Keeping the Windmill Alive - Where was your last trip with your GPS?

I took mine on a trip to Washington DC a couple of weeks ago. My wife gave me grief for "wasting my money" when I bought my Nuvi but it sure did come in handy when trying to find restaurants or some of the more out of the way places we wanted to see. Also came in handy when it took us around a backup on I-495. The only problem I had was trying to connect in pedestrian mode when walking around the mall right in DC. I let it go one time for about 30 minutes without ever finding a satellite. The problem never existed anywhere but there.

On my motorcycle in June - July 07. I used my GPS V mounted on the handlebar of the bike with the bicycle mount with no problems. I have a 12v socket wired up and use that power cable. Have used this config on 2 bikes for several years. Never gives me any trouble, even in heavy rain and the resulting dirt/mud. I rode through some of the worst of the flooding rains in the Midwestern states (KS, OK, TX). Only got a bit bewildered in Arkansas trying to find my way from I-570 into Hogeye, AR (just had to see Hogeye) along routes 156 and 28. Very small communities there and just little country lanes. I hadn't loaded the maps for this area so I was "off roading" it for a while by the V and made some detours on my own. Rode up Mt. Evans and got an elevation reading of 14,127 ft (the sign says 14,130). On the way back home rode US 98 along the Gulf and, throwing out some negative elevations, legitimately had 2 ft elevation readings. The trip clocked 4307 miles on the V.

Since this trip, I bought a Zumo 450 and have a trip to Cape Cod planned for Labor Day. I only hope the Zumo is as trouble-free as the V has been, but I'll be keeping, and probably bringing along, the V, just in case.

I took the GPS to San Francisco... the buildings in the downtown area really screw up the GPS tracking

0bnxshs, be sure to check out the Zumo forum.

http://www.zumoforums.com/zumo/

Hi Cheryl,
I pretty much use mine daily for work and the last place I worked was Middleton, MA. I find my gps to be a valuable tool in my daily travels.

Ray

I drove from Toronto, Canada to Minneapolis. I have the Nuvi 680 which has the MSN direct feature. However the only time i had a decent signal was when I passed through Chicago. Not very useful for the cheapest gas feature which didn't work for most of the trip.

What is the model GPS you are using? My unit (C340) doesn't have a "pedestrian" mode. Sounds like it could be helpful.

I looked up the V, and Garmins site states it's been discontinued. Hang onto it!

I used my Garmin this spring at the Cape. It worked great for navagating as well as having current phone numbers for restaurants - some didn't open until 4 pm so that saved me the bother of trying to go there for lunch.

Have fun!

I'm starting to look for a motorcycle compatable GPS for my hubby for Christmas.

MM, I looked up your Zumo 550, it gets great reviews on different forums. I'll add that one to my list. I'll keep checking the prices. They usually get pretty competitive around the holidays.

http://gpstracklog.typepad.com/gps_tracklog/2006/11/garmin_z...

Yesterday me and a friend went to a car race in Dc, and after decided to head up to Philly for a cheesesteak. my Garmin C330 was flawless. only lost signal in the harbor tunnel in Baltimore. Thinking about it is there a way to set the route to avoid tolls? i recently returned a TOMTOM one in trade for the Garmin. and i recall the tomtom offering the warning of tolls on the route. I'm still a noob, so any help with that would be cool.

Yes, you can avoid tolls...

On the main screen, touch the wrench, and on the settings menu, touch 'navigation'; then, 'avoidances' - and then touch 'toll roads' to place a check-mark next to it on the list. But be aware, if it is checked, you might see a route that appears to be a bit on the ridiculous side from time to time - you may be better off taking the toll road from a time or total miles point of view.

yeah thats true..i work just across the chesapeake bay bridge 8 miles away. the toll avoidance is over 100 miles away..hahaha thanks for the info! i think ill set that feature on a trip by trip basis.
thanks again!

I used my sp2720 to go to Philadelphia and it was trouble free it took me to the places i wanted to go with out any trouble it was so accurate that i was amazed it wasn't passed the location or before the location but right in the exact drive way it also works excellent for finding anything you type into it the 2720 is the Best

We just returned from a 3 week trip to ND and MN. The nuvi 350 worked flawlessly. It was invaluable, especially in downtown Minneapolis. Sometimes we questioned the 'indirect' routing, only to find out it was right .... it knew where the one-way streets were. Always got us to our destination.

We got through Minneapolis the day before the bridge went down; and got through MN the day before the severe storms hit. Can't credit the GPS for this, somebody more powerful was in charge!

RT

RT,
It is great to have you back, you were missed;)

Miss Poi

I have a Nuvi 200. My plan was to use it when walking around to find restaurants, etc but it was of dubious help at best since it didn't always want to lock on to the satellites. Ended up buying a map and using that. I assume that in pedestrian mode it ignores one way streets and the like. There is also a bicycle mode that I have never used.

I have a GPS but I REFUSE to ask it for directions!

