Although the XT mount does come for free with the XT, so unless you are switching between bikes that have a 660 mount it may be an unnecessary expense
XT steep learning curve
- Thread starter adventuredon
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It does though ‘save’ snipping wires and / or removing the old 660 mount and its power lead neatly, to then install the ‘free’ XT mount, which (might) require the purchase of an adapter lead from BMW or wherever, in order to use the switched feed up at the headstock.
Me? I’d remove all the 660 gubbins and flog it all. Then I’d install the ‘free’ and very good XT mount, which comes in the box, preferably with an ignition triggered ‘power on’, maybe using an excellent Thunderbox, as that can be used to power other peripherals, too.
That’s exactly what I’ve done (apart from flog the bits) and it worked very well, until I got an Aochhi C3 for £45 and fitted it to the scoot.
The Aocchi is brilliant so I got a wonder wheel version for the GS but missed the option of the XT, the adaptor means I can use the CarPlay unit or the XT depending on what I’m up to.
It comes pre wired but you do need to fit the XT mount to it but as you’ve got an XT you’ve got one of those as well.
I’ve got an old 660 mount so will fit it to scoot so just swap the 2 units around and maybe sell the C3 but as they are so cheap I’ll probably just stick it in a drawer somewhere.
I’m not trying to do a sales pitch for the adaptor, just saying it works for me so might work for others, each to their own and all that.
That's why I like the XT2 as I can see what it's likely to do in the Tread app before setting off. It does cause problems for some, so not always a perfect solutionBut hey, GPX is more good than bad; that’s for sure. What is beneficial is a bit of patience and the ability to look at the sometimes mass of spaghetti, to work out what’s gone wrong. It’s why I always advocate checking things BEFORE setting off. Five minutes spent, might save an hour of buggeration later.
I had one delivered six months ago. Didn't pay any additional taxes on it sent direct to UK.
Given up on my garmin tread overland, the garmin software bit at any rate, and I'm now attempting to load DMD to run on it....
This thread has taken some interesting twists and turns, almost as if it were generated by a Garmin routing algorithm.
So far:
A. The OP (apparently) has decided on an XT2
B. Another fellow, reluctant to move away from BaseCamp has (sort of) decided on an XT
C. All sorts of bits about cradles, powering a device, the likes (and dislikes) of MyRoute and / or Garmin app’s
I am sure there is more…..
So far:
A. The OP (apparently) has decided on an XT2
B. Another fellow, reluctant to move away from BaseCamp has (sort of) decided on an XT
C. All sorts of bits about cradles, powering a device, the likes (and dislikes) of MyRoute and / or Garmin app’s
I am sure there is more…..
Great isn’t it? That’s one of the great things about the pub. It’s sort of like a real pub. Conversations drift. Some love to make things complicated others like to keep it simple.
I’m glad I separated out the opening post, to stand alone.
The XT2 tells me that It does want to connect to Basecamp but does so anyway. No problems here.
The XT2 folder system is completely different to the XT and previous Garmin devices and has been designed to work with Tread app. One has to move an entire "List folder" to the Device rather than a List or individual waypoint/route. Once this is understood, then transferring routes to the device is straightforward.
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Interesting- so you can bypass the tread app and just send a route to the XT2 by connecting the device to basecamp, via a cable to the PC, and then using “send to device” from Basecamp?
Yes, but as always there's a but, I'm pretty certain doing it this way means that the route is "imported" and so will show the RUT problem as it's not a "saved" one, unless you then "save" it on the XT2.
Same with imported routes on the XT. So as soon as it's imported, open it, and save it. Then it seems to work ok. Being doing this for years and haven't had the RUT problem.
I haven’t, but I have never experienced the RUT problem with either of my two XT devices.
Hey ho, I’m not complaining.
In all honesty, me neither, on 2 devices. I do put plenty of waypoints in, though.I haven’t, but I have never experienced the RUT problem with either of my two XT devices.
Hey ho, I’m not complaining.
If you are disciplined about your routes and particularly if you don't use automatic recalculation and have your first waypoint some way off from where you start you are unlikely to experience the issue. In normal use I haven't experienced it but during a tour in Spain a couple of years ago I'd sent the route we were using to a friend with an XT and when we stopped for coffee he said that his unit kept wanting to turn off when I was ploughing onwards. It was trying to take him back to the first waypoint/via point even though we were on the magenta line. I suspect that he'd ridden off and gone through the start before his XT unit had properly booted up. At the coffee stop I stopped the route on his device and restarted it and selected "closest entry point" and there were no further issues.I haven’t, but I have never experienced the RUT problem with either of my two XT devices.
