Does anyone have any experience with the Garmin GPS units? Specifically
the Drivesmart 55 and for US/Canadian travel?

I am looking for a unit that will allow me to customize my route, i.e. if
it picks the fastest or shortest and I decide I want to take a side road
that I have heard is more scenic.

In past I have not been so interested in GPS because I would rather use
maps. However, in recent years, my eyesight has gotten where it would be
nice to have something tell me where to turn, but only if I had some input
in setting the route. :)

Mike

* SLMR 2.1a * I had another drink...Drink-a-drink-a-drink-a-drink...

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** On Friday 17.03.23 - 15:10, you wrote to ALL:

DW> Does anyone have any experience with the Garmin GPS units?
DW> Specifically the Drivesmart 55 and for US/Canadian
DW> travel?

I have a Drive 50. I've never used it for what you describe,
but remember options for selecting alternate routes.

DW> In past I have not been so interested in GPS because I
DW> would rather use maps. However, in recent years, my
DW> eyesight has gotten where it would be nice to have
DW> something tell me where to turn, but only if I had some
DW> input in setting the route. :)

Nothing beats planning and envisioning a route with a map
first. ;)

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> DW> Does anyone have any experience with the Garmin GPS units?
> DW> Specifically the Drivesmart 55 and for US/Canadian
> DW> travel?

> I have a Drive 50. I've never used it for what you describe,
> but remember options for selecting alternate routes.

Thanks for the feedback. I assume you are happy with your Garmin product?

* SLMR 2.1a * Wind in my hair - shifting and drifting...

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Re: Garmin GPS Units?
By: Dumas Walker to OGG on Sat Mar 18 2023 09:28 am

> > DW> Does anyone have any experience with the Garmin GPS units?
> > DW> Specifically the Drivesmart 55 and for US/Canadian
> > DW> travel?
>
> > I have a Drive 50. I've never used it for what you describe,
> > but remember options for selecting alternate routes.
>
> Thanks for the feedback. I assume you are happy with your Garmin product?

garmins are pretty outdated compared to google maps.
i still use one but i have no idea why. when i'm really traveling nothing beats google maps.
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>> I have a Drive 50. I've never used it for what you
>> describe, but remember options for selecting alternate
>> routes.

DW> Thanks for the feedback. I assume you are happy with your
DW> Garmin product?

I've had it on the road for a while. It's spot on wrt to
speed, and elevation. It's designed to be used in a vehicle
and thus I assume always connected to a power source. I got it
primarily to demo the GPS products that I sell; as such, the
battery doesn't seem to last too long even when the device is
turned off for several days. Maybe your Drive55 model
overcomes that. Anyway.. now that I know that batt power can
be conserved by turning it off, the Drive50 can make a decent
portable unit for hiking.

I presume that the "50" in Drive50 means a 5" screen, and the
Drive55 has a 5.5" screen?

Anyway.. explore the menus. There is some modest prompting on
how to program an alternate route.

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-=> Quoting Dumas Walker to All <=-

DW> Does anyone have any experience with the Garmin GPS units?
DW> Specifically the Drivesmart 55 and for US/Canadian travel?

Hi there, I have a Garmin Drive 61 which is the predecessor to the
DriveSmart. I also still use a Garmin Nuvi-1450.

DW> I am looking for a unit that will allow me to customize my route, i.e.
DW> if it picks the fastest or shortest and I decide I want to take a side
DW> road that I have heard is more scenic.

Both of my Garmin GPS units will let me set a route and then pick
an alternate. The directions step you through doing this. The
reason I have 2 is that I have one for my vehicle and one for my
wifes vehicle.

DW> In past I have not been so interested in GPS because I would rather
DW> use maps. However, in recent years, my eyesight has gotten where it
DW> would be nice to have something tell me where to turn, but only if I
DW> had some input in setting the route. :)

I still have maps in my vehicle as well. There have been one or two
times where the GPS has tried to send me 'Off road' in Pittsburgh at
a mall. Other than that, these units are great. They may not be
the newest thing on the market, but I can and have recently
downloaded updates for the US maps. Unbelievably, I have the latest
maps on my Nuvi (granted I did have to buy a 4GB SD card for it).

I also owned a Tomtom GPS, but I found the Garmin better for me
personally.

Best regards,

Cougar

.... One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor.

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> turned off for several days. Maybe your Drive55 model
> overcomes that. Anyway.. now that I know that batt power can
> be conserved by turning it off, the Drive50 can make a decent
> portable unit for hiking.

I have not actually bought one yet, I was just looking into them.

> I presume that the "50" in Drive50 means a 5" screen, and the
> Drive55 has a 5.5" screen?

I am not 100% certain on the screen size, but it is bigger than the 50 and
smaller than the 65 so you may be onto something there.

> Anyway.. explore the menus. There is some modest prompting on
> how to program an alternate route.

I have watched some youtube videos about them and it does sound like the
route is "changeable" enough to suit my needs.

* SLMR 2.1a * She cried away her life since she fell off the cradle!!

