Quote:

My opinions after using a GPS on my recent 8 day trip.

Pros:
1. Makes finding a hotel at the destination city a snap.
2. Helps locate food and gas.
3. Helps navigate big cities that you've never been to before.
4. Helps judge ETA.

Cons:
1. Doesn't account for construction.
2. May not bring you the best route for a motorcycle.
3. Doesn't know about detours and gets confused when you take them.
4. Will route you the way it's programmed and may actually take you the long way around. (I could see the hotel across the mall parking lot and all I had to do was go across the intersection and the parking lot. It routed us around the block on the road.
5. You get fixated on the darn thing and you tend not to read road signs. This is bad, especially if roads and bridges are closed. (happened to us twice on the trip)

6. They may be a distraction to the rider. I would tend to use them as a good reference or to help if you get lost.

7. They don't give you the perspective of a map on where you've been and where you're going.


Summary:
I think they're a useful tool but shouldn't be used exclusively on a long road trip. IMHO, combining them with a good map and some common sense is the best use of these little gems.



pros: mostly agree, mine is hopelessly optimistic at eta.
I would cite one more pro: as a heads up display the zumo shows me an excellent view of what the road is going to do next (twists, turns, switchbacks). Especially useful at night.
And another thing! The zumo tracks my mileage since fueling up and will pop up a list of gas stations when I reach my preset limit. I used to start looking for fuel at 125 miles but my zumo is set to alert me now at 150 so fewer gas stops (except for the whole ethanol/altitude/crappy mileage thing).
cons:
1 and 3: one of the classic advantages of mine(zumo) is that it just adapts to whatever crazy thing I might do on the ground and keeps giving me its best shot at what's next. There's a "detour" menu item if the road right ahead of me is blocked by construction but i've never used it.
2 and 4: I just don't worry about this. if it looks easier to go through a parking lot I might do it.
5, 6: yup.
7: yes, i usually have a map of my overall route on my tank - the gps is just my heads-up-display.

I frankly love mine overall. A couple of weeks ago i rode into muskegon in a thunderstorm and the zumo patiently routed me to the ferry terminal while i dodged crap and flooded roads.