New GPS?

[CBRF3RIDER]

I have been riding with my Garmin Nuvi 255W since I bought my FZ6, and was using a Nuvi 200W on my ZX6R and CBR before then. I have been increasingly frustrated with my Nuvi because it constantly wants to send me on dirt/gravel roads. The other day I went over an hour out of my way trying to find a detour for the dirt roads and ended up having to go down a few. I looked at my trip log when I got home to find out I could have very easily bypassed the entire area. There was really no reason for me to have to go down any dirt roads my entire trip, but I ended up having to take quite a few. I know some people might say just to tough it out and ride it, but honestly I would rather not if I can. I will say that the FZ6 handled really well on dirt, way better than my other two bikes (even two up + light luggage).

My question is does anyone have or know of a GPS that can be set to avoid dirt roads (and actually avoid them!)? I can set avoidences on my Nuvi, but only for things like traffic and highways. I would really like to stick with Garmin if I can, but I may have to jump ship and buy a different brand.

Thanks

 

[Erci]

I have been riding with my Garmin Nuvi 255W since I bought my FZ6, and was using a Nuvi 200W on my ZX6R and CBR before then. I have been increasingly frustrated with my Nuvi because it constantly wants to send me on dirt/gravel roads. The other day I went over an hour out of my way trying to find a detour for the dirt roads and ended up having to go down a few. I looked at my trip log when I got home to find out I could have very easily bypassed the entire area. There was really no reason for me to have to go down any dirt roads my entire trip, but I ended up having to take quite a few. I know some people might say just to tough it out and ride it, but honestly I would rather not if I can. I will say that the FZ6 handled really well on dirt, way better than my other two bikes (even two up + light luggage).

My question is does anyone have or know of a GPS that can be set to avoid dirt roads? I can set avoidences on my Nuvi, but only for things like traffic and highways. I would really like to stick with Garmin if I can, but I may have to jump ship and buy a different brand.

Thanks

That's really weird because I too use 255W and one of avoidance options is "offroad". :don'tknow:
You sure you scrolled through all available options?

 

[granda080]

My 255 is better than my iPhone's Mapquest. The Garmin hasn't gotten me to terribly lost. My iPhone's mission in life is to add 20+ minutes to all trips.

 

[ohgood]

I have been riding with my Garmin Nuvi 255W since I bought my FZ6, and was using a Nuvi 200W on my ZX6R and CBR before then. I have been increasingly frustrated with my Nuvi because it constantly wants to send me on dirt/gravel roads. The other day I went over an hour out of my way trying to find a detour for the dirt roads and ended up having to go down a few. I looked at my trip log when I got home to find out I could have very easily bypassed the entire area. There was really no reason for me to have to go down any dirt roads my entire trip, but I ended up having to take quite a few. I know some people might say just to tough it out and ride it, but honestly I would rather not if I can. I will say that the FZ6 handled really well on dirt, way better than my other two bikes (even two up + light luggage).

My question is does anyone have or know of a GPS that can be set to avoid dirt roads (and actually avoid them!)? I can set avoidences on my Nuvi, but only for things like traffic and highways. I would really like to stick with Garmin if I can, but I may have to jump ship and buy a different brand.

Thanks

will you please mail me your defective gps unit so me and my drz can go play some more ?

that's like a dualsports wet dream !

 

[Norbert]

offroad mode just draws a route from point A to B, in a straight line..."as the crow flies".

you should still check out your avoidances.

my garmin software isn't smart enough to know what road has gravel and what doesnt. it does know that one road is a highway and another isnt.

 

[CBRF3RIDER]

will you please mail me your defective gps unit so me and my drz can go play some more ?
that's like a dualsports wet dream !

Haha I wish I had a dual sport to take advantage of it! Ive actually been working on a deal to trade my old CBR track bike for an old KLR650. A bit bigger than a DRZ but I think they are sweet!

That's really weird because I too use 255W and one of avoidance options is "offroad". :don'tknow:
You sure you scrolled through all available options?

My Nuvi200W and my old StreetPilot C330 had "unpaved road" avoidance, which kind of worked but wasnt perfect. I meant to add that to my original post. Also I forgot that my Garmin is a 225WT (has a traffic antenna). It seems like the software is the same as my 200W but it is missing "unpaved road" on the list of avoidances. Im going to update the software through Garmin and see what happens. Ill let you guys know how the update goes.

 

[CBRF3RIDER]

Alright I just updated my Garmin and sure enough "unpaved roads" is now there with the rest of avoidances! Maybe this update will fix some of the issues I have been having with it. It was having some other weird problems that my 200W never had, like freezing in the middle of recalculating or in between menus. I kept having to do hard resets which erased all of my data.
Thanks everyone for the input!

 

[Motogiro]

Also make sure your unit is not set for walking. Make sure it's set for driving....

I set mine for walking once and then got in my Jeep and was led to a blocked off ally that I could walk on but not drive.

 

[CBRF3RIDER]

Also make sure your unit is not set for walking. Make sure it's set for driving....

I set mine for walking once and then got in my Jeep and was led to a blocked off ally that I could walk on but not drive.

My old C330 used to pull crap like that with me. When I was in DC, she tried to take me down a restricted airport road AND repeatedly told me to U-TURN ON THE EXPRESSWAY!! I swear she was trying to kill me! That was actually when I decided to get my 200W. The maps were just way too old on the C330 and it wasnt worthwhile to pay for the update.

I just checked the usage mode and its set to automobile.

 

[wolfe1down]

Garmin (through Navteq) does map/software updates up to 4 times per year. You can update for free from Garmin during the first year of ownership, but after that you must buy downloadable or DVD update discs. I purchased a lifetime update card from Garmin when I got my 1390T. So far, I have had 4 Garmin GPS's without any software or map issues that weren't resolved during the next update...

I had a 255W before, and it could tell the difference between paved and unpaved roads, and also had route avoidances (incl. off road).

 

[DownrangeFuture]

Never had that issue with my TomTom XL550LTM. I didn't upgrade to that until my palm pilot ate it finally. Bought that sucker back in '02 and put Metropoli navigation on it. I was sad when he got bought out by TomTom. It didn't look pretty, but it is still the best navigator I've had. Never had one issue with it, the size of the maps aside. I see a lot of features he came up with on the TomTom.

The tomtom though, my gripe is "Why in the hell do I need to know what town something is in if I'm just searching for an Autozone or something?"

 

[mfletch69]

My updated Zumo 550 did this to me and a friend, on our FJRs, in north georgia last year. I haven't trusted the "unpaved road" avoidance since

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2fC1524ogU"]this[/ame]