XT route planning - if not on BaseCamp / MapSource

I am new to the world of XT, but have been using Garmin stuff for ages.

what is the preferred computer based route planning software for use with the XT? Mapsource and Basecamp have had their day.

I have taken up using MyRoute, with some success. Indeed, I now prefer its flexibility over BaseCamp and / or the now very old MapSource, both of which I liked a lot.

As with any software, it’s a bit quirky at first but it’s certainly a lot better than its earlier versions. The help pages, videos and forum are very good. With a bit of trial and error, I have created nine separate days, riding around half of France in an anti-clockwise direction and three or fours days out when we are there. By the time I’d finished I’d got the hang of it, made a little bit harder as I did most of it on my iPad.



PS When you come to sending the route(s) to your XT, the 1.2 version works fine. From my XT, I have then Bluetooth’d the route(s) across to a Nav V, where they are fine, too.

PPS It is definitely worth opting for the Gold version. I bought a lifetime subscription years ago, when it was peanuts, simply in case it ever improved or I really needed it. The now poor performance of BaseCamp on a Mac and the purchase of an XT, persuaded me the time was right to fire it up.

PPPS As with any routing software, it might not always chose to take the roads YOU want to ride down. Zoom in and reshape at will.

Good stuff Wapping, will give it a go

No problem.

As I did when I learned BaseCamp (along with using a Mac for the very first time) I found it best to:

A. Create a folder of test routes, where I just mucked about getting a feel for what things did and how they worked. It really is unbreakable, so play around. I also watched some self-help videos and read a bit on various websites.

B. Then sit down to create a real holiday, which forced me to concentrate and do it properly, putting into action the things I had learned and / or with help from this forum and from MyRoute.

As I posted in the MyRoute sub-section, the real thing to look out for is: If you ever delete something, it’s gone forever. I back things up to Dropbox, just in case. The ease of getting things back from Dropbox onto my iPad, home computer or phone, makes this a bit of a no brainier.

Wapping said:

As I posted in the MyRoute sub-section, the real thing to look out for is: If you ever delete something, it’s gone forever. I back things up to Dropbox, just in case. The ease of getting things back from Dropbox onto my iPad, home computer or phone, makes this a bit of a no brainier.

Click to expand...

In a similar vein, the COPY ROUTE button (the little 2 files icon to the right of the route names in Wapping's picture above) is your friend if you want to mess around with routes you have already made. Copy it and mess around in the duplicate, leaving the original untouched.

I have recently started using it too. Agree with Richard’s (Wapping’s) comments.

I have not had too much luck transferring routes from MRA directly into a Garmin satnav, but will persevere.

And if transferring a route from MRA to Basecamp on my Mac, I have found that when a route has ‘Via’ points anD ‘Shaping’ points, only the ‘Via’ points transfer across.

And..... I have found that when a route has ‘Via’ points anD ‘Shaping’ points, only the ‘Via’ points transfer across.

Click to expand...

That, as I understand it, is normal.

I have not had too much luck transferring routes from MRA directly into a Garmin satnav, but will persevere

Click to expand...

Which method of transfer are you using?

I created a folder within my iCloud, specifically for taking routes from MyRoute.

I then 'Save as' the route in version 1.20, saving it into the folder on my iCloud Drive.

Then I open the 'Saved as' route in Garmin Drive on my phone and from there, send it via Bluetooth to my XT.

No doubt there are other, probably simpler, methods.

Thankyou very much for the input. I will have a play with Myroute and see how it goes. Hopefully I will be able to upload my old routes and any new ones to an SD card in my XT

Wapping said:

That, as I understand it, is normal.



Which method of transfer are you using?

I created a folder within my iCloud, specifically for taking routes from MyRoute.

I then 'Save as' the route in version 1.20, saving it into the folder on my iCloud Drive.

Then I open the 'Saved as' route in Garmin Drive on my phone and from there, send it via Bluetooth to my XT.

No doubt there are other, probably simpler, methods.

Click to expand...

I don’t have an XT, it a Drivesmart and a Zumörteln 390.

I use the same steps as you to save a route in version 1.20 to my iCloud Drive

From there I can import the file into Basecamp, with the result as noted above: any Shaping Points do not transfer over. Only Via Points.

I also tried transferring the route directly from MRA direct to my Drivesmart which was connected to my laptop. This uses MRA’s Connector App. I expected to find the transferred route in the Trip Planner, but nothing was visible. I’ve not had time to experiment more