Creating a route directly onto the Zumo XT

BVP

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Always struggled with Basecamp, My Route etc due to occasional use and forgetting how I did things the time before. Map management, sending, converting etc was all a complete faff to me. I was beginning to regret my XT purchase but then stumbled on a YouTube vid from Cruiseman’s Garage detailing how to create a route directly onto the XT. I had a go and it seemed really simple, tried the route on the road and it all worked like a dream no problems with waypoints or anything, I’ve since converted some of the waypoints to shaping points on the XT all without touching a Mac, PC or iPad and that was fine too.


So I guess I’m wondering am I missing out on something by inputting everything directly to the XT as opposed to creating routes on a computer or pad and sending it to the XT?

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am I missing out on something by inputting everything directly to the XT

It is a bit of a faff, but doable.
I find it easier/faster to do proper planning on the computer on BC (and also duplicate all my routes into tracks, just in case).
 
Are you, as an occasional user, missing anything by creating your routes directly into the Garmin XT, as shown in the video? No, if that is all you want or need to do.

Garmin have developed the device so that it is possible to do exactly what you are doing. Be happy. There again, you will only ever ride roads and routes that the device throws up for you in order to join the via points together, which is fine if that is all you want or need to do. Obviously, the more via points you create in a route, the more roads of your choosing the device will then follow.

If on the other hand you might decide you want to build a library of routes, maybe to use them to create other routes, by moulding them together. Or, should you wish to easily share a route or routes between your friends (other than by using Bluetooth in close proximity to each other) then you might find it useful to learn how to use BaseCamp or MyRoute or something similar, in order to do it. If nothing else you’ll not lose all your routes should you ever lose, break or sell your XT or if it just stops working. There are lots of very good tutorials on how to use BaseCamp, MyRoute and the like, try them. If though, you really are just an occasional user, with no more use for the XT than that, then just stay as you are. Nobody, least of all Garmin, will mind.
 
Are you, as an occasional user, missing anything by creating your routes directly into the Garmin XT, as shown in the video? No, if that is all you want or need to do.

Garmin have developed the device so that it is possible to do exactly what you are doing. Be happy. There again, you will only ever ride roads and routes that the device throws up for you in order to join the via points together, which is fine if that is all you want or need to do. Obviously, the more via points you create in a route, the more roads of your choosing the device will then follow.

If on the other hand you might decide you want to build a library of routes, maybe to use them to create other routes, by moulding them together. Or, should you wish to easily share a route or routes between your friends (other than by using Bluetooth in close proximity to each other) then you might find it useful to learn how to use BaseCamp or MyRoute or something similar, in order to do it. If nothing else you’ll not lose all your routes should you ever lose, break or sell your XT or if it just stops working. There are lots of very good tutorials on how to use BaseCamp, MyRoute and the like, try them. If though, you really are just an occasional user, with no more use for the XT than that, then just stay as you are. Nobody, least of all Garmin, will mind.
Excellent, you have raised some valid points around saving and sharing, I have followed some of your Basecamp tutorials before and had limited success with My Route. I think for me I will carry on with direct input and then find a way to save the routes I’ve created on my computer until such times that I find this limiting.
Thanks again for your help.
 
No problem at all.

I guess the trick, if there is one, is to get comfortable across a number of methods, whether that be direct input into the device, BaseCamp, MyMap, Google Maps, Kurviger or just importing routes or tracks from a variety of third party sources. They all have their benefits and disadvantages, some of which I am only just discovering myself *. Whatever you chose, you’ll generally find some good help on these pages, so give it a go.

Most modern GPS devices are pretty powerful but at the same time sometimes remarkably dumb, reliant on input or ‘proper use’ by their owner. Many of the problems we now see on these pages come from user error and / or the mixing of different softwares together. But these are reducing. Why?