Hey ho, I’m not complaining.
If you want to observe the behaviour you can force the unit to demonstrate it
To induce the RUT problem for testing , follow these steps:1. Create and Import a Route: Plan a multi-point route using an external mapping program like Basecamp or MRA gpx1.1 (don't use MRA gpx 1.2 as this is basically navigating a track as a route)and transfer it to the Zumo XT. This creates an "Imported Trip" in the device's Trip Planner.
2. Start Navigation: On the Zumo XT, open the Trip Planner, select the imported route, and tap "Go!".
Force a Recalculation:
- Skip a point: Deliberately add an unnecessary route point shortly after the start of your route, and then press the "Skip" button on the Zumo XT during navigation.
- Go off-route: While navigating, deliberately leave the magenta line of the planned route and allow the device to recalculate the path. Ensure "Automatic Recalculation" is turned on in your navigation settings if you want this to happen automatically, or wait for the prompt to recalculate and accept it.
If you then make this same route a "Saved Route" (I usually use the John Armstrong method of saving the Active route on the device which you can do well before you get on the bike) and run it again under the same circumstances the XT will behave as expected and route sensibly back to the magenta line.
If I am using the XT for navigation, which is increasingly rare these days, I always ensure that I'm navigating "Saved" routes. The reason for this is I'm often navigating with a group of riders and because of that timings can be tricky, so my routes commonly have optional loops or via points that can be bypassed to get back on track time wise but might induce RUT behaviour on an "Imported" route.
All that said I always run the track of the route on the XT as well as the route so there is no excuse to go badly askew. (famous last words?
)I believe the potential for RUT behaviour is also a "Feature" of the XT2 but I haven't used one.
As do I. As I now create all my routes in MyRoute’s Routeplanner, I adhere to their suggestion of placing a shaping point every 5 km (3 miles). I did near enough the same when I created lots of routes in MapSource and BaseCamp, too.
I always have the Garmin device autorecalculate set to prompted, meaning that I (not some dumb device) choose what to do.
I don’t have a mass of ‘Preferences’ set.
I don’t use the ‘Always show the track’ method, though others do like it.
Everything seems to work, so I don’t fiddle with anything more or seek to ‘improve’ stuff.
The fundamental issue with the XT is that the faster time option now means faster roads. The old Garmin units had a logic which would send you down a goat track to save a few seconds off a planned route. I suspect that folk (esp in cars) complained about this and now you have to put a waypoint or shaping point on every road you want to be on. This is good as it means that if you share a route with others its more robust. On old units the routing logic of the units was shared with basecamp (if the settings matched) but for the XT this is not quite the case. This means if you are doing point to point routing and want to stay off main roads you have to experiment with "adventurous routing". I've never used that option.
This is an invaluable source if you are navigating with an XT.
https://zumouserforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=1464
for a successful outcome using the XT I always do the following.
- Don't initialise "explore" when you set up the XT its the work of the devil
- In trip planner make all trips "Saved" rather than imported....you can do this in trip planner by starting the route and going back into trip planner and saving active route. This gives it a new name that you can change to something similar(but not the same as the original). Avoids routing issues Repeated U Turn behaviour if the route recalculates. Some have experienced this others haven't but its annoying if it does.
- Switch off auto recalculation or to prompted....see above and try as much as possible to navigate yourself back to the line
- Make the track visible as well as route if you have to re-calculate you can see how different the new route might be. It shouldn't be if you put in enough shaping points. BUT
- If you are doing a long out and back route with different but close together roads make sure that you have at least a Waypoint at the farthest end of the route. This will stop the unit short cutting the route if you have to recalculate. In the old units they tried to get you to the NEXT shaping point in the direction of travel...if another shaping point is CLOSER to the XT it will just cut off a big lump of the route if you recalculate
Spot on, especially #1 it is a bloody nightmare, I lost the ability to do #4 at all, and had to factory reset.
These days I do all my planning in MyRoute-app (MRA). It's much faster and easier than Basecamp, and the learning curve is pretty easy. I like the Michelin Map overlay, which is excellent for spotting scenic/good roads—the green sections clearly highlight "better" (Mostly) roads. A single tap activates Street View within the MRA map, which is perfect for quickly checking if a road is a proper one or just a goat track, seeing if there is parking outside a resturants etc
MRA's POIs are super handy too: fuel stations, restaurants, cafés, viewpoints, cash points, mountain passes, and pretty much anything else you might want to scan for along the route. Editing is straightforward—split, extend, join, reverse, copy routes, ignore seasonal closures, organise everything neatly into folders, etc.
