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

Your physical location is irrelevant. The constellation of satellites covers the whole globe equally.

what type of terrain were you in? Did the windshield of the car have a metallic coating? Were you in a heavily wooded area? Were you in a city with very tall buildings?

Have to much work and not enough time for travel
But would sure like to find a place out of the
heat!

Just came back from a trip to New Wilmington,PA.To pick up a Hoosier porcelain top for a Hoosier cabinet i am making.

Last exit on the GSP, took the ferry from cape may to delaware outlet stores of course.

Nuvi360

About 6 weeks ago a friend and I took the bikes to Eurika Springs, Ark. That was about 1200 miles.

2 weeks ago my wife and I went to Deals Gap, NC on the Harley. About 2300 miles.

The only problem I had was, the cradle stopped working. It had power, but did not put it through to the ZUMO. I checked the unit on another cradle to be sure.

I was lucky that the Lodge owner new where I could get another Motorcycle Cradle about 60 miles away. I ended up buying another Zumo there. It was a BMW take off at a very good price.

I don't know how people did without GPS in the "olden days"

Ken

Never could get those paper maps refolded again.

I'm aware that physical location is irrelevant. I have brought the same etrex to Dubai and Philippines without any problem. I think it may be due to the weather, since it was always cloudy at that time.

Went to KC and ready to head back to Seattle..

Getting ready to take the 750 on another roadtrip to Knoxville this weekend. Always comes in handy for those backroad excursions.

Last trip was from Salt lake City to Rapid City through Yellowstone and Black Hills.

Used my Magellan 3225 and a 15 year old (or more) map of the entire eastern US plus a new map of Florida to make the journey. WOW! Where were these things years ago? Why didn't I get one sooner?

So easy to follow the interstate highways and know which lane to get into long before the intersection so I could concentrate on traffic instead of trying to watch for signs that were sometimes ambiguous. I or my wife would pick a city a ways ahead and use a POI like a gas station to route that leg, then jump to a POI in the next city (or farther ahead) to make the next route. Once in Florida I took routes off the main traffic areas and always found my way. The only problems on the trip were restaurants that went out of business, changed locations or were out of sight of the highway (had to ask about one, it was hidden behind a new bank building) and highways that had been rerouted due to construction.

At the time I had c330 and it did an outstanding job of getting me everywhere & finding all of the POI's I needed to find while in those areas (Disneyland, a reunion with some friends in CA & a NASCAR race in Fontana. I also used it in Feb to go to the Daytona 500, as sell as the Kennedy Space Center, DisneyWorld, & Seaworld. It did a fantastic job of finding me places to eat, gas, & lodging. The only drawback is that it didn't have traffic & weather alerts, which would have really helped. I don't go anywhere w/o my GPS, it's a great tool to use when you don't have the foggiest notion of how to get where you need to go. However "There is no Substitute for Local Knowledge", in some of the areas it tends to take you the long way around. I recently bought an 885T and am looking forward to using it (with the traffic & weather alerts)in October when I plan to go to Bakersfield for another visit with my daughter & back. I'm also curious as to how well the "Voice Recognition" will work. By the way my "Gas Hog" 2001 WS6 High Performance Trans AM averaged an impressive 24mpg for 6700 mi, with a low of 22 & high of 27, with two people and the car loaded to the top of the rear seat.

We left Kansas 2 weeks ago, and when thru, Chicago, Grand Rapids Mi, Niagara Falls, 1000 Islands, Montreal, Quebec, the east side of Maine and
Here the Garmin 7x5 died.
Along the coast thru Boston and Plymouth down to Cape Cod, then across the Long Island sound at New London on the ferry and thru New York city. Then we headed home thru Hershey PA, and the last stop was the Creation Museum in Cincinnati OH
actually in Kentucky.
total states/provinces passed thru 19

Now, I'm ready to stay home for a while.

I took my 750 with me on my last business trip to Israel as I found a loadable Israel map image (thanks to this site). My daughter wanted additional crystal glasses we gave her from last year's trip and the only place I new that had them was in Old City in Jerusalem. Just getting to the Old City is a nightmare as the paper maps are terrible and it doesn't help when the street names change every other block. The GPS map was advertised as a Holy Land map and that's what it was. Coverage in Tel Aviv was main roads only but in Jerusalem it was very detailed and took me to the Jaffa Gate parking garage without incident. I wish the designer would provide more detail of the non Holyland cities but it was better than a paper map.

