User-Friendly GPS

I have a Garmin 765. When my wife and I travel, we have favorite
places we like to use, for example, Starbucks Coffee. The Garmin will
always locate on for us, but we have to type the word "Starbucks"
every time. Is there a way to set the unit up so it has some memory
for frequently used words? If not, are there any GPS units that have
this feature built in? Thanks.

Epondo

Most Garmin units can search for "recently found place" or something like
that (in dutch: Recent Gevonden) for the last 30 places or so.
Probably you can select it there from the list.

Ben

I have had the same trouble with "Subway". A few days ago I selected
"Food", then "Name", and entered "SUBWAY" (my favorite submarine sandwich
shop).

The Garmin GOS chewed on it for over a minute, so I gave up ("Back"). ,
and simply displayed "All" (food places).

Usually as you are driving, generally to appraoch near where you know
there is one, food destination candidates bubble up on the basis of their
proximity to your instantaneous position. "Subway" t did not get onto the
screen until I was within a few tenths of a mile from the one I was looking
for. Later, when I entered again the food place name "SUBWAY" many
candidates came right up all within my area. (I was surprised to discover
a few more nearby - within 2 miles - that I had never thought to consider.)

So the moral of this story is that you should try more than one way to
locate a destination of an sort from the Garmin data base before you give
up.

Another trick I recently discovered is (2 parts) Instead of trying to
enter the complete and exact form of an address, I now select my state
(default once you have used it a time or twice), then "Search all", then
enter the address number, then only the main part of the street name. That
is for instance, aftere slecting my state and "Any" city, for "WEST
RIVERSIDE DRIVE", I now only enter "RIVERSIDE", then touch ENTER. The
response screen then appears "Drive? Road? Street? Lane?", I pick the
closest fit. Then "West Riverside? East Riverside?" and again I pick the
best fit. The possible cities comes up "Akron Cincinnati? Cleveland?
Columbus" and I again pick the best fit, which is the correct destination I
seek. This method avoids the problem of my misspelling words; delaying the
selection process...


I think that's what happened with my recent Subway problem.

Ange

there are lots of different ways to utilize the GPS "computer",
just like any other computer and associated database....
As another person mentioned, "Subway" may not come up properly
when searching a sub-category.... probably like Starbucks.

Another un-official way is to use something called Points Of Interest (POI).
You can search the web for various websites that offer POI files.
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/26509
or like...
http://www.gps-data-team.com/poi/united_states/restaurants/Starbucks-US.html

These files are manually created by volunteers for very specific interests,
and are nothing more than simple text files with "descriptions & coords".
You download them to your computer, and then upload them into the GPS
with a program called Garmin POI Loader.
http://www8.garmin.com/products/poiloader/

We prefer to be adventurous when travelling and avoid places like Starbucks.
The POI's in the current location are usually far more interesting that any
chain restaurant. Sometimes you get a loser, but most times you find better
quality and items the chains don't carry.