I have a Garmin and have used it here in Washington State alot on some remote routes through the mountain passes. Its very useful on unfamiliar unmarked roads or remote roads marked in a foreign language.
I spent a little time in Laos and rode several routes that were on a map but found myself always checking at forks in the road to be sure I was going the right direction. The GPS completely eliminates this stop, look, and always wondering, until you see a verifiable landmark process. I was wondering if anyone has the GPS routes available for rides in the "Golden Triangle" book or some other routes they found enjoyable in Laos, Cambodia, Thailand.
One dilemma may be if you give the GPs route out will the rides get abused? Considering the remoteness of most of the rides and the fact that most enthusiasts are simply going to the region for a vacation like I have done. It would take more visitors than are currently doing this type of trip to ruin it.
Because I have ridden a few of the routes and have the Maps by David U (excellent work) that I found incredibly accurate and useful I noticed the Garmin world map is so incomplete and inaccurate to navigate by the map, and not the programmed route, would be dangerously misleading. The roads are not located where the map represents them and the names for cities and towns differ alot for the actual name. If your familiar with GPs units you will know this would not mater much if I had a proven route programmed in the GPS unit. But felt it was important to point out.
Furthermore I have been traveling alone and find alot of comfort knowing I have a route programmed in that only takes an occasional glance to see if I'm on track and I can track my distances to specific way points. So this is my longwinded requests to see if anyone has any GPs routes available they enjoyed, that they would be willing to share. I will be heading to Thailand and plan on riding to Cambodia in Dec and will be bringing my GPs for the first time. I will be recording my trips and will make them available on this site to anyone who wants them.
~Tirak