In situations we needed street navigation, we just turned to the GPS on our smart phone. It shows major roads and highways but leaves off many details like residential streets and forest roads. The Lowrance comes with a North America base map that is not very detailed. An external antenna is standard issue in race vehicles however, we have not experienced any problems with the built-in antenna. The internal GPS antenna is a nice feature to eliminate extra wires and it has a good view of the sky through the windshield. A RAM mount could be used with the mounting bracket if desired and the power cord did come with a 12v plug that we cut off in favor of hardwiring.
The first downside we noted is that this GPS is not as portable as others since it did take some time and planning for a clean install in a vehicle. Our 5-inch screen model has a housing that is 7 inches wide, 6 inches tall and 3 inches deep. We mounted the unit on our dashboard and hardwired it to our auxiliary battery. Lowrance units are designed for marine use in harsh salt water environments so they can easily stand up to the rigors of off-road use with their dust and water-proof housing. This got us wondering: If they are good for racing at the Hammers and in Baja, would they work well for recreational trail wheeling too? To find out, we spent a large amount of time and several thousand miles navigating trails using a Lowrance HDS-5 Baja GPS unit in places such as Moab, the Mojave Road, Colorado’s mountain passes and week-long overland excursions. Take a look in any Ultra4 or desert race vehicle, and you will likely see a Lowrance GPS staring back at you. Navigating Trails With a Lowrance Off-Road GPS