GPS with enough memory for all southern tier waypoints - garmin 800?

[williamtaper]

Hello all,

I have been looking back at all the discussion forums and as technology has advanced and memory become less of an issue, I wanted to clarify if the new GPS units such as garmin 800 can hold all the waypoints for the southern tier? On their website it says 200 waypoints, but when I spoke to a Garmin techie at a show last month here in London, he said it will be fine.

I noticed in some older forums stated the 800 was more geared for going over routes you ride yourself rather than uploading lots of waypoints (although I think this was in June 2010).

I am confused to say the least.

I am planning to do the southern tier in October, flying from here in London to USA in late sep, so wasnt sure about waiting till closer to the date, but thought it a good idea to get used to the device first.

All help greatly appreciated.


William
 

[FredHiltz]

Believe the owner's manual, a free download from the Garmin site. I have found Garmin salespeople to be consistently uninformed. (A small sample of them, I do admit.)

You are right, William; the Edge series are excellent training devices, essentially cycle computers on steroids, but they are not very good at long routes in new terrain. For that, the eTrex, GPSMAP, and "western states" series excel.

The Southern Tier GPS files total 2264 waypoints. Even the budget eTrex line will do it with a couple of reloads en route, as described in some posts here. With some work at home, Mike got TA plus WE into his Oregon 450 by using route points, which are a limited form of waypoint, used for navigation only: not editable and no text descriptions.

You are right again that getting used to the device is important. They have so many features and so many options that a couple of hours in an easy chair with the unit and its manual are well spent. Then use it on some local rides to learn its quirks and limitations before setting out.

Fred

[chrisch]

Check out the POI Loader from Garmin at http://www8.garmin.com/products/poiloader/.  POIs are similar to waypoints but are handled differently within the unit (at least with my Garmin eTrex Legend Cx).  I was able to upload thousands of campsites into my device, which would not have been possible if I had added them as standard waypoints.

[williamtaper]

Thanks very much Fred and Chris that is really helpful.

I will do some more research along the lines you have suggested, I will be back.
Thanks a again, love the site.