I question whether the coverage is uniform. My GEKO shows the number and location of satellites in the sky. The number varies widely. Rumor is that GPS coverage is poor in HI and I noticed fewer satellites there. Is there a sky chart of the satellites available anywhere?

Ive been on this forum for a year, and am just now getting around to reading this thread. I was shocked to see my home town mentioned

Was born in, and grew up in New WIlmington. Live in the LA area now.

Emphasis added

Since the satellite doesn't have to be directly overhead, and you only need three to get an accurate fix, how can yo presume the coverage is spotty? You do know that those Sats are not in Geosynchronous orbit?

If the coverage was spotty, why would the military rely on it so heavily for missiles, Navy ship guidance, troop positions, Aircraft guidance and so forth.

My last trip was in North Bay, Ont. I remember one of my trips to Florida and my daughter who was 6 at the time wanted Pizza Hut at 9pm during travelling time. We had borrowed our first GPS from our brother in law. My wife quickly looks up Pizza Hut on the GPS and we started driving for that direction. It took 15 min driving in the dark back roads and I started to get worried if this thing was working. Suddenly out of the blue a neon sign in the middle of nowhere appears before our eyes. I was sold. I would not leave home without it.

I frequently use my Garmin 760 on trips. I flew to Newark and had the GPS guide me to various places I had not been before. Mostly business, unfortunately. Still, it saved significant time around the area with the traffic receiver (a worthwhile addition if it isn't included) keeping me clear of most of the traffic.

My next trip, to northern WI from STL won't require the traffic receiver but the GPS is nice to find new back road ways to get where I'm going.

Up to Hartford, then some backroads back to Fairfield, Stamford, Old Greenwich and then home all the roads were quiet for a 4th.

Nuvi360

Used the Nuvi 500 to find my way on ATV trails to War Eagle Mountain. Got there and it bricked. Had a 50 mile circle planned, but had to return to the truck.

And by the way, Garmin was closed on Friday "For the holiday". So I guess I will see what happens on Monday.

I am here in HHI with the fam. I have updated coordinate locations for the HHI Starbucks POIs for werskine to update. I have sent them to him I just need to tell him that they are validated.

People are still shooting of there fireworks - they were up late last night and I suppose it will be more of the same here at Hilton Head.

Just found the POI Factory. Wanted to say thanks for a great sight. I was trying to figure out how to turn on Rest Stops on my nuvi and when I couldn't find it, I did a search. With an almost 3 year old son, those rest stops are a life saver. I've been programming them in as my own favorites, but this is going to be great. Thanks again for a great sight. Can't wait to find out all the little tricks from the experts here.

-Scott

then Mt. Rushmore, Salt Lake City and Tahoe

Last one is history... next one is to DC, then a cross-country trip to New Mexico.

We took ours from Minnesota to Niagara Falls in a rented RV. What a blast and the GPS and POI it was a savior. Able to track down those needed supplies from Sam’s Club and navigated trough the urban jungles of Detroit (no offence but they do drive aggressive there). And of course the best part, besides the falls, was to spend a week in an RV with a 20 , 17 and 12 year old. I just can’t wait to torture the kids again with family bonding.

Just got back from a trip to Broadus MT stoppinf at Flathead LK and Chico Hotsprings on the way. Love having the NUVI on the Dash telling me how long to my dest. and pointing out things along the way.

Spent a week in the Seattle, Washington area. My Nuvi was a godsend. I used it for at least 95% of the driving trips and it never failed me. I even used it to pick nearby restaurants and obscure POI's. I also used some of the POI files from this website. Would not think of taking another trip without my GPS.

BTW...I tried tracking the progress of my flight with the GPS, but had no success. Could not get a satellite in the airplane or in the airports. I wonder if they jam the GPS signals?

