GPS Feature of Routes

[Makuna]

I am not talking about the technical aspect of using them, I am talking about the feature in general.

I have heard on several threads talk about importance of routes on the GPS. My current cheap-azz GPS doesn't have them but I plan to upgrade soon. But I am unsure why they would be important and I feel like I am missing something.

Further why does only having 10 not enough?

 

[Ignacio]

Pretty simple. If you were going from Seattle to Key West without routing capability you'd get this. Point A and Point B.

If you wanted to see things along the way including Mt. Evans (highest paved road in North America), Greensburg (destroyed by a tornado), and New Orleans (for whatever reason) you'd want a route with multiple waypoints and details between each with final destination summarized.

GPS units with routing capability have these very convenient type features.

Room for 10 routes wouldn't be a problem in my mind. Only 10 waypoints per route....that might be constraining on longer elaborate trip...or things like the Iron Butt Rally.

 

[zzzzip]

When the fellows set up routes to down load to the GPS, will they work on a Mac or do you need a special program?

Dummies want to know.

:beach:

 

[Capt. Bob]

Further why does only having 10 not enough?

Mak, come on.

Don't you know if one is good then two must be better

So how could one be happy with ten when twenty would satisfy?

I would venture to guess that those who use them (and also share) wish they had more. I have several in my 550 for places I never had been and didn't want to waste time just driving around. It takes time (especially if you don't do it on a regular basis) to create a good route and you don't want to give it up. Yes, you can store it on a computer but on an extended trip (say two or three weeks) you could easily create ten routes very quickly and without a laptop along you have to start "throwing people out of the boat" a lot sooner than you might like.

 

[Bogey907]

You can create your route on Google Maps and then use this to create a .gpx file to download to your GPS:

https://www.elsewhere.org/journal/gmaptogpx/

 

[wfooshee]

Furthermore, when riding (or driving) a route, the GPS has the ability to show you things like distance and/or time to the next turn, distance and/or time to destination, and average speed (useful if you're on a schedule, like doing 7 consecutive 1500-mile days.)

 

[HaulinAshe]

GPS routes give you the freedom to explore roads and areas that look good on a map, with the confidence of knowing you should make it back home before the wife finds out you took the day off.

A limitation of 10 points/route (which is what I think you meant), is extremely crippling. Many of the simplest, 1-day routes I design, commonly have more than 20 points each. I have several day-rides that contain more than 80 points each.

It the limitation is indeed 10 routes, each with some much higher limit on points (256 ?), then the downside is losing those routes if they cannot be offloaded/saved. My personal route library probably contains 400-500 routes. I back them up just like family photos.

 

[Hudson]

One interesting feature reported on the new Zumo 660 is the ability to seamlessly export google maps to the Zumo. I'll be interested to see how the feature ends up working

 

[Makuna]

When I used term Route I did mean route and not waypoints in a route. Having only 10 waypoints would be pretty bad.

Ok, I think I get it now. I don't travel far without a laptop myself and only having one route has been fine with me. I schedule a days worth on the laptop and having it ready in the morning. But I see the point that you may want to keep a few favorite trips on hand so you could just punch them up and go riding. Then having a limit of only ten would limit you to only your most favorite or a painful sitting in front of the compute when you want to ride.

 

[Specter]

When I used term Route I did mean route and not waypoints in a route. Having only 10 waypoints would be pretty bad.
Ok, I think I get it now. I don't travel far without a laptop myself and only having one route has been fine with me. I schedule a days worth on the laptop and having it ready in the morning. But I see the point that you may want to keep a few favorite trips on hand so you could just punch them up and go riding. Then having a limit of only ten would limit you to only your most favorite or a painful sitting in front of the compute when you want to ride.

The biggest reason I've found for creating and storing multiple routes are multi-day trips. By creating a separate rout for each day, it keeps the GPS information manageable, with your day's final destination being the end. Just load that day's route, and you're off.

Its also a good feature for multi-day or multi-leg rallies.