for specific recommendation, but you got my curiosity up about available navigation apps for RV's & semi's. One app I would check out - Copilot - is made by the company that also makes PC Miler, likely the oldest navigation platforms for commercial vehicles - the first version of PC Miler released in 1986.

Copilot appears to have windows version also. The windoze install link on the webpage below timed out, but may still be worth investigating if you want tablet app and PC versions.

https://support.copilotpro.com/en/support/solutions/articles/19000101838-how-to-install-copilot-on-windows-laptop-ota-map-download-

The attached photo is from Benchmark Montana recreation atlas, page 31. It would be interesting to know if navigation apps show this restriction. Just browsing the pages of atlases, I have learned alot, and marked some interesting remote places I want to explore! The 2nd photo is Benchmark Nevada recreation atlas page 55. The pictogprahs circled do not show up in any other paper map or atlas, or any mapping / navigation application.

[NMKawierider]

I have been just using the nav system in the truck(an aftermarket) and/or one of the other apps on the 8" tablet I use to monitor systems in the truck for RV routing but as you know, that's limited. I have been considering an RV app for that 8" Android tablet only because it has GPS, compass as well as a solid bright Super AMOLED 420nit display. Looked are several that looks like they should serve my needs well. Just wondering if you have a recommendation.     

I know your question was for other poster for specific recommendation, but you got my curiosity up about available navigation apps for RV's & semi's. One app I would check out - Copilot - is made by the company that also makes PC Miler, likely the oldest navigation platforms for commercial vehicles - the first version of PC Miler released in 1986.

Copilot appears to have windows version also. The windoze install link on the webpage below timed out, but may still be worth investigating if you want tablet app and PC versions.

https://support.copilotpro.com/en/support/solutions/articles/19000101838-how-to-install-copilot-on-windows-laptop-ota-map-download-

The attached photo is from Benchmark Montana recreation atlas, page 31. It would be interesting to know if navigation apps show this restriction. Just browsing the pages of atlases, I have learned alot, and marked some interesting remote places I want to explore! The 2nd photo is Benchmark Nevada recreation atlas page 55. The pictogprahs circled do not show up in any other paper map or atlas, or any mapping / navigation application.

Yeah Copilot was one of three recommended by some full-time RVers who's YT channels I watch...and because of the cost was at the top of my list. I'll check them out farther. Thanks.

[smitty42]

Post about Copilot jogged my memory.  I remember talking to a rep at a FMCA rally in Las Cruces NM in 1998 about this product.  But I had just purchased a GPS product for a laptop the previous year (the year we went full time) and wish I had waited and bought this one. The one I purchased had some major issues with road selection.  Tried to send me down a backroad ment for a 4x4 and the railroad underpass issue plus a few others.  Caught the 4x4 issue when I previewed the route it selected but roads for large RV's were next to impossible to figure out.  Luckly people you meet at RV parks are friendly and warn you about roads not to take, along with friends that "been-there-done-that".  Oh well it was 9 years of great and not so great adventures (2 nights in a junk yard waiting for a part, 6 hours on the side of the road on a turnpike waiting for parts (overpasses were too low to take us on a lowboy trailer and a few others).