A. We are in the depths of a pandemic, so usage will have reduced. Less use probably equals less problems.

B. The different softwares and devices are getting better to talking to each other.

C. Maybe more users are just using their powerful (but dumb) devices by saying to the machine or to the software: “Take me from A to B” and being happy with what the device or software spits out, knowing that should they ever go off route, the device will always deliver them to B without fail.

D. Maybe more owners really are getting to know how their devices and the different softwares really work.

The more that bods can do of D, the better, obviously.

Have fun with your XT and have fun with the assorted bits of software. A lot of it is free and you really can’t break it.



* I am only just learning how MyMaps works on an iPad but that is only because I have just bought an XT and / or just started to use app’s like Garmin Drive / BMW Connect. Before now, I had no great use for any of them. Likewise Google Map, whose only use to me before was to find out how far it was from A to B and roughly which direction I would need to take.
 
I have been using the trip planner for a while now and it's a shame that every time you want to add a point it goes back to the menu
So if you want to use the map to plan a trip it's a right ball ache
Pity they did not use the same method the montana 700 series uses where the map just stays on the screen and you can see the route being
planned on it just like base camp...This is a massive improvement and with a bit of luck in the future Garmin will do something simular for the XT
 
The ‘On the map’ was the method that worked well on lots of previous Garmin devices. I think somewhere there’s a thread where someone got it to work on the XT. Or maybe I dreamt it?

There was….

In areas where you kinda know your way around then doing the route using the XT itself is a good option.... using the Trip Planner in Apps. Just put starting point and end point in, calculate the route and save it, forget which way you actually want to go.

Then go into saved routes, pick the route you just did, tap the spanner icon on the left bar and choose Shape Route. On the map, zoom into you route where you want to make changes and tap to shape the route and save.... simple!

However, when you want to plan a trip to an area where you are not familiar then ideally Google Maps on a desktop or laptop is much better, it's a great piece of software really but you get more full functionality on a PC/Mac than you do on your phone... if logged into a Google account and use My Maps.

Only problem is Google Maps doesn't want to talk to a Garmin Zumo, it's above all that and will only communicate through an intermediary..... in this case 3rd party software like the one Wapping suggested above.... or Garmin's own Basecamp which is a free download.... and no wonder, its the clunkiest most rubbish piece of route planning software you can get for free! It's like being made to type up a huge report on a typewriter after using a PC for 30 years

But...... it will talk to Mr Google Maps and accept the KML/KMZ file you saved in My Maps of your long winding tour in deepest Central France and convert it to GPX and send it to your Zumo XT with an accurate copy of what you did in Google Maps.... I just did a couple of trial Irish ones that I plan to take next year as a test and it worked well..... once you know which hoops you have to jump through of course!!

If only Google would bring out an app for smart phones or as a paid-for bolt on for Google maps which allowed seamless communication with GPS units like the XT.

The XT is a very nice piece of kit though with some great in-built features.

It’s a bit of a slow method (maybe I did it it in not the brightest way possible as I did it on a 500 plus route, which was a daft thing to do) but it sort of works. That being said, it’s not as good as putting points directly onto a map and building routes that way.

One thing I haven’t tried is simply entering a list of towns / villages into the planner and then letting the XT create the route. Put enough in and the route should follow your intended roads exactly. Then use the skip function to miss out a town or village where the centre was not where you actually want to go. That should work, as it works on earlier devices that have the skip function. I used the method to create and then ride, across country, from Verdun to Calais, all on D roads of my choice.
 
Thanks for posting Jazbees tip regards using the shape feature within trip planner, that’s very useful to know. As a non techy person, don’t even have a laptop, this feature really suits my needs/ability. One question I do have is, when you’re in trip planner and are about to add a location, there are 12 options starting with “Where I am now” and ending with “Browse map”, is there a way of making Browse map an early choice in the list rather than the last.
 
One question I do have is, when you’re in trip planner and are about to add a location, there are 12 options starting with “Where I am now” and ending with “Browse map”, is there a way of making Browse map an early choice in the list rather than the last.

Not that I know of.
 


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