In the last month it's guided me to Brooklyn, Staten Island, The Bronx and many places in between.
With the number of poi's found here, (thanks everyone) and Google Earth, we have enough information to plan a week of things to do and see. Add a AAA pak and you can make the return trip home just as much fun.
The coolest part of having your own guide is getting off the highway and seeing areas that normally get missed because we're afraid of getting lost. I can enjoy some of the scenery instead of turning the radio down and concentrating on signs.

The next trip will be to North Conway, NH at the end of August.

From the east bay, just west of SF. These GPS things are so awesome. I am hooked.
Traveling through Salt Lake there was a detour. I just trusted the GPS to reroute and BAM, I am out the other side and flying. Yeah!
Up to Wyoming and a right turn toward Colorado. Perfect navigation.
I used my old SP 2720 for the trip. Awesome GPS.

My last GPS trip was yesterday. Nothing exciting, just a 70 mile trip over to Madison, WI for a wedding. Driving in downtown Madison can be a nightmare however, but the GPS took us right to the door.

Hope you get a chance to ride the Conway Scenic Railway. If you go in late August, you might catch some pretty foliage.

http://www.conwayscenic.com/

The Conway scenic railway is the center of our trip.
We did the Polar Express this past Christmas and we had to return for the 5 hour ride. My 4 year old Grandson loves trains so I'm sure this should light up his world. And now I'm sure I'll get to take some great pictures.

Thank you for the heads up and the link,
Sam

Yup. All the streets are one way and they go around the Capital with lake on each side. If you have never been there. You can ended up driving around the Capital for days.

MM,
Thanks for the heads up. The wife has signed up for that site using same handle there.

I just went to NJ from DC. I have done this drive hundreds of times. I used my Nuvi going up and back and told it to avoid toll roads. It only added about 20 mins to the whole trip I was shocked....and it showed me ways that I never knew about so next time when there are backups I will know how to get around them...best 350 i spent on a 350....

I recently used my 660 to go to Alabama. I had a loss in my family so using my 660 ensured that I didn't need to worry with direction during this time. I also learned a few things that I didn't know that my 660 did. But it was a helpful tool. I also utilized the dashboard feature, showing me how long I have been on the road and how much longer it would take.

You found somthing interesting there )

I did DC a few weekends ago. The GPS worked great, if I did not have it, I would not have been able to find close parking to where I was going as well trying to get in and out of the city.

I am on a 10 day road trip from Arizona to Arkansas to Texas and back to Arizona. So far, the only problem I have encountered was going through Oklahoma City. I guess because of all the detours I got conflicting information on my gps and ended up having to take a couple of detours to get back on the right direction.

The wife and I will be doing the Niagara on the Lake Ontario wine tour this week, the AllOntario_wineries_4Fields.csv will be our guide.

My wife's workgroup is doing a scrapbook of a teddy bear and his worldly travels. Only problem is none of them have a trip outside of the country palnned this year.

So using the Garmin, we took a road trip to Manchester, Paris, and Bogata to get some pictures of the bear in these NE Texas towns. Then capped of the day with a trip to Shreveport and the casinos.

In a couple of months, they will take the pictures and put together a scrapbook to send to the Ronald McDonald house along with the Teddy Bear.

I work and live in Atlanta. So I am constantly using my Nuvi to get me from client site to client site. I have had very few problems.

I took my Magellan to Chicago where I took the train and public buses. It was nice being able to watch the screen reading the street names so I knew when to single to get off the bus.

Worked very well doing it that way - spent $4.5 on trains/buses for the two day trip instead of $90 renting a car.

Flew to IA and then rented a car and put my trusty Zumo 550 on the windshield with POI's and destinations already loaded. I don't know how I traveled without it.

James

I just came back from a trip to Winnipeg from Vancouver. (approx. 5000km round trip) My Nuvi 360 never missed an exit or turn. We found it very useful for planning and finding gas stations and food along the way. It did on occasion, for no appearant reason say, "Recalcualting" andstart my route from where I was. I can only assume it was the heat in the car as it was close to 50C outside.

We stopped to fuel up and the guy next to me noticed the GPS and asked if I could help him out. His paper maps were out if date and he didn't know how to get to his location. I plugged in his final detiniation into the Nuvi and in a moment, he had a smile on his face and was on his way.

I love my Nuvi.

I use it everyday goin to and from work, just to try and see if it shows local POI's. It's handy at work as well, we do a lot of delivery in Eastern Ky and with those backroads, if thwe can get the road name it helps out a lot.

My C330 did take me to the exact place I was going in Daytona.

We four Missourians drove from Salt Lake airport to Jackson, WY to Teton Park to Yellowstone to Cody to Montana to Idaho back to Salt Lake (Copper mine, Promontory Point, Park City, etc.). Then flew to Las Vegas for local trips and Boulder Dam. We took the Nuvi everywhere and it worked great for finding hotels, food, shopping and attractions. Took it on daily hikes in the parks. Just wanted to see the different altitudes of the trails and scenery. Also thought it would be be nice to have Lat/Long coordinates in case of illness or accident.

