Blasphemy

[BnB Tom]

Has anybody ever used the Harley Davidson Ride Planner? 
  It seems to be pretty intuitive and easy to work with.   Transferrable to your favorite GPS.

   OR.. 

                                What is YOUR favorite ride planner?

[hubcapsc]

I looked at it once, someone else here spoke well of it. I got the impression from my
quick look it was a combination of google maps routes converted to gpx files. Google maps
is good and gpx files can be loaded to any (most?) gpses...

I like to plot out routes on google maps from the comfort of my easy chair. Once
I have a plan, I make sure I can see the route in the Red Book, and off I go. Without
a GPS to tell me to TURN NOW, I often get off the route, but I always have a good
ride  ,and you're never lost with a Red Book...



-Mike

[Disco]

Yes, I used it to plan the tentative route from Durango to Billings.

Not sure if it was a software glitch or operator error, but somehow the Pacific Coast Highway from Eureka, CA to Newport, OR wound up in there.   

[Jess from VA]

What was that?  I was lost in the mirror (and easily distracted). 

I do the same thing (with no GPS).  I reduce it to a turn-by-turn list of short, one line bullets (like -L (left) Rt50, -R exit #12, US 25, etc) on a 3 X 5 card and stick it in my tank bib waterproof pocket.

Consulting it in motion becomes my low tech distracted driving (like reading emails, only shorter).   

One must never pull it out of the pocket for a closer look while moving or your cheat sheet may depart into the wind, along with your plans.

And for a number of my trips (like up to MI), I save and reuse these cheat sheets over and over.  (Car and bike)

[Skinhead]

This was my GPS before I had a GPS (It didn't like rain though)

[Valkpilot]

Has anybody ever used the Harley Davidson Ride Planner?  
  It seems to be pretty intuitive and easy to work with.   Transferrable to your favorite GPS.

   OR..  

                                What is YOUR favorite ride planner?

My choice is still Microsoft Streets & Trips 2013
Routes transferable to any GPS as well.

I've used it for all the big trips I've taken.  I usually plan a master round trip route, then break it up into individual by-day route segments.

I haven't enjoyed any online application I've tried so far.

Garmin Basecamp is supposed to do everything but service the rear drive on a Valk for you, but the learning curve is extensive.

Have you tried this (keeping it in the family?) http://tripplanner.honda.com/#/


With all of them, the trick is to put in enough way points to insure the GPS plots the route you want.

[hubcapsc]

With all of them, the trick is to put in enough way points to insure the GPS plots the route you want.

There's something other than way points, i forget the buzz-word, "point of interest" or something, that I could put
into my tomtom that made it OK to miss some of the bread crumbs without the GPS trying to
route me back to the ones I missed, rather it would route  to the closest one to wherever
you were at the time to get you back on track...

I haven't messed with it for a while, but making a route with way points was driving me crazy...

-Mike

[Valkpilot]

With all of them, the trick is to put in enough way points to insure the GPS plots the route you want.

There's something other than way points, i forget the buzz-word, "point of interest" or something, that I could put
into my tomtom that made it OK to miss some of the bread crumbs without the GPS trying to
route me back to the ones I missed, rather it would route  to the closest one to wherever
you were at the time to get you back on track...

I haven't messed with it for a while, but making a route with way points was driving me crazy...

-Mike

Waypoints, via points, POI mean mostly the same thing -- intermediate points on the route.

Entering them directly in the GPS is a major pain.  Using trip planning software to put them in, then exporting to the GPS takes a lot of the pain away.

[hubcapsc]

With all of them, the trick is to put in enough way points to insure the GPS plots the route you want.

There's something other than way points, i forget the buzz-word, "point of interest" or something, that I could put
into my tomtom that made it OK to miss some of the bread crumbs without the GPS trying to
route me back to the ones I missed, rather it would route  to the closest one to wherever
you were at the time to get you back on track...

I haven't messed with it for a while, but making a route with way points was driving me crazy...

-Mike

Waypoints, via points, POI mean mostly the same thing -- intermediate points on the route.

Entering them directly in the GPS is a major pain.  Using trip planning software to put them in, then exporting to the GPS takes a lot of the pain away.

I guess what I'm saying is that if I miss part of the route, on purpose or whatever, and want to get
back on the route, I don't want the GPS to send me back to the first missed bread crumb, rather, I want it
to get me back on the route directly  from where I am, not worrying if some bread crumbs were missed.
The buzz-words and techniques to do this probably vary among the different GPS softwares. When I've made
a route with waypoints, the GPSes I've used have been pretty insistent that I pass through all of them...

-Mike

[Valkpilot]

I guess what I'm saying is that if I miss part of the route, on purpose or whatever, and want to get
back on the route, I don't want the GPS to send me back to the first missed bread crumb, rather, I want it
to get me back on the route directly  from where I am, not worrying if some bread crumbs were missed.
The buzz-words and techniques to do this probably vary among the different GPS softwares. When I've made
a route with waypoints, the GPSes I've used have been pretty insistent that I pass through all of them...

-Mike

Mike, all of mine give up pretty easily on the intermediate points if I miss them.

[BnB Tom]

I guess what I'm saying is that if I miss part of the route, on purpose or whatever, and want to get
back on the route, I don't want the GPS to send me back to the first missed bread crumb, rather, I want it
to get me back on the route directly  from where I am, not worrying if some bread crumbs were missed.
The buzz-words and techniques to do this probably vary among the different GPS softwares. When I've made
a route with waypoints, the GPSes I've used have been pretty insistent that I pass through all of them...

-Mike

Mike, all of mine give up pretty easily on the intermediate points if I miss them.

  Actually, my antique Zumo 550 has a setting that allows it to 're-route' -- after a few hundred feet -- to the next way point from your deviation to your selected destination.

I like to do my desktop planning as a guide.  Obviously there will be diversions from the menu that will come up but at least with a little preparation before blast off, the 'Adventure' is little more under control.