Hints when starting out walking

Carry a small cheap compass and set your GPS display to North Up when walking. Otherwise, you will always have to take a few steps to find out which direction you are really facing. The handheld GPS units aimed at off-road and hiking use have a built in compass for this very reason.

If you are also working with a city map or tourist brochure, having the GPS display oriented the same as as your map makes it very fast and easy to find and compare your position on the GPS screen to the map.

My watch has a built in compass - comes in handy when hiking in dense woods or city canyons when a GPS signal may not be available.

I don't know if it would be applicable to the centre of Paris, but here in the UK I used to navigate by means of satellite (TV) dishes, before I got my Garmin! Every other house has one, and they face (more or less) due south.

Phil,

That is a great idea, and so much more reliable than the old tale about moss only growing on the north side of a tree.

When using a compass be careful that you do not have it too close to the GPS It could effect the compass

Neal, You need the proper tool for the task at hand, and the Garmin Nuvi 255w falls short. Get yourself a dedicate hand held unit, you won't be sorry. As you already know from trying to walk with your 255W in Paris, Garmin Nuvi automotive GPSr's are not really made for walking, they are missing a key options for the walking tasks.

I guess you could get a compass or track the sun and if night time use the north star. then just add a paper map and leave the Nuvi in a safe place since it's not weather proof. It's just a matter of the right tool for the Job.

For those interested here are a few Hand held units:
http://tinyurl.com/5caylt

Bob

Thanks to all. The compass idea is a brain slapper, thanks! Yeah, maybe my experience in Paris indicates that the 255W just ain't great for this purpose, though it is nice to know that one will not get totally lost when traversing a strange area. Though of course my wife is pretty good for this too (her tool here appears to be her eyes and brain).

thanks again, and i did buy a small compass. If nothing else, I could have then found my way to the Seine.

Neal

I'm surprised that nobody mentioned the fact that in a big city like Paris, having the POIs (built-in or custom) can be a godsend. Being able to find the nearest Starbucks (or whichever is your favorite coffee stop) can sometimes make your day or night. I used this with my 360 in San Antonio. In pedestrian mode it worked like a charm.

My story has a continuation. When I came back to the car I forgot to turn off pedestrian mode. So Jill tried to have me turn left against traffic on a one-way street. Last second I realized that was a bad idea. I probably said a few nasty things directed to Jill. Later when I was going 35 mph, the nuvi very discreetly asked if I wanted to turn off pedestrian mode. My face a bit red, I responded Yes. So Jill was one up on me for some time.

JCA

I find the way the nüvi starts a route really weird. On my hand held 76CSx if I use it for routing it starts me right off on the street where I am. For instance, if I do a route leaving from my house it doesn't say to "drive to highlighted route". Instead, it says to drive down Primrose Lane and turn left on Ceres Avenue. Since I'm starting out on Primrose Lane that makes a LOT more sense than highlighting Ceres and telling me to drive to the highlighted route.

They are both Garmin units and are using the exact same set of maps. Very weird.....

Starbuck's? En Paris? Non. (:>)

But I have committed the same sin as jcavaa (driving in pedestrian mode, not going to Starbuck's), and it drives me crazy that the mode is not indicated on the main screen. It was (a bit) funny to watch the nuvi try to route my car over a bridge that took pedestrians. My wife, our driver, was less amused.

For travelling, I find the greatest feature that I can plug the Garmin into my macair and download addresses for somewhere I am visiting.

Neal

I have the 760 also, and I agree that this is unusual and sometimes difficult. For example, some times the "highlighted route" is not even visible on the screen if we have left the route to have lunch a few miles off the route. I would have expected standard guidance back to the nearest point where we would join the route again. Sometimes it has done that, though. I think it's triggered by distance and whether Garmin thinks it's close enough that you can see both your current location and the highlighted route on the screen.

Try to use it as a walking device, it's just not made for this purpose, not even weather proof. why risk ruining your investment in a light drizzle.

If want to go in circles to get your bearings or step forward then backward then go for it!

I Know Nuvi owners just love them, However if they had experience using them, or units prior to the Nuvi's they would know that Garmin has dropped features that their owners or users expect to have.

Get the right tool for the Job, in this case a HandHeld GPSr.

Bob