Tammie and I drove from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, using the c330 to negotiate the way from LAX on the many freeways all the way to our hotel in Vegas. We had never been to LAX, so having the GPS was a great help.

Flew to Texas a few weeks back. Drove around Dallas-Ft Worth area, then did a loop. Down to Austin, San Antonia, Corpus Christi, Houston, Galveston and back to Dallas. The Nuvi was great.

Every so often along the way, the wife would suggest exiting the highway to explore a small town. Before, it was nerve-racking. Driving in and trying to find your way back out. But now with the Nuvi, drive in, explore and back onto the highway.

During the latter part of our trip, she gave the nuvi a thumbs up and remarked on how helpful it was. Reading between the lines ... how more relaxed I was at driving. (not having to get stressed out with maps and directions, especially when a turn is missed.)

Thank you Jill for your Re-calculating ...

My wife and I drove from our home in Eastern PA to Minneapolis and back....stops in Ft Wayne IN; Minneapolis; Dubuque IA; and Indianapolis, IN. We visited Clear Lake IA, Galena IL and several other intermediate stops.

The C530 performed flawlessly!

Regards, Ted

I haven't really been anywhere significant since getting my Nuvi a month or so ago, but I do have two trips planned soon.

September is a trip to San Francisco for a convention, where I hope to get my first trial of the FM Traffic unit.

November will be a trip to Palm Springs. Lots of traffic between me and Palm Springs, so it should be a great test of the FM traffic.

I'm looking forward to trying that part out!

Thank you... I'm good for another 3 weeks.

A lot of auto GPS don't but I use the raw display of coordinates if I have the coordinates of the destination and mine works fine that way!

I use my unit daily even when I don't think I need to. I find that there many times I locate things I didn't even plan on going to but because I have it it I use it.

The story I would like to share is that I went to a big hospital recently to drop off something. I parked in one of the many parking garages (car park) and had to walk clear to the other side of the hospital (no parking over there). I had trouble finding the way out of the parking garage to find a path that took me to the hospital which was a few blocks away on the other side of a barrier that had only a bridge over. Once inside the hospital, I made so many turns down so many hallways, up elevators, and down elevators that I became disoriented by the time I finally arrived. So on my way back I was lost. But I had my Nuvi 680 in my pocket. So I went to a window and turned it on. I had saved the parking coordinates to favorites before I got out of the car. So now all I had to do was to turn it on and get my bearings. I was going the wrong way. So I headed in the general direction it showed the car and I made it back to the parking garage. But then I didn't know which level I had parked on. So I turned the GPS back on. I remembered the elevation it was showing just before I got out of the car. So since I knew about tall each floor was and the current elevation, I was able to work out how many floors to go up. Sure enough, the car was on the floor I got off on and the GPS lead me right to it.

I find it also good to mark parking coordinates at the mall or a big parking lot! Now if it could just remind me what I went into the store for!

My last trip was to the Twin Cities, MN area. I'm fairly familiar with the area, having lived there several years ago, and with my son and daughter still living there, we make several trips a year. Nevertheless, we made good use of the unit to find directions to the nearest Byerly's grocery store for our wild rice soup fix.

In the spring we made a trip to New Mexico, and at Labor Day we will head back north to the North Shore of Lake Superior. At the end of October we will be making a trip to Dallas, Houston, Galveston, Corpus Christi, and San Antonio.

I originally started using GPS in 1999 while traveling full time in a 5th wheel trailer. I used a PC-based De Lorme Earthmate system which was invaluable all over the U.S. and in eastern Canada.

I love my Nuvi 360, and often use it while I'm driving around my home town just for the fun of it.

I'd have given you coordinates for coffee that's better than Starbucks...

We drove from Hotlanta to the Windy City (where I just moved from last year) ... used the Garmin C320 prevented us from getting lost and told us the nearest food, gas station, and rest areas.

of additional uses for a GPSr. How many of us have tried to find our car after a day at the amusement park, beach or ball game?
I will definitely give this a try on my next trip to Walt Disney World.

dd

I personally like the WAAS option on my Nuvi 350.

My wife and I used our Nuvi660 on a trip from NJ to northern Michigan. On the way home to NJ we spent a couple of days in Dayton Ohio. On the last leg of the trip we took a side trip to the Flight 93 National Memorial (http://www.honorflight93.org) near Shanksville, PA. The only issue here was the 660 was trying to take us down some roads that are now private. It looks like they cut a new road or two to the memorial site. Luckily there were signs guiding you to the memorial. After visiting the memorial the 660 took us back to the PA Turnpike via a 30 mile drive east on US30 - aka the Linclon Highway. What a scenic drive. Without the 660 we would have backtracked back to the PA Turnpike and missed the way traveling used to be on the US highways before the interstate highways etc.