I’ve just bought a Garmin XT

[Wapping]

Having read Mr. Heath's carefully crafted, Route Creation Guidance, manual it seems to me, that even if you currently only using an offline, no voice guidance, route map -- with a gps location dot, it might be useful to adopt some basic principles from that treatise.

So if at some point you opt to use a Garmin, the "route rules" are already second nature.

Key points I took from the information are -

Do not start a route at your intended starting point. Always make the first navigation point a "short" distance from there.

Place a navigation point a "short" distance onward from any junction that is on the route.

If a "main road" is near your intended road place navigation points a "short" distance after any road junction that leads to that main road.

Zoom in and check navigation point locations.

If anyone thinks these points are not incorrect or irelevant -- please speak up.

It really is pretty much that simple.

I used to use BaseCamp (and before that MapSource) to create and ride many miles of routes, sending them to my Garmin device(s).

I now use MyRoute’s Routeplanner app exclusively, sending the routes either to MyRoute’s own Navigation app or to my XT and sometimes to both. Either way:

A. The process is easy.

B. The end result, whether on the Navigation app or on the XT, is reliable.

The only other things I’d add are:

1. I adhere to MyRoute’s suggestion of having a shaping point every 5km / 3 miles.

2. I check carefully where the shaping points are placed.

3. I export the route from Routeplanner to my XT via Garmin’s Drive app, using version 1.1.

4. I check (before I waltz out of the door) that the route(s) displayed in MyRoute’s Navigation app and on my XT, match the route(s) I created in MyRoute’s Routeplanner app.

5. I do not have many owner set preferences active on my XT. I limit them to:

Avoid U-turns
Avoid unmade roads
Route recalculation following going ‘off route’ set to prompted. In other words, I chose whether to recalculate, not my XT.

Following these very simple ‘rules’ everything works well, whether on my XT or on earlier Garmin devices.

PS I long ago ceased to wonder or worry why bods on my Wanders said: “But my device says…..”. Lord only knows what settings, preferences, maps and variables they had loaded onto their devices. The roadside is not the place to find out.

 

[glenn2926]

Ok, to use the XT that I have acquired means buying a 3DAM adapter. Has anyone on here bought one? If so was it pretty straightforward to fit? Is it secure if it’s the locking one? Does anyone have a recommendation as to the supplier?
Thanks in advance.

Ok looks like nobody has used the 3DAM adapter for the XT to the BMW cradle. I will probably get one and hope it works as advertised.

 

[jfheath]

Hey guys - nice though it is to hear the different ways of creating routes - there is no one correct answer. Whatever works best for you is the correct one.

There are things that go wrong with every system that I have used - and it will be no surprise to many that I try to provoke them into failure - because I like to find out when I am experimenting, not when I am on the 'trip of a lifetime'.

In fact - with all of the latest Zumo XTs - there are issues with imported routes - so routes from MRA, BC, Kurviger, etc are all regarded by the Zumos as imported - so they all misbehave in the same way. The XTs behave differently with imported routes than they do with routes created on the Zumo screen. I know how, and I know why and we can fix the behaviour - but that is not for this comment. The XT2s have had a software update that prevents RUT behaviour - but 'Imported' routes still behave differently from 'Saved' routes.

And the Tread App and the Drive App for the XTs have all created what I regard as other serious problems for planned routes. Moving Route Points for me is always a serious issue and Garmin have been doing it since the Zumo 595.

And many users (not on here of course !) still get caught out with their own slip-ups. There's no cure for the human cock-up or so it seems. Of course I keep testing with my own (ahem) deliberate examples !!

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Me too. Handy for lots of things and in the event the nav fails we can still carry on!

Of course and the safe choice

 

[JoeBiff]

Ok looks like nobody has used the 3DAM adapter for the XT to the BMW cradle. I will probably get one and hope it works as advertised.

Yes, I did and it worked without any problems
I bought it from these guys: https://www.adventurebikeshop.co.uk...mw-r130012001250gsarsf750850gsf900rxrs1000xr/

It worked as it said on the tin, though I eventually went the CRN route, so the adapter is in the cupboard, along with my XT.
As for security, it’s no more (and no less) secure than the standard fitting; I always removed the device if I parked-up the bike.

 

[boatman]

Old fashioned me
Whenever I go out of the country ,,I ALWAYS carry a set of paper maps ( mibbies not all of them are the latest ones ) .
We have become very VERY reliant on tech ,, I don’t fancy being many countries away from home - - and some event knocks out satellites / phones ,, hasn’t happened does not mean it can’t / won’t happen .
One often comes across roads that are closed ,, which puts the kybosh on the carefully planned and filed routes .
The route planner in the zumo Xt , is very useful for just starting again at the road side .

 

[Mzokk]

I always carry maps of the area I'm riding not least because I tend to create/alter routes on the fly these days........must have a clear out I'm not sure my 1971 Bartholomew road atlas of europe would cut the mustard these days.....but its good for comparison of what has changed!!

 

[JoeBiff]

I always carry maps of the area I'm riding not least because I tend to create/alter routes on the fly these days........must have a clear out I'm not sure my 1971 Bartholomew road atlas of europe would cut the mustard these days.....but its good for comparison of what has changed!!

Hamburg’s Reeperbahn is still in the same place.
I’ve just checked

 

[Wapping]

things that go wrong with every system that I have used - and it will be no surprise to many that I try to provoke them into failure

I find it easiest not to provoke problems. Instead, keeping it as simple as possible, no matter how complicated and bespoke a route I have created might be.