any of garmins handhelds will work for what you want, with the exception of the rino 110 and the etrex h, as they do not have mapping capabilities. the garmin nuvi 500 comes pre-loaded with city nav and topo for the u.s. (nuvi 550 has north america maps). it is waterproof and comes with two rechargeable batteries that last roughly 4 hours depending on how you use it. they do have the zumo series which is motorcycle specific as stated above, (can also be used easily in a car). if you would prefer a handheld unit, i strongly recommend one of the new oregon series (450 or 550). they both have a 3-axis compass, which is one of the coolest things ive seen in the gps world, and they have all the same features. the biggest difference is the 550's have a 3.2 mp auto-focus digital camera built in. its quite a decent camera and works very well. they also have the 450t and 550t, which both have the topo u.s. software pre-loaded. getting a unit with pre-loaded maps has the advantage of easily being able to add more maps through the empty micro-sd card slot without having to remove maps already on the unit. you can get handlebar mounts for any handheld unit, and you can put city nav maps on these units as well, so you can get turn by turn directions to addresses, find hotels, restaurants, and all that other shit. all the same stuff you can do with a nuvi. they just wont talk to you, they beep. touchscreen is also a big advantage of the oregons. the dakota series is nice, but they are smaller and dont have as good of an antenna as the oregons do, though they do have most of the same features. i know this was really long, but i hope it helped. i sell these things for a living, so im used to spewing information. haha.
). My wife and her sister are planning a road trip east this May, so that would be the primary use. However, it might come in handy when hiking, too, so if possible I'd like to combine driving and off-road use. Any advice from all the techies out there would be appreciated.
