GPS for off road in Baja California

This question came into the Baja Insider and I asked Larry Buck to answer the question since he has the most experience of anyone I know for this information.

The question was:
I have been reading your interview and want to by a GPS with preloaded Baja Map.
I looked at Lowrance 480 and the 540 with Mapsource,
you recomand Garmin!
Is Garmin A better choice ?
Anyhow will your program also work with any GPS with Mapsource?

Thanks
Klaus Fritz
Future Baja 1000 Pre Runner

And the answer is:
Klaus

All manufacturers seem to only build their brand GPS to use their brand of maps. So choosing a GPS really depends on what maps you want to use. Currently the only GPS brands that have BAJA maps available are Garmin and Lowrance, and neither of these companies produce a Baja map themselves but there are a few aftermarket(3rd party) mas available. The maps that work with Garmin are the best, therefore I think the best GPS would be a Garmin unit. Although the Lowrance units you mention are well favored by the offroad racers I still favor the Garmin units because the file format used is way superior and easier to use. You will need to determine what features you want but be sure to get a unit that will run MapSource maps. We offer the best Baja maps for garmin at www.LBMaps.com. We also offer a topo map for the Lowrance units that is used by many offroad racers and works well on the umits you are considering.

Larry