It looks like a decision and a conclusion have been reached.
The best way to learn is to use all the Garmin software and the device together on real jaunts, as you’ll very quickly see whether the device is working as you expect it to. Above all, keep it simple. Once you have the simple things worked out and the device working reliably every time, then you can start to explore all its other capabilities, up to and including using imported tracks created in third party software. Why start with the simplest things first? Because you’ll then know how it should work. More importantly, if it’s not working as it should, you’ll probably be able to fix it and / or at least be able to work around the problem.
Above all, stop worrying about making mistakes when leading your mates. Of course you want it to go well; by keeping it simple it can and will. If it goes wrong, then at least you have tried whilst they just trogged along behind you. If you get really stuck:
1. Stop the route
2. Simply ask the device to take you to your destination, no matter if it is one mile or 200 miles away. In reality this is exactly what you requested the device to do in your short journeys in your opening post. The device will give you a route, creating it according to the preferences you have set. It might not be exactly along the roads you had hoped to use but it will get you to where you want to get to, no matter how many wrong turns you then take.
Get used to using the device without sound, not least as if your headset fails you’ll not be left floundering. The great thing is that you’ll then learn that the voice instructions are not given every 10 yards and that they are often miles apart. If you know that your next instruction is not for say five miles you don’t need to look at the screen again for at least four and a half miles. Once you have this cracked, you’ll find that you start to think for yourself. You’ll spot in advance where the route offered up cuts a corner by taking a stupid goat track for two hundred yards, when the sensible thing is to stay on the proper road you are on for three hundred yards, not cutting the corner, thereby avoiding the goats entirely. In short, you’ll be cleverer than the machine *.
Similarly, you'll very quickly get used to reading road signs again. If the GPS instruction is to take the third exit at a roundabout, look at the road sign as you approach the roundabout. It will show you where the third exit is. More importantly, it will probably show you the name of a town, very often the road number and whether it’s a narrow road, a much wider road or the same width of carriageway as you are on at the moment. If it’s going to be wide, you may well be able to hoon off the roundabout, murdering the lorry that’s delayed you. If it’s narrow you might need to be patient for bit longer. Much of that information will probably be repeated on the sign at the exit, which you’ll be able to see as you round the roundabout. Use that information again to know that it’s the correct exit and ride with confidence.... your sat nav is now all but redundant, maybe for another five or more miles.
* When you create a route or import a track into BaseCamp or Mapsource on your computer it’s a good idea to zoom in on it a bit. Then, very simply, drag the map along watching where the route goes. You can often spot where the software has taken you down a goat track or routed you through a town or village when the sensible thing is probably to miss it out. Drag your route and correct it. Then, when you are happy, send it to your device. When it’s in your device, fire it up and make sure it’s the same - or near enough - as the route you have created on your PC. If it’s not, work out why and correct it. Better to take five minutes now than 30 minutes in the rain or broiling sun, when you have no idea where you are.
Sometimes, especially when using tracks from websites, you can spot where the bod made a mistake and backtracked or obviously just went into a town to have a coffee or meet his mum. You can correct his little excursions and then not find yourself for some unexplicable reason outside his mum’s front door.
The best way to learn is to use all the Garmin software and the device together on real jaunts, as you’ll very quickly see whether the device is working as you expect it to. Above all, keep it simple. Once you have the simple things worked out and the device working reliably every time, then you can start to explore all its other capabilities, up to and including using imported tracks created in third party software. Why start with the simplest things first? Because you’ll then know how it should work. More importantly, if it’s not working as it should, you’ll probably be able to fix it and / or at least be able to work around the problem.
Above all, stop worrying about making mistakes when leading your mates. Of course you want it to go well; by keeping it simple it can and will. If it goes wrong, then at least you have tried whilst they just trogged along behind you. If you get really stuck:
1. Stop the route
2. Simply ask the device to take you to your destination, no matter if it is one mile or 200 miles away. In reality this is exactly what you requested the device to do in your short journeys in your opening post. The device will give you a route, creating it according to the preferences you have set. It might not be exactly along the roads you had hoped to use but it will get you to where you want to get to, no matter how many wrong turns you then take.
Get used to using the device without sound, not least as if your headset fails you’ll not be left floundering. The great thing is that you’ll then learn that the voice instructions are not given every 10 yards and that they are often miles apart. If you know that your next instruction is not for say five miles you don’t need to look at the screen again for at least four and a half miles. Once you have this cracked, you’ll find that you start to think for yourself. You’ll spot in advance where the route offered up cuts a corner by taking a stupid goat track for two hundred yards, when the sensible thing is to stay on the proper road you are on for three hundred yards, not cutting the corner, thereby avoiding the goats entirely. In short, you’ll be cleverer than the machine *.
Similarly, you'll very quickly get used to reading road signs again. If the GPS instruction is to take the third exit at a roundabout, look at the road sign as you approach the roundabout. It will show you where the third exit is. More importantly, it will probably show you the name of a town, very often the road number and whether it’s a narrow road, a much wider road or the same width of carriageway as you are on at the moment. If it’s going to be wide, you may well be able to hoon off the roundabout, murdering the lorry that’s delayed you. If it’s narrow you might need to be patient for bit longer. Much of that information will probably be repeated on the sign at the exit, which you’ll be able to see as you round the roundabout. Use that information again to know that it’s the correct exit and ride with confidence.... your sat nav is now all but redundant, maybe for another five or more miles.
* When you create a route or import a track into BaseCamp or Mapsource on your computer it’s a good idea to zoom in on it a bit. Then, very simply, drag the map along watching where the route goes. You can often spot where the software has taken you down a goat track or routed you through a town or village when the sensible thing is probably to miss it out. Drag your route and correct it. Then, when you are happy, send it to your device. When it’s in your device, fire it up and make sure it’s the same - or near enough - as the route you have created on your PC. If it’s not, work out why and correct it. Better to take five minutes now than 30 minutes in the rain or broiling sun, when you have no idea where you are.
Sometimes, especially when using tracks from websites, you can spot where the bod made a mistake and backtracked or obviously just went into a town to have a coffee or meet his mum. You can correct his little excursions and then not find yourself for some unexplicable reason outside his mum’s front door.