BY VIEWCAST    UPDATED July 18, 2024
Are you an outdoor enthusiast looking for a reliable tool to help plan and navigate your adventures? Look no further than Garmin Explore™. This versatile app makes it easier to create, manage, and sync waypoints, routes, and collections whether you're hiking, hunting, or embarking on any other outdoor activity. Let’s dive into what Garmin Explore™ has to offer and how it can enhance your outdoor experiences.
Garmin Explore™ is packed with features designed to make your outdoor planning more efficient and enjoyable:
Garmin Explore™ allows you to effortlessly create waypoints that mark essential locations on your journey. Waypoints can be grouped into collections for better organization, ensuring that you can quickly find and navigate to the spots that matter the most.
With Garmin Explore™, you can quickly plan routes using the intuitive map interface. The “snap to trail” feature enables you to create accurate courses that follow existing trails, making your planning process quicker and more accurate.
One of the standout features of Garmin Explore™ is its ability to synchronize collections of waypoints, courses, and tracks between your phone, watch, and the Explore website. This seamless connection ensures that you have access to your planned routes and waypoints wherever you go.
Garmin Explore™ offers a variety of offline maps, including topo maps, open street maps, and satellite imagery. These maps can be downloaded by region, enabling you to navigate without an internet connection. This is ideal for remote areas where connectivity may be unreliable.
The app also supports offline syncing of your activities, allowing you to send tracks from your phone to your watch without using data. This feature ensures that your adventure logs are always up-to-date and easily accessible.
Although Garmin Explore™ is highly functional, there are a few areas where it could be enhanced. Users have noted that the interface can be somewhat complex at first, and that additional features such as support for multiple GPS formats and better symbol consistency on maps would be welcome improvements. Additionally, some users have suggested enabling data storage on external SD cards and allowing integration with third-party maps.
Garmin Explore™ provides various offline maps, including topographic maps, open street maps, and satellite imagery. These maps can be downloaded for use in areas with no internet connection.
Yes, you can sync your collections of waypoints, routes, and activities between your phone, compatible Garmin watches, and the Explore website. This makes sure you have your data wherever you need it.
Absolutely! The app is designed for all types of outdoor activities, including hiking, hunting, and more. Its intuitive route planning and “snap to trail” features make it an excellent tool for hikers.
Currently, the app is locked at a specific GPS format without the ability to switch formats. However, this is a feature that many users have requested for future updates.
At this time, Garmin Explore™ does not directly support importing third-party maps. However, this is another commonly requested feature that may be considered in future updates.
Garmin Explore™ serves as an invaluable tool for anyone looking to enhance their outdoor adventures. With its powerful features such as waypoint creation, route planning, syncing capabilities, and offline maps, it offers a comprehensive solution for navigation and adventure planning. While there is room for improvement, Garmin Explore™ remains a top choice for outdoor enthusiasts.
Garmin Explore™ is primarily a mobile app designed for smartphones. However, you can run Garmin Explore™ on your computer using an Android emulator. An Android emulator allows you to run Android apps on your PC. Here's how to install Garmin Explore™ on your PC using Android emuator:
Visit any Android emulator website. Download the latest version of Android emulator compatible with your operating system (Windows or macOS). Install Android emulator by following the on-screen instructions.
Launch Android emulator and complete the initial setup, including signing in with your Google account.
Inside Android emulator, open the Google Play Store (it's like the Android Play Store) and search for "Garmin Explore™."Click on the Garmin Explore™ app, and then click the "Install" button to download and install Garmin Explore™.
You can also download the APK from this page and install Garmin Explore™ without Google Play Store.
You can now use Garmin Explore™ on your PC within the Anroid emulator. Keep in mind that it will look and feel like the mobile app, so you'll navigate using a mouse and keyboard.