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

Our last trip was to Central Florida. Although we did use the GPS on the Highway, I think I am most happy to have it when trying to find a POI in a city that is new to me.

How about you?

I'm heading to Roanoke and the Blue Ridge Mountains sometime in July. Just got the newest map download and I'm kind of anxious to see how it works on a trip. I'm curious as to how many actual road updates are on the newest map.

I have been using mine on the back roads here in PA and it gets me back to the motel when ready to return.A life saver.

Too bad my memory served me better than the POI file.

The way to get to Pappadeaux seafood. I can see it from the freeway, but getting there is complicated.

Just came back from Pa to VA.Got some good traffic reports.It took me a little different way coming back.Went ahead and stayed with the directions and found it to be a improvement.

This has came up before about putting a via point in and not stopping and getting message trying to turn you back.I did that on this trip.Once I got the first message just touched recently found and hit my end destination again and no more message.Seems to be the fastest way to clear a via point.

I concur. It clears the via point, and away you go.

Last week, I drove from MD to FL (Fort Myers) via WV, KY, and TN instead of the usual route down the eastern seaboard. I was planning to drive of the "Tail of the Dragon" which is a section of US 129 in TN that has 300+ curves, however the road is closed north of that section due to a rockslide, so I had to bail on that plan. Since it was close to sundown, I didn't have time to take an alternate scenic route, such as the Cherohala Skyway.

in a tank bag on the Harley to get around town. Doing updates now to prepare for a Vegas to Spokane run in late July. Don't plan on carrying any maps, just the Nuvi. Can't wait!

Happy 4th!

While returning home yesterday, the Nuvi alerted me to an 11 minute delay ahead. Selecting "avoid" resulted in a message that the quickest route was already in place, did I still want to change, etc. After selecting yes, go ahead and change the route to avoid, the arrival time dropped back by 15 minutes, the route stayed the same, and I was left wondering exactly what happened. Setup is a Nuvi 760 with TTN. Certainly not the first oddity I have noticed by a long shot, but another reason to question the update speed / algorithm being used. No harm done though...

Through the middle of Iowa!

Might take a look at Preference in mapsouce and go to the advanced tab. it will let you make your own avoidances,

Today I used my Nuvi to go to a state park that's only about 35 miles away, and very easy to find. Why? The web site for the park warned "If you are using a GPS to navigate in your vehicle, it will deliver you to the wrong address. Do not use your GPS." That got my interest, and I used Mapsource to manually place a waypoint in the parking lot at the top of the mountain. I didn't need the GPS to get there, but it was interesting being able to, in effect, look ahead on the road (via the GPS screen) and see things like an upcoming hairpin turn, and to know just how much farther I had to go on that narrow, twisting road.

Using my nuvi 760. Even routed around a major traffic delay on the way home.

My wife and I were celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary. We were able to take up the gracious offer of family to watch our 7 and 4 year old children and took a "just the two of us" vacation to Hyde Park, NY from July 1 to July 5.

Minding our expenses and minding the limited time for travel we chose a location that was less than 3 hours from home and offered a lot of local sightseeing and some fine dining at the Culinary Institute of America. We also hit the local drive-in theater which is the closest to the NYC area at over 80 air miles away.

We had fun and the GPS with the added POIs certainly helped a bit. We took a long trek to a major outdoor flea market which I had in the Flea Market POI. Unfortunately the coordinates left me in a small cul-de-sac of a community in the middle of the woods and nowhere near the flea market. We eventually found it with some help and redirection but in all of the excitement I forgot to note the true coordinates for the Stormville, NY Flea Market (sorry y'all!).

The wife and I took ours camping, about 2 hours from home. Strangely it wanted us to take the turnpike on the way, but not on the way back. I didn't take it either way (not worth the tolls).

Kevin

no where in particular that needed a gps last weekend.. but this weekend is a different story.. stay tuned...

