Good GPS for Road, Train Use?

For some time I have been considering getting a GPS for use in getting
around in unfamiliar cities.

However, I am just as likely to use the GPS on transit or while walking as
I am while driving.

The GPS units that are specifically designed for use while walking don't
seem to be well adapted to finding directions while driving, so I've
pretty well given up on getting one of those.

However, are there any road navigation GPS units that perform OK while off
the road? For example, show the correct routing while you are riding a
train? Or show pedestrian only routes such as staircases on hills, etc.?

I have several friends with various older Garmin Nuvi series GPS, and most
of the time they seem to get somewhat confused when taken on a train. At
the very least, they seem to try to force the display onto the nearest
road, thus making average speed and route calculations very strange when,
for example, the train goes over a bridge that forces the GPS into a very
circuitous road routing.

One of them came back from Europe with their Garmin Nuvi 350 showing an
average speed of 199.9 mph for a trip on the French TGV between a city in
Switzerland and Paris, which was kind of fun, but apparently it did pop up
with some sort of a "What in hell do you think you are doing?" type
message due to the difference in local road speed limits vs. what the TGV
does. Also, since the GPS attempted to force the location onto local
roads, I'm not sure that the calculated speed is anywhere near correct.
Because of the number created, I'm also wondering if maybe the Nuvi 350
tops out at 200 mph, even if it is moving faster than that (not that that
would ever really matter in actual day to day navigation use).

What have other people here experienced with various road-designed GPS
when having taken them on a train other otherwise used them off of a road
system?

--
-Glennl
Please note this e-mail address is a pit of spam, and most e-mail sent to this
address are simply lost in the vast mess.

I have a Garmin Nuvi 310. I picked this one because it is feature rich yet
small (but not as small as a handheld) - ideal for travelling and having in
your pocket permanently.

I have used it in Australia, Europe, North America, Singapore and India and
I am very happy with it.

I have used it on the French TGV successfully (shows speed but of course it
looks like you are not on a road - but that does not bother the device). I
have not been able to use it on a plane - can't get satellites from the
windows for some reason. I can't see why there would be a limit on speed
being displayed.

Forcing on to roads only happens of you ask it to program you a route to
somewhere (in car mode). If you are on a train you can look at the screen
and it just shows you going through the paddocks and the speed you are doing
it - no forcing if you have not asked it to take you somewhere.

It is good on the roads but also has a pedestrian mode for walking so it
does not complain if you walk through a park rather than drive around it. It
doesn't know about walking paths and staircases etc, but it doesn't complain
about any walking shortcuts you take. You use the device more as a guide of
where you are walking rather than a definitive programmed walking route.

You can use POIEDIT to take data from Google Earth (My Places) into Garmin
Mapsource so you can preprogram all your places of interest.

While vacationing in Europe I had all my accommodation and places of
interest preprogrammed. I would park the car on the outskirts of a
city/town, take a reading of where the car was, spend all day seeing the
sights in pedestrian mode, then ask it to take me back to the car at the end
of the day - worked perfect - didn't spend any time at all being lost for
the 3 month trip.

I use it for my rail fanning. I use Google Earth to locate places that might
offer good photo opportunities, load them into the Garmin, then it just
takes me there - by car, by bike, or on foot.

Neil (Australia).

I have a Nuvi 250 which I bought primarily for walking in strange cities - it's
great!
Also, I have a photo of my nuvi displaying a speed of 319 km/hr on a TGV.

On Sun, 17 Jan 2010 09:50:55 GMT, "Neil O'Connor"



I used my Nuvi on a plane once between NYC and Chicago. It had no
trouble finding the satellite signal. It registered speed as around
500 mph. It wasn't that useful for finding out what towns I was
flying over, but did show the road names.

This was before 11/25/09. I don't think I'd dare do this again.


The pedestrian & bicycle modes will also avoid highways. What I would
really like is a bicycle mode that also minimizes hills.

--
Peter Schleifer
"Save me from the people who would save me from myself"

I had an early hand-held GPS which I used aboard a plane. It couldn't
get reception on the ground but got very good reception when at altitude
and held by a window. This was (shortly) before 9/11, a flight attendant
questioned me as to what I was doing. I suspect the reaction these days
might be a bit different...