Question for Garmin owners:

[Bob Pasternak]

I'm wondering how far Garmin will give you POIs. Our car came with a navigator, but you need to have it set on "1/2 mile or less" before it will tell you. We drive to Great Falls, MT now and then and on the Interstates in the west, I'd like to know what is 5 miles down the road. I have found that for the most part, my knowledge from years of truck driving, is better than the navigator's. It is constantly telling me to "make a legal U-turn." Thanks for any info.

[Mrs. CountryGuy]

Personally, I am becoming less and less enthusiastic about GPS systems. See my post, GPS, Friend or Foe.

That does NOT answer your question tho. Our 2610 Garmin gives POI's out hundreds of miles, depending on what you are looking for and how close you might be to it.

As I say in my blog, keep your paper maps and books (campground, trucker stops, Exit Authority, etc.) and keep em available in your vehicle. That said, yesterday on run from Elkhart to South Haven, I needed both the paper maps and Microsoft Streets and Trips on the lap top. S & T provided close up details not available on the maps.

Guess I now depend on both.

[steves]

From my experience it is limited by how many entries it finds for your search....not miles. You check with Garmin Customer Support on your question http://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/sit...supportcontact

[KTManiac]

quote:Originally posted by Bob Pasternak

....It is constantly telling me to "make a legal U-turn." Thanks for any info.

There should be a page where you can set navigation preferences. You can change the parameters to avoid u-turns(it will route you around to get back on track), avoid toll roads, avoid unpaved roads, etc. There should also be a page where you can select your mode of transportation, ie: walking, bicycle, car, truck(big rig, good for 5th wheel), emergency vehicle(allows wrong way on one way streets), etc.

This will help with keeping you out of "predicaments", but is still not 100% sure-fire. You must still use your better judgment to avoid getting into trouble. For instance, on "truck", it will try to put you on truck route by-passes through the industrial district of towns, when there is an obviously more direct, faster way to your destination.

What is the model # of your Garmin? That would be helpful with determining what features you may or may not have.

[Bob Pasternak]

I don't have any Garmin, I was just curious about how far you could search out restaurants, motels, etc.. As stated, the one in the car needs .5 mile or less. If I'm that close, I'll be able to see it. I'd like it at least 5 miles, preferably 10.

[KTManiac]

My Garmin will find a Wal-Mart anywhere in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico. You can even change the search reference point to anywhere on your maps to find whatever you are looking for and filter out POIs that are nearest to where you actually are. Not sure if I am explaining this clearly or not, so will elaborate...

Looking for a Piggly-Wiggly grocery store in Memphis TN, and I'm in Oregon.

Push the "Find" button on my Garmin
Select "All POIs"
push "Menu", select "Nearest containing...", type in PIGG
it starts searching every POI with the string of letters "PIGG"
push "Menu" again and select "Change reference..."
scroll map pointer over to Tennessee somewhere close to Memphis
push enter

...it found 25 Piggly-Wiggly stores in a 125 mile radius of where I placed the pointer(I think it stops searching after it finds "X" number of results, not how far away they are), complete with address & phone number for each of them. I can now select any one of them and navigate to it if I want, or I can just call them up and ask if they have "Little Debbie" snack cakes before I make the 4,634 mile round trip to pick some up, 'cause my local Safeway store doesn't carry them.

It also found around 25 other POIs with the "PIGG" string, some businesses in Piggott, Arkansas.

You can also narrow down the results by searching different categories of POIs instead of "All POIs", like shopping, recreation, fuel, lodging, etc., and within sub-categories of each of those as well.

I'm pretty sure your unit can do near to the same thing, you probably just need to dig deeper into the user manual and menus available.

[sreigle]

Bob, are you talking about Find or are you talking about the zoom level that shows the details so you can see the restaurant on the page? If that is what you're looking for, see if the Settings has some options. On my Garmin Street Pilot 2720 I can set the zoom level where POI's begin to show, another setting for lakes, one for small towns, one for medium towns, one for large towns, and on and on. I've noticed there are major differences in available settings among the various models so don't know if yours has these settings.

[Trailer Trash 2]

On my Garmin I can pick a POI say quick food it will show me the closest one first up to many miles away. and rest stops are in the automotive section, dont ask me why either.

[illapah]

TrailerTrash, hey thanks for stating where the rest stops are. I didn't know that and I wondered many times where the next one was. I just looked, and from West Glacier the farthest rest stop displayed is 165.8 miles from here.


BTW I just bought a new Garmin Nuvi 765T from Costco online for $280.

[Trailer Trash 2]

quote:Originally posted by illapah

TrailerTrash, hey thanks for stating where the rest stops are. I didn't know that and I wondered many times where the next one was. I just looked, and from West Glacier the farthest rest stop displayed is 165.8 miles from here.


BTW I just bought a new Garmin Nuvi 765T from Costco online for $280.

Thats the one for trucks I think, I almost bought it but got scared thinking that it would show roads that only trucks could use. so I got the nuvi 760 instead so far so good I was able to transfer all my POI from the C340 to the 760 with no problem.

[adelmoll]

We had the Nuvi 760 but it died on us yesterday. We had trouble with the on/off switch right from the start. We took it ti Best Buy yesterday and they said it could not be fixed. Thankfully we had the extended warranty and they told us to pick out a new GPS of our choice Up to the $499 we had paid for the 760... We opted for the Tom Tom this time since we like the POI's a lot better. Exp: Our Garmin has campgrounds mixed in with the lodging and we had to weed through all the motels and hotels to find the campgrounds. Tom Tom has campgrounds listed in a seperate campground section. We have the alarm set on the Tom Tom to tell us when we are near a rest stop. I found that on our Garmin, if I asked for POI and had it look for "along your route" instead of "where you are now", it would show me what I wanted to know a lot further away. Every gps has it's own worst/best features. We purchased a new warranty for the Tom Tom also. Don't usually do that but am glad that we did on the last one. We were also happy that we hadn't purchased the lifetime upgrade on the Garmin yet. It was on our list of things to do.