In MRA I really like the "compare" feature—it shows you what a TomTom or OSM Navigation would do, giving a quick clue as to where other devices (or even your own recalc) might deviate.
My usual setup on the Zumo XT:
- I use a fair amount of shaping points to try and keep the route exactly where I want it, but not so many "on the fly" ammendment of the route takes ages.
- Via points are reserved for the essentials: fuel stops, coffee, lunch, or places of interest, even "if we get lost" meeting points, although with comms these days if I split from a mate I will phone him and say meet at next planned stop (lunch, fuel etc) - and I can dial numbers from the XT screen which I find easier than trying to do with button presses on a headset.
- If I go off-route (e.g., due to a diversion) and miss a waypoint, I just hit "skip waypoint"—but always double-check by zooming out to make sure the recalculated route is converging sensibly back to the planned track. Otherwise, you can end up in a massive unnecessary loop.
- In MRA (on phone), go to the "Route Lab (open the website)
- Click on "Routes" and find the route you want
- Select "Page Menu" → "Save as" → GPX 1.1
- Select "Export" → "Open" → Garmin Drive
- This opens the "Garmin Drive" app, hit "Send"—and it imports magically as a "saved route" in Trip Planner on the device.
...Normally, I have had a few issues with the phone connection, I turn the XT on and it connects to the phone via BT, but when Garmin Drive tells me it i not connected on the phone, I check the BT settings on the XT and it shows phone connected for Audio, but Garmin Drive keeps slipping between "connected" and "connection pending" (or something like that) and the only thing that seems to fix it is telling Garmin Drive app to "Forget" the XT, and then to "discover" again, it then finds the XT and works again - this is not common, but has happened 2-3 times now.
Key tip: Always display both the track and the route on the XT screen. I generally leave auto-recalculation on, but it's very much "trust but verify." The XT seems less aggressive about ducking through lay-bys to shave millimetres compared to my old 340/345 units, but it has a stronger preference for main roads—so heavier use of shaping points is essential to override that.
Once the route is on the XT:
- Set the track visible.
- Select and preview the route—if it differs noticeably from the track during pre-tour planning, that's your cue to tweak.
- Jump back into MRA, add extra shaping points where needed, re-export, and re-check on the device. This "anal" level of checking can save so much confusion on a tour, especially in a group, you might not get everything perfect, but this helps to significantly limit the "Garmin Starburst" events, towns and cities are worst as there can be so many combinations of minor / residential / industrial roads from one side of town to the other that Nav devices have about 30,000 permutations, and even with a stack of waypoints they can still find different paths from A>B.
The track-on-screen trick helps massively here too: if it suddenly wants to take a "wrong turn" or tells you to "turn around" it might be because of phantom closures or innacurate traffic data, you can often just ignore it and keep following the track. Usually it snaps right back to the correct path once you drive through the non-existent blockage. Obviously, use caution if it's genuinely talking sense and you ignore it you may end up having to backtrack even further - been there, done that ;-)
Final warning: Avoid GPX 1.2 exports from MRA to the XT—they often go wrong (random U-turn commands mainly). GPX 1.1 works reliably every time. From Basecamp it's fine either way, but since I much prefer MRA, I stick to 1.1 and haven't bothered digging much deeper into 1.2 from basecamp....
.... but one thing that is good with GPX 1.2 is it "hides" the shape points (they don;t show in itinary on the device and just appear as small dots on the map) you can have an "optional loop" on a ride, and miss the first shape and it neatly routes you to the next via, or the next shape if you come back onto the original route prior to the next via, seemed very clever. If you like Basecamp and continue to use it give this a try and see how you get on, but for a group trip I would stick to 1.1.
Overall, switching to the XT has been very good after initial bumps and learning curve, some features are great, the screen is way better than earlier units, the speed is way better for things like scrolling the screen etc.
Lane assist and its pictures are pretty good, the next up feature is handy, and the display showing distance to next fuel station along the route will please those with fuel range anxiety.
The connection to phone / headset is MUCH more reliable than the 340 / 345, which was herrendous and would rop out and you end up rebooting and trying to reconnect everything, often having to pull over to fix it, and when doing so for the third time in a day you get close to throwing the bloody thing at an oncoming truck.
Live traffic can be useful and the media player is handy - not great, but I just chuck a billion song on and leave it running and just skip any I am not in the mood for, I can run playlists from the phone, but then cannot manage them on the move.
Nobody has mentioned the Weather Radar, a bit of a gimmick for most of the people most of the time when you can just look on your phone, but when trudging down the A26 for 4 hours, cruise control on, bugger all other traffic then you may find time to look into your future to see if you're gonna get wet.
Really useful post.
