GPS for wandering

I understand the concept of using a GPS to go to somewhere you know you are going - like an address or final destination. BUT, can you use these things as a rolling road atlas.....as in I haven't a clue where I am going, I am just wandering about aimlessly and thinking - what happens if I go down down here?
I often go out with no particular destination in mind, or on the way home just go exploring without a clue where I am heading, lets turn right here and see where it goes...kind of thing.

Can you set these up so you can see where "turning right here" goes in the end, or do you need to know where you are actually heading for? I have a pretty good idea of sense of direction now - having gone miles out of my way on nearly each and every occassion. makes life interesting and I see all sorts of places I would otherwise bypass by being on "the right" road - sometimes it is the wrong road that is the better one!

Most of the use of my GPS is for wandering.

I head out and follow my nose... if I encounter something that I want to know about, I'll drop a waypoint there and look on the computer later.

If I want to know if "this road" continues (isn't blocked).. I'll do a go-to shortest distance to a point past the end of the road that interests me... I'll often have a paper map open and compare the picture on my GPS to the paper map.

When I'm ready to come home, mostly I'll do a 'go home' 'shortest distance' and get to explore more new territory on the way back...

There is no way on any GPS that I've messed with know easily (while riding), if the road you are on ends up at a particular destination... something for the future though... a 'where does this lead' function...

Al...

King Rat said:

Can you set these up so you can see where "turning right here" goes in the end, or do you need to know where you are actually heading for? I have a pretty good idea of sense of direction now - having gone miles out of my way on nearly each and every occassion. makes life interesting and I see all sorts of places I would otherwise bypass by being on "the right" road - sometimes it is the wrong road that is the better one!

Click to expand...

Any road can lead anywhere - it depends how far you travel along it and/or when you decide to turn left/right.
I think the easiest option is to have a paper map of the area on the tank - this would give you a general idea.

Use the tomtom and the Garmin etrex quite often when wandering. Map views can be zoomed in and out of quite easily. The Garmin is excellent with the TOPO maps loaded