Continental Divide Ride

[Anciano]

I rode the CDR with a 76cs. I used Big Dog’s tracks as modified by Countdown. Had a little problem in Yellowstone, but figured it out. I had no maps, period. I have Roads & Recreation software. It has plenty of map detail. I went off track a couple of times looking for a place to camp and had no trouble.

I hauled my bike to New Mexico, rode to the Canadian border, changed tires and rode back to New Mexico to get my van. I used the GPS to find my way back on paved roads.

Wayne

[Countdown]

Originally Posted by whinman22

I rode the CDR with a 76cs. I used Big Dog’s tracks as modified by Countdown. Had a little problem in Yellowstone, but figured it out. I had no maps, period. I have Roads & Recreation software. It has plenty of map detail. I went off track a couple of times looking for a place to camp and had no trouble. Wayne

Wayne, glad the tracks worked for you. Jerry

[decodent]

Just rode the section from Del Norte to Salida today. The Zumo did an interesting thing with the town of Sargent's (the only place with a gas station for miles. It shows it as being 3 miles down a dirt road. Well, there is nothing at the location the Zumo shows.

But there is a town called Sargents right at the place where the dirt road breaks away from the highway.

Thus far I've experienced the following:

• Zumo showing multiple routes, and where the multiple routes are just plain crazy (aka "wild goose chase") - usually big wide loops on minor roads that add miles to cover a short distance easily covered by the major road I'm already on.
• Being on a really nice road (the backroad equivalent of a "highway") and Zumo showing nothing.
• Zumo showing me to turn off onto roads that just plain don't exist (no road, no path ... nada, zippo, nein, etc.)
• And of course, the wild goose chase that left me up high on a ridgeline at 10,800' with a thunderstorm coming in.

I understand and accept that some of this is "operator error", but some of it is also simple GPS being turned into GBS (Garmin B.S.).

If it were by a company that did navigation on the side (i.e., Google) that'd be one thing. But this is Garmin's core business. Maybe it's just me, but you'd think they'd want to be on top of such things. If nothing else, maybe they could hire somebody to lay MapSource over Google Maps or Earth and 2x check their maps against the satellite photos.

I'm now learning to not trust the Zumo + MapSource combo too much. Again and again it's lead me down false roads.

Now, when I come to a road that seems suspect, I stop, look at the hard copy maps, zoom out to see wtf Garmin thinks is going on, then respond accordingly.

Just my $.02 worth ...

[DockingPilot]

I guess you better just stick to the old maps on top of the tank bag. Its seems to be ruining the trip for you Decode. But I can tell you thats not normal. Something is amiss.

[decodent]

Originally Posted by DockingPilot

I guess you better just stick to the old maps on top of the tank bag. Its seems to be ruining the trip for you Decodent. But I can tell you that's not normal. Something is amiss.

I wouldn't say it's ruining the trip, but it's sure adding an element to it that I didn't expect. Instead of totally trusting technology, it feels like I'm simply adjusting to the situation.

After the above experiences, I'm learning to filter through the GBS, use the hard copy maps, and I'm starting to be able to keep a reasonable pace w/o more wild goose chases. I just stop a lot more when things seems suspect, zoom out to figure out what the heck Garmin is thinking, check the maps, then go accordingly.

[Countdown]

Originally Posted by decodent

Just rode the section from Del Norte to Salida today. The Zumo did an interesting thing with the town of Sargent's (the only place with a gas station for miles. It shows it as being 3 miles down a dirt road. Well, there is nothing at the location the Zumo shows.

But there is a town called Sargents right at the place where the dirt road breaks away from the highway. .

First you need to understand the difference between Garmin who makes hardware and Mapsource maps who are actually made by a third party.

You are right City Nav has Sargents down a dirt road however both topo and R & R has it correctly on Hwy 50. If you had topo loaded, your Zumo would have taken you to the correct place. It only knows what the loaded map says. It can't correct a map error.

The question is what is the problem? Both Sargent locations were on the route. Were you navagating to Sargents? Why?

Did you download my way points with all gas stations shown?

It has you getting gas in La Garita about 85 miles before Sargents and 35 miles before Salida.

Did you need gas? It was only 120 miles between the two stations shown in my file?

[decodent]

Originally Posted by Countdown

First you need to understand the difference between Garmin who makes hardware and Mapsource maps who are actually made by a third party.

You are right City Nav has Sargents down a dirt road however both topo and R & R has it correctly on Hwy 50. If you had topo loaded, your Zumo would have taken you to the correct place. It only knows what the loaded map says. It can't correct a map error.

The question is what is the problem? Both Sargent locations were on the route. Were you navagating to Sargents? Why?

Did you download my way points with all gas stations shown?

It has you getting gas in La Garita about 85 miles before Sargents and 35 miles before Salida.

Did you need gas? It was only 120 miles between the two stations shown in my file?

I don't think the Zumo shows gas stations ... at least I haven't seen anything that says "Gas" on it while riding. Anyway, I now make it a point to fuel up pretty much anytime I see a gas station after I've ridden more than 60 miles (unless I KNOW there's a town coming up).

My range is about 200 miles (IMS 4.9-gallon tank on DR650), and getting approx 47-50 mpg.

My point wasn't about gas; it was that my GPS showed a town where nothing existed, and didn't show it where it did. There are, of course, the reasons why - MapSource from a separate party, and Zumo from Garmin.

But a customer isn't interested in why things aren't working - they simply want them to work. The end result (for whatever reasons) is that the unit was inaccurate, and has been several times.