Steveston, BC

Went to YMCA camp in Black Mountain NC. With the poorly marked roads at night the nuvi allowed me to know what the right road was without having to see the road sign.

no fun

My wife, grandson and I took a 3000 mile camping trip and used the GPS constantly. We left home pulling our 5th wheel trailer and our first stop was Gettysburg, Pa. Six days touring Harper's Ferry, Gettysburg and Washington, DC then on to Niagara Falls. A week in Niagara seeing both sides of the Falls and getting soaked on the Maid of the Mist and Jet Boat. Then on to Kingston, Ontario for another week. Kingston was the first capital city of Canada. A side trip to Ottawa, the current capital, and a boat cruise on the St. Lawrence River made the trip. A visit with friends in the Adirondacks to rest up and a short trip in to NY city for the grandson to see the big apple. Then it was a restful trip home. The GPS was a lifesaver when you are pulling a 13' 4" trailer. The "low clearance" POI file really saved us several times. Not to mention all of the special attractions that we found in various files. Thanks again to everyone who keeps the files updated.

The new maps performed well, although the new section of US 35 in WV that has been open since last fall is not on the 2011.10 update. But, other changes were noted.

Ottawa and surrounding areas.

Nuvi360

We visited Chateau Ste. Michelle in Woodinville WA. Unfortunately, my little windmill is gone already.

I returned home from Ft Myers to Maryland. Along the way, I took a side trip through Great Smoky Mountains NP (include a hike to the top of Clingmans Dome).

-Dave

to go anywhere.

took mine to Las Vegas Nevada

We just went to Mackinac Island and our GPS was extremely helpful in getting us there and routing us around all of the summer road construction.

I-95 was slow to stopped around I695 today. The Nuvi traffic feature (TTN) did not warn me in time, but the I95 sign did give enough of a warning to get me to take heed and I jumped off the interstate to RT40 and avoided the worst of it.

On the return trip, the 760 froze up yet again. No warning of traffic up ahead from the Nuvi, but as with the southbound trip, I spotted trouble ahead (in the form of brake lights), and jumped off just in time to avoid another major backup.

Trip turned out fine, but the Nuvi contributions were mixed today.

You didn't loose it at the tables and managed to bring it back with you.

We just went to Buffalo, (Buffalo, Texas) and used the 755T to avoid heavy traffic on a 6 lane road by using a less traveled 4 lane road. But that was for not as there were passing thunderstorms producing pouring rain and there was also a baseball game at Rangers stadium. Basically, traffic was bad no matter how you went. So a normal 2 hour trip was now 3.

Went to IA, did not see the camera on I380.

Took mine across the border to Seattle..everything went well...no problem with my 1490T

I used my new Nuvi 3760T for a round trip to Indiana from Florida. I REALLY like the 3760T !

On the way back we pulled into a rest stop and the unit shut down for some unknown reason. That was the only issue we had with the unit. Also on the return trip we were stuck in 7 lanes of almost stopped traffic. Garmin said to take an exit ramp to some two lane highway and I decided there was nothing to loose. We took the long exit ramp and Garmen directed us back onto I75 about 3/4 mile ahead of the traffic we had been sitting in. Probably saved us 10-15 minutes in traffic. That was a real surprise.

sweet old colorado.

While having the (GPS) navigator is really useful, some times just having a set of maps makes the difference.

On my way to the home center yesterday, taking the back route as usual. Going down one street, usally making a right turn up a half mile or so, but what's that in the distance? flares, flashing red lights -- looks like a few pieces of fire apparatus, and a sheriff's office supervisor's SUV roars past me, lights flashing.

I don't think I want to go that way!

Press the "-" key on the GPS to zoom out a bit and take the next right. The area I'm in is a warren of dead-end streets, to dissuade commuters from cutting through the residential area.

But with a nice live map on the display, it's easy to wend my way through the maze, bypassing the party blocking the intersection.

Oh, and I took a different route home, avoiding the area in toto.

Let's hear it for the maps!

