How do you use YOUR device?

[Rasher]

MRA is a piece of piss to use for route planning and navigation, the former it is excellent - and there is a free version which works quite well

With the full version I will do the "compare route with" option to overlay Tom Tom and OSM routing - but these are not 100% true to Tom Tom as each device generation may behave a little different, then the maps may be different, or even software updates that have altered the routing calculations, before we get into avoidances, curvy road options, live traffic and a billion other things.

But by doing the compare I may spot a few places where other devices are likly to deviate from mine and dob a couple of extra waypoints in to get them on the same page.

Tracks are my best friend, I use the route for navigation, and show the track as that is what I saw on the computer screen, so when they deviate I can make a decision as to which looks the nest option, when riding with the Mrs we had an agreement if we could not see one another and the track / route deviated always follow the track.

I may also load the route onto the XT, then show the track, then look at the route on the XT - easy to spot where it deviates from the track (which is what I intended when planning on PC) I can then ammend the waypoints and check it again - for a trip with several bikes getting into this level of detail can pay off on the trip - but you will never catch everything if you have 5 bikes with 5 different Nav devices / apps and not all can run tracks - and some have waypoint number limitations so you cannot just expand to 100 waypoints.

I do not navigate the track as I like to use Waypoints for where there is fuel / food / something interesting, and all that gets lost with a track.

Solo without any particular stops none of this matters much as you can just follow the route, or the track,

=======

I have cut this post out of an another thread, as it probably stands better on its own. Hopefully, it will create some debate.

Richard

 

[fatbaldbob]

I have no idea what any of that means? Can you provide a glossary of terms to aid understanding so I know if I need to know what this is about.

 

[Wapping]

In the main, I agree with Raher. MyRoute’s route creation tool (even in its free version) is now very good. That it is accessible without a PC and integrates well with MyRoute’s separate Navigation app and / or most Garmin devices, is just a bonus.

I rarely ask the device for ‘Take me from A to B’ routes, much preferring to create my own bespoke routes. Similarly, I have the recalculation option switched to off or prompted, along with having very few preferences set. In short, I try to keep things as simple as possible for the dumb (but really quite clever) device.

I don’t use the ‘Always show the track as well’ method. But that’s just me. As with PC and spreadsheets, what makes perfect sense to one person, might be meaningless to another. What I do do though, is follow MyRoute’s very few and vey simple ‘Best practice’ rules and, not least, try my best to learn how devices actually work.

 

[Wapping]

I have no idea what any of that means? Can you provide a glossary of terms to aid understanding so I know if I need to know what this is about.

That probably sums up much of your life

 

[fatbaldbob]

what makes perfect sense to one person, might be meaningless to another.

That probably sums up much of your life.

You said it None of it means anything to me

 

[glenn2926]

I’ve tried MRA it’s just very awkward and not as user friendly as Basecamp. All this over laying routing, creating route or tracks etc just makes MRA so very clunky and awkward to use. In Basecamp, creat a route and send to device, job done. None of this swapping to GPX or anything. I’ve toured all over France, Spain, Italy, Norway, Germany, Ireland, Scotland Belgium, Netherlands and probably other places. Basecamp has been very easy to use to plot the routes. I’ve been using this system for around 15 years and it has worked great. I also use Basecamp for plotting routes when using the Camper760 device too. Again it has performed excellently. It will be a great shame if I ever have to try any other awkward, clunky routing apps.
Sticking with what I know is hopefully going to continue.

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

I just use my XT as decorative handlebar jewellery

It looks very pretty

 

[Wapping]

Good job you bought it cheap then

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Good job you bought it cheap then

Some people spend more on a Denali horn, so I like the prettiness of the XT
Great colours

 

[Wapping]

Denali horn…. Necessary to sound above the rip roaring exhaust….

 

[KMD]

But loud pipes save lives….

 

[Wapping]

But loud pipes save lives….

Unlike h-viz, which kills.

 

[twizzle]

You said it None of it means anything to me

Don’t stress FBB, you are not alone… this place is littered with GPS route tracking geeks…

 

[fatbaldbob]

Don’t stress FBB, you are not alone… this place is littered with GPS route tracking geeks…

Whatever happened to the good old days when you simply wrote your route out on your petrol tank with a chinagraph pencil.

Modern navigation (at least I’m guessing that’s what this thread is about) seems so complicated.

I do own a satnav but apart from putting an address in and pressing go, I have no other understanding of what it’s capable of and the idea of using other things; PCs, phones, laptops and apps etc to plan, download and transfer stuff back to the device totally scrambles my brain. Surely it takes the spontaneity and adventure out of a tour.

Last time I was abroad I got stuck when the road I was on was closed, could not find a way around it, so simply went to the nearest village and asked in a petrol station how I could get to where I needed to go. They gave me details of how to bypass it. Simple interaction with locals, no electronics involved and got where I needed to go.

