GPS Operation
 

Where can I learn to set my Garmin GPS for the back roads I WANT to travel on trips. I want it to tell me turn by turn what I set in Google. I can pretty much figure it on Google Maps but can't get the info into the Garmin but can't save my work in Google.

I'm sure some one has done this in the past but I can't find it in "search".

Re: GPS Operation
 

These GPS gizmos think they know what we want better than we do so they decide on the route. WRONG!. I was recently travelling on a freeway and about 5 miles short of my exit when the GPS suddenly decided I should exit at the next off ramp. When I checked where it wanted me to go, it was up some side street in now where land. I ignored it but it persisted for several miles after I took the right turn, then decided I might be the one who knows what is going on. Just coz it's new doesn't mean it's better.
People have died over here because they blindly followed what the GPS told them. There is one location north of here where an address in a town several miles away would take you to a place somewhere out in the desert. If you were low on fuel and it's hot, you were in trouble until, after many complaints, Google finally fixed it.
I like MAPS better than GPS!

Re: GPS Operation
 

First, you need a Garmin GPS model that supports "custom waypoints" to be downloaded into it. Not all GPSs can do it. You need an upper end model.

Once you have that, you can put a custom route that you have figured out on your computer into the GPS. I don't know if you can export it from Google Maps and into the Garmin directly. I use a free program on my PC called BaseCamp (comes from Garmin) to work up the route and then download it into the Garmin.

It's a pain.

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Re: GPS Operation
 

Thinking back to my Air Force flying days, Nothing better than advising my Navigator to set up something phony and then we would laugh and "argue" with the GPS, because in those days, the GPS female voice would get upset and she sounded alarmed and GREAT. Nothing new today, I still like to purposely take short cuts and back roads to "Upset the GPS...

Re: GPS Operation
 

Took a couple of vacations in Ireland recently and had a GPS each time that came with our rental car. We like to wander and take the back roads. We would set a destination and head that direction but would often get sidetracked and head off in a different direction. Both times the GPS units we had were very laid back and just calculated a different way to get there. Most units get pretty excited and tell you repeatedly to make a u-turn to get back on the original route.
Really liked those units. Perhaps it is an Irish thing.

Re: GPS Operation
 

Upper end Garmin units have accessory programs that can be added like waypoints and map direction imports.
It needs to be understood that mobile phones are not GPS devices, they work off triangulation of cell towers. If you stay in coverage areas you are ok.
Have had a few different GPS units, I think the best overall are the Garmins, been using them for years. The best is the ability to re-route on the fly.

Now a days, when I take a trip, the GPS goes but only as a backup.
I like to wander around and see the sites and not be on a schedule too tight.

J