Our GPS units do have their limitations, but having that map on the screen is a huge help when there are unforeseen mishaps on the roads.

I still carry around a Road Atlas, just in case!

Sometimes you just need the really BIG picture!

san mateo to meet up with somebody to pick up some 9mm brass

Have been too busy at work for a while and lost my windmill in the process.

Anyway, just got back from a combination business/pleasure trip to Florida from NYC. Flew to Jacksonville with my trusty Maestro 3200 on a Saturday with my wife to visit her brother then drove to Fort Lauderdale on Monday. While driving, my GPS suddenly developed a case of "laryngitis" gradually losing its voice as we went along that 300 mile trip. By the time we got to Titusville, about a third of the way, all I could hear from it was a raspy croak.

I never realized how much I depended on the GPS audio for turns until this happened. With my eyesight not being as sharp as it used to be, and the need to focus on the road, I had to depend on my wife to read out the distances and turns on the GPS screen.

I tried resetting the Maestro a couple of times during our rest stops but the sound never came back.

Anyway, my wife and I enjoyed the long drive but it would have been nicer if only the GPS did not mess up like it did.

We stayed in Fort Lauderdale for a few days while I took care of work during the day and enjoyed the place with my wife in the evenings. During one of our outings, we came upon a discount center where they were selling new GPSs. I started looking out for a GPS with bluetooth but my wife spotted a Magellan Roadmate 1700. This GPS had a wide 7 inch screen which the salesman told us was intended for truckers. I started to look at a Garmin with bluetooth but my wife insisted that given my problems seeing the GPS screen, the Roadmate 1700 was the one I must get. And that was that.

After installing it in my rental car, I was pleasantly surprised that the screen was indeed easier on my eyes, the working audio helped too. I was a bit concerned that I may not be able to get my redlight alerts on it but after reading the specs (nothing the manual) I found out the it takes a mini-sd card. I am now assuming that I will be able to get the redlight data in it. I have ordered a mini-sd card and will definitely try it when it arrives. But then I lost my windmill... oh well...

Had to set the avoidance for Toll Roads in Denver to stay off the E-470 Toll Road. I was told this was electronic tags only without toll booths to pay the fees.

does the gps let you know of the one way streets and direct you the right way?

My last two trips with my Nuvi 260W were on golf courses where I have never played before. Using the method described here* my 260W gave me yardages for these courses as I played nearly as well as my friend's "Sky Caddie".

http://home.comcast.net/~ghayman3/garmin.gps/index.html

* See page 7
"HOW FAR IS IT OVER THAT LAKE ANYWAY?"

Using the free program "Extra POI Editor" I now download one batch of POIs from Google earth and convert to a .GPX file and then use "POI Loader to get them to my 260W as a custom POI file. The mapping process takes about 15 minutes from Earth to PC to GPS. Time well spent.

For 2 Weeks of "fun"

I have a w255 Garmin and have been using it to arrive at my destination in Chertsey PQue.,but that is the limit of the gps. I have not been able to mark any of the trails I do, which would be great if it would record them even with a line, so I will be able to find some of the newer ones we have not yet mapped on a paper. If there is anyway possible to get my unit to do this it sure would help.. Any one with a solution besides go buy a campers/hunters gps.. I like this one big picture..the woman's voice is a disgrace to the English language. A child I am sure could pronounce the words better..EST - is EAST, SUD - is SOUTH - NORD - is NORTH and OUEST - ISN'T O ITS WEST...
Any input would be a help
Thks

I use it a lot to drive home from where ever I am.

Used it to find my way around Lake Erie State Park and Sinclairville New York.

No Nuvi lockups - no traffic information picked up either (no issues encountered).

If you can find your trails on Google Earth and the area is on the map that is on your 255W you should be able to save points from G. Earth as I do with my golf course greens and other points of interest on the course. Not sure if you need voice directions too. I don't use the voice on the golf course.

See my post above in this thread .