Glanceblamm got me thinking about using the Highway page in Garmin gps units. I first tried it when I got my Garmin Legend a few years ago. I found that I preferred using the compass pointer. And I might have played with it some when I purchased my 76C. After today’s session I give the Highway Page higher marks for land navigation.
I used three different Map Page options in approximately four miles of a slow walk because I was trying different options on my 76Cx. Of course my unit has the Basic Map, which comes factory installed on the unit, and I have installed City Navigator, and USA Topo on it.
The best results was using City Navigator and Auto Routing to a Waypoint that is located on the edge of a street about 1.5 miles from home. The Highway screen provides four data field boxes, and a screen showing your location with an arrow, and a Highway to your Waypoint. The Waypoint name will show at the end of the Highway. The name of the street where I was to turn appeared on the highway screen and it gave me the distance to that intersection in one of the default data boxes. If I was driving around looking for my next turn that would be a handy feature. But it is not need out walking. But the name of the street I was to turn on showing on the page was nice.
The highway made a turn on to the street that I was to take, but I found because I was using City Navigator that it also showed some other main streets. This was not confusing.
About halfway there I stopped and changed my Map Option to USA Topo hiding City Navigator. I had to recalculate a route, and because USA Topo does not auto route I now had a direct line compass route. On my colored screen the highway background is brown with grids, a blue sky, and a purple highway with a black centerline. The curvature of the road then took me on the outside edge of the Highway. But a hiker can maintain his general sense of direction without any problem. The Highway will change position on the screen as the user moves.
I then hid USA Topo and used the Basemap and finished the walk to the Waypoint. My older USA TOPO does not provide a lot of street names. It showed the streets without names.
I switched to City Navigator and pan across the map to an intersection and hit enter which brought up an address and street name, I then selected GoTo, and was given the options of Follow Road or Off Road. I selected Follow Road and was auto routed to that location. And I viewed my progress using the Highway screen. It routed me up a number of streets and I could see the next key street name ahead of me on the page.
When I arrived at the intersection I next selected the Base Map and my Home Waypoint. I followed an indirect route. I also changed the default data boxes to fit my needs. I keep the two top ones, Speed, and Dist To Next. But I selected To Course and Heading for the bottom two. I feel that they would best suit my needs in the woods. What I really did was set it up to work with my mental compass. For a quarter mile my heading was North and To Course was showing the course was West. A couple of streets later I turned West and both data boxes were showing West.
When using a unit without a map, a Base Map, or USA Topo I recommend the user go to Menu, you will get a drop down screen with some options. Select Recalculate, and Enter. This will recalculate your position in relationship to you destination.
I would recommend practicing with the Highway Page on foot before trying it in a motor vehicle.
;D
I used three different Map Page options in approximately four miles of a slow walk because I was trying different options on my 76Cx. Of course my unit has the Basic Map, which comes factory installed on the unit, and I have installed City Navigator, and USA Topo on it.
The best results was using City Navigator and Auto Routing to a Waypoint that is located on the edge of a street about 1.5 miles from home. The Highway screen provides four data field boxes, and a screen showing your location with an arrow, and a Highway to your Waypoint. The Waypoint name will show at the end of the Highway. The name of the street where I was to turn appeared on the highway screen and it gave me the distance to that intersection in one of the default data boxes. If I was driving around looking for my next turn that would be a handy feature. But it is not need out walking. But the name of the street I was to turn on showing on the page was nice.
The highway made a turn on to the street that I was to take, but I found because I was using City Navigator that it also showed some other main streets. This was not confusing.
About halfway there I stopped and changed my Map Option to USA Topo hiding City Navigator. I had to recalculate a route, and because USA Topo does not auto route I now had a direct line compass route. On my colored screen the highway background is brown with grids, a blue sky, and a purple highway with a black centerline. The curvature of the road then took me on the outside edge of the Highway. But a hiker can maintain his general sense of direction without any problem. The Highway will change position on the screen as the user moves.
I then hid USA Topo and used the Basemap and finished the walk to the Waypoint. My older USA TOPO does not provide a lot of street names. It showed the streets without names.
I switched to City Navigator and pan across the map to an intersection and hit enter which brought up an address and street name, I then selected GoTo, and was given the options of Follow Road or Off Road. I selected Follow Road and was auto routed to that location. And I viewed my progress using the Highway screen. It routed me up a number of streets and I could see the next key street name ahead of me on the page.
When I arrived at the intersection I next selected the Base Map and my Home Waypoint. I followed an indirect route. I also changed the default data boxes to fit my needs. I keep the two top ones, Speed, and Dist To Next. But I selected To Course and Heading for the bottom two. I feel that they would best suit my needs in the woods. What I really did was set it up to work with my mental compass. For a quarter mile my heading was North and To Course was showing the course was West. A couple of streets later I turned West and both data boxes were showing West.
When using a unit without a map, a Base Map, or USA Topo I recommend the user go to Menu, you will get a drop down screen with some options. Select Recalculate, and Enter. This will recalculate your position in relationship to you destination.
I would recommend practicing with the Highway Page on foot before trying it in a motor vehicle.
;D