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> garmins are pretty outdated compared to google maps.
> i still use one but i have no idea why. when i'm really traveling nothing bea
> google maps.

I have tried using google maps on a few occassions. My favorite stories
about those attempts involve google maps attempting to tell me I was about
500 feet out into Lake Michigan when I was in fact on land and not even in
direct sight of the lakeshore. It did have me in the right area of
Michigan, but had no clue where I was exactly. Since I could not satisfy
its direction to move 500 ft East to get out of the Lake, it was pretty
useless. This was NOT in an extremly rural area... I was actually in a
small town just off a major highway. It has done that to me multiple times
with Lake Michigan and the other lakes, in rural areas and in town, and on
more than one phone and different carriers.

My other favorite story is how I was using it, with some success, while
trying to navigate Chicago (when my planned route was closed) and, later,
Milwaukee (when my planned route was also closed). For whatever the Hell
reason, either google maps or the phone kept turning the volume down at random
times, and usually when I really needed its assistance.

My third favorite story is the time it had a road marked as a thru street,
and was very much directing me to stay on it, even though it was not a thru
street and quite obviously had not been in years. That was within the
limits of a major city. Similarly, it once took me on a longer than
necessary trip back to my hotel through a bad part of Michigan City for no
apparent reason. That was in 2019.

I remember fussing in one of the echos about that last one only to be told
that Google Maps had turned off their "don't route through bad areas" code
because people complained it was not "politically correct" to do so.

So my experience using Google Maps on my cell phone is very different than
yours. :) My successful use cases for Google Maps involves using them as
a map, and maybe even writing my own directions to certain places, on the
laptop before taking off for the day. I use it a lot for that and that
usually works well (although I still have to be careful of the roads that
no longer exist issue).

* SLMR 2.1a * "Stamp Collection?? Ha-Ha!" - Nelson

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Re: Garmin GPS Units?
By: Cougar428 to DUMAS WALKER on Sun Mar 19 2023 09:17 am

>
> I still have maps in my vehicle as well. There have been one or two
> times where the GPS has tried to send me 'Off road' in Pittsburgh at
> a mall. Other than that, these units are great. They may not be
> the newest thing on the market, but I can and have recently
> downloaded updates for the US maps. Unbelievably, I have the latest
> maps on my Nuvi (granted I did have to buy a 4GB SD card for it).
>
> I also owned a Tomtom GPS, but I found the Garmin better for me
> personally.
>

i think one time they stopped letting me download maps and wanted me to buy a subscription for my nuvi. it depends on the version you have.
i just download the maps via torrents and copy them on.
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Re: Garmin GPS Units?
By: Dumas Walker to MRO on Sun Mar 19 2023 09:18 am

> So my experience using Google Maps on my cell phone is very different than
> yours. :) My successful use cases for Google Maps involves using them as
> a map, and maybe even writing my own directions to certain places, on the
> laptop before taking off for the day. I use it a lot for that and that
> usually works well (although I still have to be careful of the roads that
> no longer exist issue).
>

i think you have a defective cellphone. i have used google maps a LOT. i've driven all over wisconsin and surrounding states(because of my employer where i was a tech going to new places every day) and to the east coast every year.
I haven't really seen any crazy stuff.

You can probably just buy a 30 dollar cellphone and dont activate it and just use it as a gps with google maps.

you wont see any difference with a garmin other than you won't have a defective device serving up maps.
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-=> MRO wrote to Dumas Walker <=-

> So my experience using Google Maps on my cell phone is very different than
> yours. :) My successful use cases for Google Maps involves using them as
> a map, and maybe even writing my own directions to certain places, on the
> laptop before taking off for the day. I use it a lot for that and that
> usually works well (although I still have to be careful of the roads that
> no longer exist issue).

MR> You can probably just buy a 30 dollar cellphone and dont activate
MR> it and just use it as a gps with google maps.

If you don't activate it, it won't work unless on Wifi. Not much Wifi
out on the open highway. Duh.

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-=> Dumas Walker wrote to ALL <=-

DW> Does anyone have any experience with the Garmin GPS units?
DW> Specifically the Drivesmart 55 and for US/Canadian travel?

No, but I've been having a blast playing with some rather inexpesive USB GPS
units. My Dad had the idea of using them for a clock in his ham shack. The
raspberry PIs don't have a RTC (Real Time Clock), and these get you close.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Z61KYS9

They get detected as a simple USB device under linux. Comport under Windows.
Pretty interesting and it's been fun to have something to tinker with and
decode. Unfortunately, the GPS traffic doesn't have date (just the time), so
daylight savings time changes aren't possible.

The gpsd (linux) handles some of that, and uses the system clock. Which won't
work with the PIs.

So now I know what time it is, and where I'm at! I don't have to leave the
house to know where I'm at.

Take care,
bugz

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> Both of my Garmin GPS units will let me set a route and then pick
> an alternate. The directions step you through doing this. The
> reason I have 2 is that I have one for my vehicle and one for my
> wifes vehicle.

