Larry,
the choice of a gps is predicated on the intended use. Any gps can get you somewhere. few allow you to import a detailed route. Last Sept the routes I had laid out demanded full time gps use. No painted lines, no road signs no gas stations signs... Riding in the rain, the snow etc. Had I a gps unit that was not totally waterproof well then I would have had to waylay till the weather cleared.
Rolling on slabs and semi rural roads really and truly can be done by the lipstick shorthand on the mirror(s) method.
I guess what I am getting at is the freestyle method if using a gps. That is you have a destination in mind (or not) but at least a direction. Now the gps is powered up and you are rolling. The gps affords a sort of xray vision. allowing you to 'see' the land around your direction of travel. So you are rolling. You look at the gps map and see a side road that meanders in the approximate direction you are heading. Well? On the betterer gps models, having already set a destination, one can drop a point along that road and set as a way-point. Or not having set a destination you can touch the screen and select as a destination.
It is amazing the stuff you'll see rolling freestyle. Most times I have routes ready for import (gpx format). The lasts GA Rally I had routes to import up to Silver Spring MD. the return trip to Florida from Maryland I had made no such gpx files. Freestyle. 850 miles of point and go. Simple nirvana. No slabs. No highways. Rural road riding. Road on the West side of I-81 for a while too.
The farkles on high end gps models are route management. The detour button, navigation parameters, voice navigation cues, red light camera and speed camera warnings, and the big one a mp3 player. a large data base of points of interest. Say gas stations? Out West that alone was invaluable.
Boiling this down, if all you want a gps unit for is to get from point a to point b, any will work. If you want to take control of the route management, entertainment (music), custom way-point and be able to roll in driving rain then the choices of gps units narrows.
An example of route management vis-a-vis gpx file creation then subsequent import.
Mansfield Pa to New Haven Connecticut: No interstate or even major roads. Entered NJ then exited NJ without paying a toll.
The inexpensive gps unit will do what the base line function is: get you home. Nothing like rolling blind then after figuring out that you want to get heck out of dodge and back home all you have to do is power up the unit then press the 'home' button.
Inexpensive vs outlandish?
It's your frolic in the country. Wanna see it or just roll past it?
