7 Best Gps for Hiking 2026

The 22x is the argument for spending less. It carries preloaded routable TopoActive mapping — the same map family the pricier eTrex 32x uses — on a 2.2-inch color screen, runs 25 hours on two AA cells, and weighs just under five ounces. That’s the same endurance as the 32x and more than the GPSMAP 65s, in a package that disappears into a chest pocket. It’s the unit we recommend to most people who ask what to buy for trail hiking.

What the money doesn’t buy is the sensor package. There’s no electronic compass, so the heading arrow only settles once you’re moving; at a junction you take a few steps and watch it swing. There’s no barometric altimeter either, which matters less unless you navigate by elevation. The screen is the other compromise: at 2.2 inches with a small cursor, reading contour detail is closer to squinting than scanning.

Controls are buttons and a joystick, which we came to prefer in cold weather and rain, and the menus stop being a puzzle after two or three outings. The 8 GB of internal memory takes a microSD card for extra map regions. If you want the compass and altimeter in the same body, look at the 32x and accept the extra cost; for everything short of that, the 22x is the value pick in this group.

168 hours on two AA cells is the headline, and in expedition mode Garmin quotes 1,800. That is a different order of endurance from the rest of this group, and it arrives on the cheapest unit here. The screen is a 2.16-inch panel at 480 x 272 — sharper than the displays on the more expensive eTrex models — and the receiver tracks five satellite systems: GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou and QZSS.

The catch is mapping. There’s no topo map set on the device — 28 MB of internal memory has no room for one — so the terrain view comes from the Garmin Explore app on your phone, while the unit itself gives you a basemap, a track and waypoints. We think that’s a fair trade for the trip where you’ve planned the line in advance and want a device that simply keeps running. It’s the wrong trade if you navigate by looking at the ground on a screen.

Two practical notes. The box holds the device and documentation, so there’s no clip or carabiner — budget for a mount if you want it on a shoulder strap. And the menus are not self-explanatory; give it an evening before the trip. The battery figure is the reason to buy it, and the screen resolution is the pleasant surprise.

There’s no topo map on the Foretrex 801, and that’s a design decision rather than an omission. What you get is a 2.2-inch monochrome screen, a three-axis compass, a barometric altimeter, multi-band reception and 100 hours of runtime in something that straps to your wrist and stays out of the way of your hands and your trekking poles.

It earns its place where stopping to unfold a handheld is awkward: steep off-trail ground, dense timber, a night leg where you want a bearing without breaking stride. The monochrome display is crisp in full sun and readable at a glance, and because the compass is three-axis and tilt-compensated, the heading holds while you stand still. At 5.5 ounces it’s noticeable on the wrist for the first hour and forgotten after that.

What you give up is the map. Routes are planned on a phone or a computer and followed on the wrist, and there’s no terrain view to consult when the trail fades. Two features tell you who this is built for: stealth mode stops the unit storing and sharing position data, and a kill switch wipes the memory. For most hikers those are curiosities; for some they’re the reason to choose it.

The solar panel on the front of this unit isn’t a gimmick, but Garmin’s unlimited-runtime claim deserves translating: it assumes 75,000 lux, which is bright, direct sun on the panel. In real hiking conditions, with the unit clipped to a strap under patchy canopy, you get a top-up rather than a free ride. The honest baseline is 200 hours with no sun at all, which is still the longest standard-mode figure here — and enough that charging stops being part of the daily routine.

The rest of the package is a sensible trail unit: a 2.2-inch high-contrast screen, buttons, multi-band reception for tighter fixes, and about five ounces in the hand. What it doesn’t have is a preloaded topo map set — 28 MB of memory, with detailed mapping coming from the Garmin Explore app — so think of it as a track-and-waypoint navigator with a trickle charger attached. Following a planned route on a long traverse, that combination is genuinely liberating.

If you want to see the terrain on the display, the eTrex 22x or the GPSMAP 65s do that and give up the panel. The Solar is for the hiker who has decided the route before setting out and wants the device to outlast the trip.

The 32x is the eTrex 22x with two sensors added: a three-axis tilt-compensated compass and a barometric altimeter. The rest is familiar — the 2.2-inch color screen, 8 GB of internal memory plus a microSD slot, 25 hours on two AA cells, and preloaded routable TopoActive maps for roads and trails.

The compass is the part that changes a walk. A GPS heading only updates while you’re moving, so on units without one you take a few steps to find out which way you’re facing; with a three-axis compass the bearing is there while you stand still, which is exactly the moment you want it — at a junction, at a cairn, at the point where the trail stops being a trail.

The altimeter earns its keep if you navigate by elevation or watch the weather: a pressure trend gives you a hint that the day is turning, and the altitude reading is steadier than one derived from satellites alone. Neither sensor changes the screen, the menus or the battery, so you’re paying for the sensors and nothing else. Against the 22x, that’s a clear yes if you spend time off-trail, and a clear no if you don’t.

One housekeeping job: put a microSD card in before the first big map update. A full regional download runs for hours, and the card gives it room to land.

Renewed is the first thing to understand here: this is a refurbished GPSMAP 66i with a 90-day warranty, not the year that comes with the new units on this page. What you get for that is the only device in the group combining a proper map with a rescue button — a 3-inch sunlight-readable color screen, preloaded TopoActive mapping with BirdsEye satellite imagery, and inReach two-way messaging and interactive SOS.

On a trip where a turned ankle is more than an inconvenience — solo, late in the season, past the last trailhead — that combination is worth more than every other feature here. The screen is the biggest of the mapping units and the 35-hour battery is the longest of them, so it isn’t a compromised navigator that happens to have a radio in it.

The caveats are real. Messaging and SOS need an active satellite subscription, a recurring cost the other devices here don’t carry, and the shorter warranty means you’re accepting more of the risk. Our advice is to test the messaging and download your maps at home, on the plan you’ve chosen, before this becomes the device you rely on above the treeline.