Whatever floats your boat I suppose, some are more technically minded than others and like that sort of thing and no doubt it’s great until it fails, thereafter you need to get your paper map and chinagraph out but for many that’s a lost art.

 

[Mzokk]

I just use my XT as decorative handlebar jewellery

It looks very pretty

View attachment 453187

Lovely spot JB

 

[Wapping]

Last time I was abroad I got stuck when the road I was on was closed, could not find a way around it, so simply went to the nearest village and asked in a petrol station how I could get to where I needed to go. They gave me details of how to bypass it. Simple interaction with locals, no electronics involved and got where I needed to go

Many here are reluctant to engage with anyone, let alone someone foreign.

Asking for directions, or simply talking to someone from outside your village, is though not always the sole preserve of someone with a 1980’s Michelin map, thankfully.

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Lovely spot JB

Auvergne ….going down the Vallée du Falgoux

 

[siddo]

I’ve tried MRA it’s just very awkward and not as user friendly as Basecamp. All this over laying routing, creating route or tracks etc just makes MRA so very clunky and awkward to use. In Basecamp, creat a route and send to device, job done. None of this swapping to GPX or anything. I’ve toured all over France, Spain, Italy, Norway, Germany, Ireland, Scotland Belgium, Netherlands and probably other places. Basecamp has been very easy to use to plot the routes. I’ve been using this system for around 15 years and it has worked great. I also use Basecamp for plotting routes when using the Camper760 device too. Again it has performed excellently. It will be a great shame if I ever have to try any other awkward, clunky routing apps.
Sticking with what I know is hopefully going to continue.

Basecamp was proper shit, in my experience. MRA is proper easy to use.

 

[Mzokk]

twizzle said:
"Don’t stress FBB, you are not alone… this place is littered with GPS route tracking geeks…"

I am one of those "GPS route tracking geeks…" You know you are when you are riding with a group and they start miming "I'm hanging myself" when you quote road numbers and directions but they still follow you....... I love maps and GIS/GPS systems I think its a natural progression of the map thing. I use MRA for route planning and navigation now with Basecamp for tracks and POI's and a Zumo XT for backup on my Honda. I use MRA for route-planning rather than Basecamp as I have all my routes with me on the phone and I can quickly remake my plans if a trip goes belly up. (a couple of weeks ago 6 of us were up in Strontian and due to storm Amy the power in the hotel was off we relocated to Moffat for a few days so new routes required) . I also use OSMand+ (£10 a year) and I use it for "Free Rides" (and sometimes for navigation)because the maps look better than MRA on my Africa Twin Android auto screen and more of the upcoming road network is visible. It also has its own route repository online but its not anywhere near as feature rich as MRA, though it does handle POI's much better. Below is a track and POI info.



The cheapest system for a bike now would be an old phone free MRA which allows storage of 25 routes (but you could store as many as you like offline) and OSMand+ at £10 a year. MRA free uses OSM maps and any routes created would be compatible with OSMand+ on your phone and your Android auto/Apple carplay device if you have one.

 

[Berin]

Whatever happened to the good old days when you simply wrote your route out on your petrol tank with a chinagraph pencil.

Modern navigation (at least I’m guessing that’s what this thread is about) seems so complicated.

I do own a satnav but apart from putting an address in and pressing go, I have no other understanding of what it’s capable of and the idea of using other things; PCs, phones, laptops and apps etc to plan, download and transfer stuff back to the device totally scrambles my brain. Surely it takes the spontaneity and adventure out of a tour.

Last time I was abroad I got stuck when the road I was on was closed, could not find a way around it, so simply went to the nearest village and asked in a petrol station how I could get to where I needed to go. They gave me details of how to bypass it. Simple interaction with locals, no electronics involved and got where I needed to go.

Whatever floats your boat I suppose, some are more technically minded than others and like that sort of thing and no doubt it’s great until it fails, thereafter you need to get your paper map and chinagraph out but for many that’s a lost art.

It’s not a lost art, and that’s exactly what I used to do. However, that really requires either carrying many detailed maps, or one or two large scale maps. The large scale maps don’t show the often very interesting small roads, and so for the sake of ease and size of the piece of paper you can stick on your tank, you end up on big roads, and being reluctant to take a detour, because you’ll get lost.

Taking a sat nav is like having an infinitely large piece of paper with your route on it, and the ability to carry 1:50000 or 1:25000 scale maps, for the whole of Europe, or wherever you happen to be. The maps conveniently zoom in and out, as well.


Fancy a detour up a small road halfway up a mountain? Explorer away. You can’t get lost as you can just input your destination when you fancy, or resume the route and it will navigate back to it.

Fancy exploring some unsurfaced roads, across remote places. Really hard to do with a paper map, at least to cover any distance.

If I think now of the interesting stuff I rode past, because I was heading to the next town written on my map vs the places I can go now it’s incomparable.

Anyway, each to his own.