Longterm REVIEW and INSTALL: Trailtech Voyager Pro GPS w/ BUDDY TRACKING

[christopher]

Just an advance heads up.

In January I reached out to TrailTech to enquire about purchasing 2-3 of their Voyager Pro GPS units with "Buddy Tracking" to do a long term review of.

Last night they got back to me and let me know they should have some stock back in house come March/April
Currently they are totally SOLD OUT, as are almost all online facilities.

Most of the features of the Voyager Pro are pretty well known and documented as that device has been on the market for MANY YEARS now, and it's core technology was purchased and integrated in new sleds by Polaris.

What I want to review is the REAL WORLD BUDDY TRACKING in MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN.

While I have looked, I have NOT found any good review dealing with this one specific aspect of it.

As a Ski-Doo rider, I admit to be VERY JEALOUS of my Polaris friends who have this bit of technology installed on their sleds.

And while I would absolutely LOVE to see Ski-Doo roll out their own variation on the "Buddy Tracking" these, I seriously doubt I will see it any time soon unless they came to some manner of licensing agreement with Polaris, and I honestly do not expect that to happen.

So, for all of us that do not ride a Polaris equipped with the 7s touch screen with Ride Command embeded in it, we will do a deep dive and review of the only other really viable alternative, the Trailtech Voyager Pro GPS.

 

[High Voltage]

Will be riding with 2 Polaris running the buddy tracking this weekend, and will see if we have any issues.

Nice pic by the way. ?

 

[christopher]

Will be riding with 2 Polaris running the buddy tracking this weekend, and will see if we have any issues.

Nice pic by the way. ?

Awesome.
Once we get rolling on this project, it would be good to get as much imput on REAL WORLD working conditions for this system as possible

 

[christopher]

[mention]Dunatic [/mention]


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[christopher]

Have decided to buy three of these units for our eval.

 

[High Voltage]

Awesome.
Once we get rolling on this project, it would be good to get as much imput on REAL WORLD working conditions for this system as possible

Need a 12 battery in parallel with the charger to make it a complete winner.

 

[Solarguy]

Have decided to buy three of these units for our eval.

Our 2023 7S gauges are awesome when working properly but both of our units have only worked intermittently with the group ride feature. We rode with high voltage and his voyager gauge, it is so good to see where everyone in the group is!
While our GPS and tracks have worked well, the group ride and tracking others in the group has been intermittent.
Talking with a Polaris ambassador yesterday we learned the 2023 gauges are experiencing this issue while the 2022’s are mostly not. Hopeful we get this resolved.
The voyager seemed to work well with our 7S when our 7S were working correctly in group ride.

 

[Cornfusion]

I agree with high voltage, a battery in parallel would be better. Once the unit battery dies, the unit shuts off every time the machine is shut off and you have to go thru and rejoin the group every time you restart. If that isn't done, it shows on the 7s that you are still where ever you were last connected which messes with the zoom on the 7s. An extra battery inline would correct this. I power it from accy power under the hood on axys but it doesn't seem to charge the units battery while riding.

I use the ram tough claw and put it centered on the front side of the handlebars which seems to be the best place for it that we found, easy to see it and the gauge and is somewhat protected. The tough claw makes it easy to change between sleds.

Other than those few issues, I love it and 7s, it really takes the stress out of being the leader, especially with newer guys that are starting to venture deeper in the trees.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

 

[pliskie6]

Our 2023 7S gauges are awesome when working properly but both of our units have only worked intermittently with the group ride feature. We rode with high voltage and his voyager gauge, it is so good to see where everyone in the group is!
While our GPS and tracks have worked well, the group ride and tracking others in the group has been intermittent.
Talking with a Polaris ambassador yesterday we learned the 2023 gauges are experiencing this issue while the 2022’s are mostly not. Hopeful we get this resolved.
The voyager seemed to work well with our 7S when our 7S were working correctly in group ride.

It's the latest software upgrade that has some glitches. Load the older version and the buddy tracker will be flawless.

 

[christopher]

Need a 12 battery in parallel with the charger to make it a complete winner.

Run me through what you did?

 

[christopher]

I use the ram tough claw and put it centered on the front side of the handlebars which seems to be the best place for it that we found, easy to see it and the gauge and is somewhat protected. The tough claw makes it easy to change between sleds.

Share a Photo please???

 

[christopher]

It's the latest software upgrade that has some glitches. Load the older version and the buddy tracker will be flawless.

FWIW.
The guys at Trailtech tell me that they are just about to release some new software, and that is one of the reasons they asked me to hold off till April.

 

[setbrew45]

I've been thinking about buying one for a while. May pull the trigger here pretty soon because I believe I could use it year round with my friends that have ride command in their rzrs.

Sent from my SM-S901U1 using Tapatalk

 

[christopher]

I've been thinking about buying one for a while. May pull the trigger here pretty soon because I believe I could use it year round with my friends that have ride command in their rzrs.

Sent from my SM-S901U1 using Tapatalk

we were thinking the very same thing.
1 head unit, with multiple mounts on different vehciles.

 

[Solarguy]

It's the latest software upgrade that has some glitches. Load the older version and the buddy tracker will be flawless.

Thank you, will do!

 

[Pickin’ Boogers]

I've ridden with a bunch of 7s displays this season and so far the group ride feature has worked 10% of the time. We've never had a ride when everyone could join. I don't even bother trying anymore.

 

[96-ramair]

we were thinking the very same thing.
1 head unit, with multiple mounts on different vehciles.

Hi @christopher , I put this in another thread, but you may want to check out Mountain Sledder Garage on Youtube. He does video overviews of installs on both Polaris and Doo sleds and different mounting approaches. He settles on using a UTV roll-bar RAM mount, with the roll-bar clamp placed around the handlebar riser, but you have other options. Personally, I plan to do it this way or install them on the door of the extended glovebox, like Doo does with Garmin. With more than one mount, I can move the "brain" from sled to sled.

 

[setbrew45]

Does anybody know anywhere that has them in stock?

Sent from my SM-S901U1 using Tapatalk

 

[christopher]

I've ridden with a bunch of 7s displays this season and so far the group ride feature has worked 10% of the time. We've never had a ride when everyone could join. I don't even bother trying anymore.

Ouch!

 

[christopher]

Hi @christopher , I put this in another thread, but you may want to check out Mountain Sledder Garage on Youtube. He does video overviews of installs on both Polaris and Doo sleds and different mounting approaches. He settles on using a UTV roll-bar RAM mount, with the roll-bar clamp placed around the handlebar riser, but you have other options. Personally, I plan to do it this way or install them on the door of the extended glovebox, like Doo does with Garmin. With more than one mount, I can move the "brain" from sled to sled.