> I still have maps in my vehicle as well. There have been one or two
> times where the GPS has tried to send me 'Off road' in Pittsburgh at
> a mall. Other than that, these units are great. They may not be
> the newest thing on the market, but I can and have recently
> downloaded updates for the US maps. Unbelievably, I have the latest
> maps on my Nuvi (granted I did have to buy a 4GB SD card for it).

> I also owned a Tomtom GPS, but I found the Garmin better for me
> personally.

Thanks for the input! I have since found some YT videos where people let
the Garmin pick a route and then they "shape" it to add the side roads they
would rather take.

It sounds like it would be a close fit to what I am looking for.

* SLMR 2.1a * "I am EVIL Homer! I am EVIL Homer!" - Homer

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> i think you have a defective cellphone. i have used google maps a LOT. i've
> iven all over wisconsin and surrounding states(because of my employer where i
> s a tech going to new places every day) and to the east coast every year.
> I haven't really seen any crazy stuff.

Phones plural. The original experience was on an Android. I have also
used two different iphones over the years in question. Two were on the
same carrier, and one a different carrier, so that is also not the problem.

Maybe you stay on the highway routes more than I do. <shrugs> It does
seem to get the Interstate parts right.

* SLMR 2.1a * "Gasoline clears my sinuses!" - Fred G. Sanford

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DW> Thanks for the input! I have since found some YT videos
DW> where people let the Garmin pick a route and then they
DW> "shape" it to add the side roads they would rather take.

Yes.. I believe selecting alternate routes is as simple as re-
drawing your route on the display by touch.

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Re: Garmin GPS Units?
By: Dumas Walker to MRO on Mon Mar 20 2023 05:17 pm

>
> Phones plural. The original experience was on an Android. I have also
> used two different iphones over the years in question. Two were on the
> same carrier, and one a different carrier, so that is also not the problem.
>
> Maybe you stay on the highway routes more than I do. <shrugs> It does
> seem to get the Interstate parts right.

i was driving all over the place. google maps uses the same data that garmin uses plus other sources. it could be someone in your area submitted incorrect data or maybe they were using the gps on a boat? you can always add feedback and it might get corrected.
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Re: Re: Garmin GPS Units?
By: Gamgee to MRO on Mon Mar 20 2023 07:54 am

> If you don't activate it, it won't work unless on Wifi. Not much Wifi
> out on the open highway. Duh.

I don't know about Google Maps, but there are navigator packages such as Osmand which
work offline. You need some Internet to update the map database every now and then,
but while you are out in the woods the phone uses GPS only.

Most of the time you may benefit from IP Geolocation too, in theory. I don't have it
enabled in any of my devices.

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-=> Dumas Walker wrote to COUGAR428 <=-

DW> Thanks for the input! I have since found some YT videos where people
DW> let the Garmin pick a route and then they "shape" it to add the side
DW> roads they would rather take.

Back around 2014-2015, there were a couple of GPS apps for your phone
that would pick side roads and points of interest between point A and
point B. I used it to discover ghost towns, birthplaces of celebrities,
oldest buildings in their respective counties, and so on. Lots of fun
when you're not on a tight schedule.

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> Back around 2014-2015, there were a couple of GPS apps for your phone
> that would pick side roads and points of interest between point A and
> point B. I used it to discover ghost towns, birthplaces of celebrities,
> oldest buildings in their respective counties, and so on. Lots of fun
> when you're not on a tight schedule.

That does sound pretty neat!

* SLMR 2.1a * "Kills millions of germs on contract"

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Re: Garmin GPS Units?
By: Dumas Walker to MRO on Sun Mar 19 2023 09:18:00

DW> I remember fussing in one of the echos about that last one only to be
DW> that Google Maps had turned off their "don't route through bad areas"
DW> because people complained it was not "politically correct" to do so.

When did it become "politically incorrect" to steer clear of danger? '-)
Regards,
HusTler

....Some of the crowd have decided to voice their opinion by staying away.

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> DW> I remember fussing in one of the echos about that last one only to be
> DW> that Google Maps had turned off their "don't route through bad areas"
> DW> because people complained it was not "politically correct" to do so.

> When did it become "politically incorrect" to steer clear of danger? '-)

I don't know but it is. :(

* SLMR 2.1a * 2 + 2 = 5 for extremely small values of 5.

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Re: Garmin GPS Units?
By: Hustler to Dumas Walker on Mon Mar 27 2023 07:20 am

> Re: Garmin GPS Units?
> By: Dumas Walker to MRO on Sun Mar 19 2023 09:18:00
>
> DW> I remember fussing in one of the echos about that last one only to be
> DW> that Google Maps had turned off their "don't route through bad areas"
> DW> because people complained it was not "politically correct" to do so.
>
> When did it become "politically incorrect" to steer clear of danger? '-)
> Regards,
> HusTler
>
> ...Some of the crowd have decided to voice their opinion by staying away.
>

If an area is considered high crime or a place where people from outside the
area are prey for the local gangs, that is a good enough explanation without
going into the socio-economic or other conjecture based on race or culture.
If there is a riot zone in my path, I don't care who it is or what they stand
for. Chances are they have their opponents gathering on their borders and
the entire area is a hot zone.

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