On a separate note, I didn't know that I could download topo maps into a Zumo; I thought I had to get a different type of GPS to do that.

Thanks.

[Countdown]

Originally Posted by decodent

I don't think the Zumo shows gas stations ... at least I haven't seen anything that says "Gas" on it while riding. Anyway, I now make it a point to fuel up pretty much anytime I see a gas station after I've ridden more than 60 miles (unless I KNOW there's a town coming up).

My range is about 200 miles (IMS 4.9-gallon tank on DR650), and getting approx 47-50 mpg. Thanks.

You really should be planning your gas ahead, no reason to carry 5 gal to go 100 Mi and you should make sure you fill to go 180 Mi.

If you look at my file again it has tracks for the route plus waypoints for motels and most important gas. You can down load them to your Zumo via Mapsource with my file open and they will show as waypoints on lyour screen. Not sure if you will get BBF (Big Blue Flag) or a gas pump like the hand helds (60/76) show.

Yes if you have City Nav in your zumo or Nuvi it has location of all kinds of service (gas, food, lodging, shopping). Just push "go to" or "find" or what ever then select catagory. I can't believe you have not discovered this.

Just because a map shows a town it doesn't mean there is any thing there, lots of time they are old ghost towns. So it really doesn't matter if it has it in the wrong place. I find lots of little spots that appear to be where they were 50 years ago.

In spite of every thing you seam to be doing ok however a few day test run in your car to learn how your GPS really works would have really been smart.

[jprhode]

Hi

Thus far, zero Zuma trauma in Montana...

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=602395

cheers
Jason

[decodent]

Well, it's not exactly like I haven't had a GPS before. I've had a Nuvi in my car for going on 4-5 years; I bought the first model they came out with. And I've had the Zumo on my V-Strom for 2+ years.

They've been great as street navigators, and have maybe taken me on wild goose chases twice in all the years I've owned them - not on the almost daily basis I'm experiencing right now. And - yes - I know how that "Go to ... (fuel, lodging, etc.)" works.

But on the CDR it just seems many of the usual rules and accuracies have been chucked off onto one of Garmin's (or MapSource's) virtual backroads, never to be seen again. They might as well have a screen that comes up like this:



If I made any mistake, it was assuming that the same experience, accuracy and way of doing things in the street versions would also be true when using the same unit (the Zumo) for offroad use. IME, they're two totally different animals.

I guess my desire to fuel up whenever I can comes from years of living in Idaho when you're not sure when you might find your next gas. Given the limited range of the DR (approx 200 miles with the IMS tank), I'd just as soon fill it whenever I'm getting anywhere near the 1/3 to 1/2-way mark. Besides, it gives me a chance to stretch and get a snack. If you've ever ridden a stock DR650 seat, you may know what I mean.

As for having the GPS show locations where they maybe were 50 years ago, wouldn't you think that - just maybe - they'd want to take out those inaccuracies? Giving precise locations and routing info is Garmin's core business; it's suppose to be what they do.

If the offroad directions from my Zumo were turned into street signs, they'd look like this:




Ya know what I mean?

[basketcase]

My partner (wilddawg) was running the stock DR650 fuel tank and the only time he needed the extra fuel can was between Silver City and Pietown.

He went on reserve outside of Pietown and ran out about halfway between Pietown and Datil.

Everywhere else we found fuel around the 100 to 120 mile mark.

[decodent]

Originally Posted by basketcase

My partner (wilddawg) was running the stock DR650 fuel tank and the only time he needed the extra fuel can was between Silver City and Pietown. He went on reserve outside of Pietown and ran out about halfway between Pietown and Datil. Everywhere else we found fuel around the 100 to 120 mile mark.

Hey BC! So your trip was good?

I used the extra 2 gallons I have (but probably didn't need it) between Silver City & Ponderosa. I also ran into 2 guys riding N to S, and hey said the Rawlins to Pinedale section would require extra fuel (something like 270 miles).

I have an expandable 2-gallon water jug I bungee down behind me that works out well. At 100 miles into the ride, I refilled my fuel tank from it, then the jug collapses down to the point where I hardly notice I have it.

[Countdown]

[QUOTE=decodent] I guess my desire to fuel up whenever I can comes from years of living in Idaho when you're not sure when you might find your next gas. Given the limited range of the DR (approx 200 miles with the IMS tank), I'd just as soon fill it whenever I'm getting anywhere near the 1/3 to 1/2-way mark. Besides, it gives me a chance to stretch and get a snack. QUOTE]

Did you try to download the gas station way points so you could see where they are?

[decodent]

[quote=Countdown]

Originally Posted by decodent

I guess my desire to fuel up whenever I can comes from years of living in Idaho when you're not sure when you might find your next gas. Given the limited range of the DR (approx 200 miles with the IMS tank), I'd just as soon fill it whenever I'm getting anywhere near the 1/3 to 1/2-way mark. Besides, it gives me a chance to stretch and get a snack. QUOTE]

Did you try to download the gas station way points so you could see where they are?

I'll try that again in a few days to see how it works. I'm in Colorado now, and I think the only one you had with gas was for NM, right?

[Countdown]

[QUOTE=decodent]

Originally Posted by Countdown

I'll try that again in a few days to see how it works. I'm in Colorado now, and I think the only one you had with gas was for NM, right?

The file on GPSXchange.com had normal gas. I posted a file with extra gas for NM for you. Looks like you found Ponderosa north of Pie Town?

I just updated the file on GPSX with the extra gas and added a track for the actual divide.