Helen

[Delaine and Lindy]

We use our Garmins very often. We have a Garmin 2720 and a in-dash Garmin system intergrated with the Back up camera, XM radio, DVD, CD, those things can just about find anything. Do they make mistakes yes, and as much construction that is going on I can understand why. We also use Steet and Smith, Truckers road atlas, and exit book. All can and does assist us and many times we have been saved by our Garmin. GBY....

[simonsrf]

quote:Originally posted by Bob Pasternak

I'm wondering how far Garmin will give you POIs. Our car came with a navigator, but you need to have it set on "1/2 mile or less" before it will tell you. We drive to Great Falls, MT now and then and on the Interstates in the west, I'd like to know what is 5 miles down the road. I have found that for the most part, my knowledge from years of truck driving, is better than the navigator's. It is constantly telling me to "make a legal U-turn." Thanks for any info.

Bob,
Check your settings. If for instance, you have it to avoid freeways, or only use toll roads.....you will get results that make absoluteyl no sense at all. We have 3 different GPS's, and several mapping software programs, they all have their good and their bad. After playing with them for a while, reading the manual one more time sure answered a bunch of mysteries of functions and how they work....lots of fuzzy logic in these new electronics gadgets. Good Luck!

[sfretts]

We have a Garmin 2610 as well as a new Nuvi we put in the car. Both will find POI far out and when searching for RV parks or even places to eat, there is a drop down menu to restrict your search to just RV parks or all lodging or just motels. They both have a feature that tells you what is at the next off ramp. Both ours work well. You just have to experiment with the features and it will give you years of good service.

A quick example was last Sunday. I lefts Castle Rock, WA to meet up with kid at Sand Lake in Oregon. Wanted to go cross country to save time. Thanks to the wonderful people at OR DOT, while in Portland, I go to take exit and find it is closed with no detour or help to get back on hiway 26. Garmin rerouted me over a pass and worked great. I use mine all the time and only get lost when my co pilot assists!!!

[sreigle]

quote:Originally posted by Trailer Trash 2

Thats the one for trucks I think, I almost bought it but got scared thinking that it would show roads that only trucks could use. so I got the nuvi 760 instead so far so good I was able to transfer all my POI from the C340 to the 760 with no problem.

Don, the 765T is not just for trucks. That's the model I decided on, that and the 755T, when I researched a possible new Garmin recently. The 765T and 755T have most of the features I want. I'm spoiled by my SP2720 and don't want to give those things up. If I decide to buy, it will be a 765T or 755T, whichever I find at the better price.

[sreigle]

quote:Originally posted by adelmoll

We had the Nuvi 760 but it died on us yesterday. We had trouble with the on/off switch right from the start. We took it ti Best Buy yesterday and they said it could not be fixed. Thankfully we had the extended warranty and they told us to pick out a new GPS of our choice Up to the $499 we had paid for the 760... We opted for the Tom Tom this time since we like the POI's a lot better. Exp: Our Garmin has campgrounds mixed in with the lodging and we had to weed through all the motels and hotels to find the campgrounds. Tom Tom has campgrounds listed in a seperate campground section. We have the alarm set on the Tom Tom to tell us when we are near a rest stop. I found that on our Garmin, if I asked for POI and had it look for "along your route" instead of "where you are now", it would show me what I wanted to know a lot further away. Every gps has it's own worst/best features. We purchased a new warranty for the Tom Tom also. Don't usually do that but am glad that we did on the last one. We were also happy that we hadn't purchased the lifetime upgrade on the Garmin yet. It was on our list of things to do.

Helen

Helen, yours doesn't allow you to select the type of lodging? Mine allows me to select Campgrounds, within Lodging.

Mine also lets me choose whether I want it to find the poi's around where I am now, or a particular city/state, or along my route. Are you sure yours didn't have those options? I thought all Garmins had those options.

[adelmoll]

Steve, we sure never found that on our 760 but regardless, we are so happy to have the Tom Tom again and without any additional cost. Guess it is all what you get used to and we started out with the Tom Tom.

The sales people at Best Buy are just like the rest of us. If they have the Garmin they think that is the best but if they have the TomTom they swear by that one... I think they are ALL pretty much alike and the biggest difference in the price is the extras such as bluetooth, traffic, speaking the streets, voice activation etc... If a person just wants to find out how to get from A to B you can get there for less than $199, but if you want (or need) all the bells and whistles, you can spend over $500. They all have pluses and minuses.

Helen

[jimcol]

quote:Originally posted by sreigle

Helen, yours doesn't allow you to select the type of lodging? Mine allows me to select Campgrounds, within Lodging.

Mine also lets me choose whether I want it to find the poi's around where I am now, or a particular city/state, or along my route. Are you sure yours didn't have those options? I thought all Garmins had those options.

Steve, I wish I had researched each Garmin more before purchasing the NUVI 780. Like you, I thought all Garmins had the same basic features. Not so. The 780 cannot be set for "trucks" in establishing the route and the POI's cannot be filtered down to just campgrounds. JIm C.

[Trailer Trash 2]

I dont know weather setting the Garmin to truck routes is always a good thing, I set my garmin on trucks and it elimitated certain turn offs and routed me to adifferant way, sometimes making it a longer route, because of most trucks have restrictions on some streets, I guess thats the only problem that I can see with using the truck option on the Garmin.

[8.1al]

Also on the truck mode the Garmin seems to route you so that you don't have to make a left turn across traffic, a plus when towing