personalized route planning GPS?

If I understand what you are looking for almost all models will allow you to "shape" the route by editing the route and adding via points. A via point doesen't have to be town or even a place with a name, it can be any place/point you pick directly off of the map right on the GPS (a spot on a road, an intersection where you wish to turn or even an off-road spot).

If that's how you plan to do your routing I suspect you would want to pick a model that specifically allows you to "save" routes you have planned. MANY models do NOT let you save routes that you may want to plan in advance.

The 2 features you may want to look at are "saved routes" capability, and the ability to "sort/optimize" routes with multiple destinations.

Use the GPS feature comparison tool on the garmin page for motorcycle friendly or automobile friendly models with the features you'd like.

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=135

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=134

The motorcycly friendly units are are more weatherproof and far more expenssive than lets say a Nuvi (automobile model)but in my family we've also used Nuvis on motorcycles for years and they work just fine if you can position them where you can protect them from the rain. In a pinch you can toss a baggie over them and be fine.

One of the things to consider (plan ahead for) when you are shopping is how/where you are going to mount it on your motorcycle. Touring machines offer a lot of optiona bur some of the popular crotch rockets have absolutely no handle bar space to even mount a bracket and you have to get creative.

A bluetooth enabled model will also work with a helmet headset if you want to use a phone or actually care about hearing directions instructions.

What he wants might be accomplished simply by marking "don't use highways (interstates)"; even my old Magellan has that and it barely qualifies as a GPS !!

BUT..........

I also ride a motorcycle and am dissapointed at the "custom route" capability of both the units I have. Neither will allow easy customization like I want for long trips. That is: Avoid Interstates between major towns but USE the Interstate getting through large metro areas.

Riding through even medium size cities, like Nashville and Chatanooga, in the heat of summer is NO FUN.....and it takes forever.

I would jump at a new GPS if it could do that fairly easily AND have an earphone jack. Nobody will ever convince me that a GPS on the handlebars is not a potentially dangerous distraction.

Using the via points on my C330 doesn't allow me to save all of them in a route I would want to take. Selecting the "don't use highways" in the options, does avoid highways, but the GPS still selects the route. Where I prefer to select the route I want to take.

Having a hard time finding a GPS with route planning. The 7xx series had that feature but has been discontinued. I will call Garmin support when they are open and see if they can recommend a GPS that has a route planning option.

Riding a motorcycle, I want to plan a route with scenic views, rural roads, off the beaten path places to visit, etc. That would be a fantastic feature to have on a GPS, instead of it always picking the route.

I have a setup for my C330 to mount on the handlebars, and with the volume turned all the way up I can hear the voice commands and see the map. Now if I can only take the roads I want to take...

HAVING YOUR ROUTES YOUR WAY - Even Without A Routing Nüvi

What Frank508 said is sage advice.

As KA1167 pointed out that some features that some GPSrs have are not currently available on our nüvi -- but be can temporary overcome their lack with a little tricky planning.

VTXRider sez, "I want to plan a route with scenic views, rural roads, off the beaten path places to visit, etc. That would be a fantastic feature to have on a GPS, instead of it always picking the route."

I have no experience with the C330 but if it has some nüvi qualities -- you can do that too.

For those who DON'T have a route (trip planning) feature on their nüvi you can make a pseudo route that will take you down any roads you want by following the GPS directions (and your easy pre-efforts.)

{The 200, 300, 600, 1200 and 1300 nüvi series DO NOT have 'route planning' capabilities.}

BUT ....... YOU CAN DO SOMETHING SIMILAR

I have written several articles about HOW TO on the GARMIN TRICKS, TIPS, WORK AROUNDS, HINTS, SECRETS & IDEAS website which will give you some food for thought.

***YES VIRGINIA, THERE IS MORE THAN ONE VIA POINT AVAILABLE - Sort of ...

***SHOULD I BUY A NÜVI WITH ROUTE CAPABILITY? - A Poster Wanted To Know

Choose enough via points -- reasons in this article

***CREATING ROUTES ON YOUR GARMIN - Using MapQuest May Make It Easy (some information here)

and companion article

***MAPQUEST IMPROVES SOFTWARE - Route Setting For Your Nüvi Now Even Easier (some information here)

Problems with via points in this article

***MY VIA DRIVES ME LOCO - Via Point Woes

[ Articles can be found at: http://bit.ly/garmin_gps_tricks ]

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WHAT CAN YOU DO?

My suggestions for those without instruments that have route or trip planning capability are:

--to include enough via points so that you are designing your trip route using the 'special techniques' -- not your Garmin

--use the "ZZ" technique [maybe "ZZ01", "ZZ02" etc.] This is a highly useful technique that you will begin to understand better as you use it. It does require you to use the Spell technique.

--clear your Recently Found area and plant all your "ZZ"s there for easy later use. [No Spell technique needed here]

[There is also a hidden benefit by using Recently Found if you are using a voice activated unit such as the 3700 series [not any motorcycle unit that I know of] you can just TALK to your unit and select the next via point from the Recently Found area. This is way cool and easy to do.]

--here is a tricky technique that I haven't written about yet - but will; take a little used Favorite category and edit the existing Favorites to temporary shift to a different category (give them a unique prefix when you do it so that you can find them later and put them back -- if you want to), then load your unique trip Favorites, via Favorites editing, into that category. For quickly changing your via points you would go to the Favorites section, select the 'special (reserved)' category and choose from there. Fairly simple. [Use this when you don't have time to put everything in the Recently Found area.]

Having a route capable unit is preferred -- but even those units can cause some problems that may make you want to throw them against the wall to see if they will bounce (nag, nag, nag -- you will know what I mean if your alter around or miss a via point.)

GARY HAYMAN

You can contact me via the POI mail system or
ghayman3 at sign 00comcast dot net [remove the 00 and fix the address]

[ I will be on a European cruise the most of May ]

Thanks for this information! There is a ton of info to sort through, but very interesting stuff. Since I want to update to a newer (read: slimmer) model like the Nuvi instead of the C330 I have now, I am now looking through all the new models available out there. Finding the one with the features I need and want doesn't look too difficult. Several good models with route planning available. Trying to find out from others how this feature works for them.

As for mounting a new one to my motorcycle, I don't think that should be a problem. I can rig up a good system like I did with my C330. Thanks for the information, lots of helpful stuff there.