Improve Your Ride / Garmin 810 GPS (Click Photos)

Question:  What does a GPS do for me?

Is it an expensive gadget without any real purpose? 

Answer: NO 

My best example is a few years ago when I spent 35 days total (several trips) in Denver for work. Took one of my extra MTB’s on Southwest (Bike flew for free) and there I was at the Foothills of the Rocky Mountains. 

I have never been there before. I had no guide, and no clue where to ride. One thing for sure… the Rockies are HUGE and would not want to get lost. I did have 5 free hours each day before work and an itch to see as much as I can.  

Got on www.RidewithGPS.com and mapped out a new ride for each day I was out there.  I went to the Foot Hills, the Mesa’s, the Canyon’s, the Gulch’s, the Creeks, the Deserts, and the Mountains.  

In all, I rode 300+ miles on my trips out there.  (see the TRIPS Page on this website) I was able to see every trail I plotted out, never got lost, yet I had no clue where I was going. In the woods, in the Mountains… everything was where it was supposed to be.  

All because I was able to load my Routes with a Full TOPO MAP onto my Garmin 810 GPS and it was as easy as following a green line on the screen. GPS works everywhere. Smart-Phone GPS will have black-out areas, and low location resolution. 

A GPS will locate you to within 20 feet. A smart Phone depending on where you are could be as much as 200-300 foot location resolution.  But in some places it works much better. 

The Garmin 810 runs for up to 8 hours. High resolution Maps, every stream pond and dry creek is displayed as you ride.  My other choice was a folded paper map in my pocket.