My first real trip with my GPS is going to be later this week, to Vegas. Getting there's not gonna be a big deal,jsut a matter of hopping on i15 north from just outside LA here, and its a straight shot to Vegas. GOing to visit a friend who moved there 2 months ago, and never having been to Vegas other than the aiport, THATs gonna be a challange...I've tested out the GPS in some areas here in the LA/OC area that i'm not really familiar with, and its done a very good job. ALways have had my paper Thomas Guide handy to have an idea where i'm going. There's a few quirks of course. It did NOT like the i405N to CA55S interchange, and kept recalculating once i took the ramp, and kept recalculating most of the way through the cloverleaf. Bit it did eventually figure out where I was, and directed me home. I normally take a less obvious turn when I get off the CA55 exit neear my house, it gave me the obvious one. Of course, its about a 120 degree right turn, took me a few trips off that exit to realize that turn was shorter, so ..

If they jammed the GPS signal, then it would be unusable for the aircraft also.

You need to be in a window seat on the plane, or when in the terminal, at a window. Even then you may not be able to see enough sky to get a signal.

I have traveled much in the Baltimore area and have gone to NY - great.

My experience with airplane travel is that you have to sit very close to the window to get a signal. While in the plane I achieved a ground speed of 630 MPH. I have that as my max speed and it is really neat.

I went to Edmonton on the weekend,kinda boring drive tunes on my Kenwood with GPS sounds great!

visiting with relatives from Fort McMurray, Alberta who were vacationing on Quadra Island BC.

last trip i took with my Garmin GPS was to the local Wells Fargo Bank. lol had to make a deposit.. 7,000 dollars. Booya .. god bless my Garmin for getting me there safe and sound...

Kingston NY - Riverhead NY - with a very useful traffic service!

Getting ready for a drive to VA. One change on the route that will not be reflected is a fairly significant traffic flow change north of Baltimore on the southbound I-895/I-95 split. The previous flow had I-95 traffic sticking to the right to continue on. The new pattern will have I-895 traffic exiting to the right, with I-95 traffic staying to the left.

Last month I had a trip that ended up just short of 1500 miles. I drove from Council Bluffs, IA to the Chicago suburbs. From there to Minneapolis, then back home to Council Bluffs. Without my trusty 250W I would have been a goner in Chicago & Mpls!!

We made a run for lunch to try out a pizza place from Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives in Glendale AZ. About 90 Miles round trip and it took me right to there door. Going to eat is always a good excuse to get the bike out.

Scott, you've stumbled upon a very helpful, friendly community. Check out Miss POI's "Getting Started" and go from there.

Again, welcome.

Cheryl

We went on a trip to Southern Ontario using the ferry from Manitoulin Island. The Nuvi 255W worked great.

Too much work, I have. And time for travel, not enough. But a place out the heat, I'd sure like to find.

Rochester,Buffalo,Toronto,Lake George, then home whew!!

Nuvi360

Just returned from Victoria after taking Port Angeles ferry. Spent two days and in my travels in the city my Garmin worked and took me to the sights.
Noticed several red light cameras which did no show up as alerts. Are they up to date?
guy

Leaving in a couple weeks for a 10 day trip to Rhode Island, Cape Cod, Boston, and Maine.

My father-in-law borrowed the GPS this week as they drove down to Savanna, Ga. and will be dropping it off before we leave.

Haven't been back to poi-factory in quite a while. Anyway, I took my Nuvi 350 to our Walt Disney World Trip. It's the third time the unit has made the trip. Rented a car at the Alamo at the Car Care Center and noticed quite a high percentage of people were renting the $10 a day GPSrs (they look like Garmin C-series) with vent-mounts.

I'm convinced that the Garmin map database and routing algorithm has been properly tweaked for touristy places like the WDW area. Navigated to a restaurant once, and the route included U-turn that I couldn't believe. Once I got there, there was a long line of cars waiting for the U-turn ... and headed to the same restaurant area I was going to!

Didn't make it last week still on the road and just forgot to check the POI...shame on me.

Going to be traveling for a few weeks myself. First time out of the local area, going to be interesting to see how it works when I don't know the roads and have to follow it religously.

Taking a road trip in Missouri. Nuvi is doing well, and I only struggled with a few addresses that were on Highway or State Routes. Those are a royal pain to search for because of the inconsistent abbreviations.