So I tested out the new Garmin ecoRoute.  It’s a program that can track your fuel usage.  It can predict the cost for each route you try.  It all sounds pretty good, but how good does it work?

Well I tried it out for one full tank of gas.  I had it on every time I started the car and moved.

Here’s the results.  I set the cost of fuel for the prediction to be $1.80/gal

• Distance: 294.3mi
• Time Traveled: 8:37
• cost of fuel used:$23.42
• Average Fuel Economy: 22.6mpg
• Carbon Footprint: 252.4lbs
• fuel Used: 13.0 gal

NOW, lets compare that to what the pump and the miles on the car said.

• Distance 302.0 mi
• cost of fuel used:26.00
• Gallons filled 13.479
• Cost per gallon: $1.929
• Calculated Average Fuel Economy: 22.41mpg

I was pretty impressed.  If the cost would have been the same as predicted ($1.80gal), the actual filled price would have been $24.62 which is less than a $1 off.   The fact that the fuel economy is so close is what really impresses me too.  I have to admit, I thought the program was going to be a joke, but it actually works.  So next time your using your GPS, and put in a waypoint, you can be confident that the predicted cost for that trip will be accurate.  So I’ve learned it cost about a 1.32 one way to work. 

Oh yea, the best part.  It actually gives you a driving report too which you can download from your GPS to your computer.  I plan on writing a program to parse these reports and make more useful data from them.