XT tutorial?

King Rat

King Rat

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I have bitten a bullet and bought an XT. I know it is going to be a big upgrade in speed of updating as you drive/ride and be brighter in the sun. I have not progressed beyond being able to put in one postcode and press 'done', that is my total knowledge of how to use a SatNav. Is there anywhere I can go to learn what else it will do? I read about you lot doing routes and all sorts, but the way you talk about it all, is incomprehensible to me, because you know how to do it. I don't know where to start, so a complete beginners tutorial would be a great place for me to begin to use the SatNav a bit beyond what I do now. :thumby:
 
Its one of those devices where you need to use it/play with it to work it out. Probably the deeper you go, the more you find.

As Wapping often says on the GPS section......."You can't break it".
 
Nin ...Get the Myroute App, upload routes to your XT from your phone or computer using Bluetooth
 
Pukmeister said:
Its one of those devices where you need to use it/play with it to work it out. Probably the deeper you go, the more you find.

As Wapping often says on the GPS section......."You can't break it".
Click to expand...

If you follow the threads on the zumo forum link I uploaded. The XT does a lot of odd things and its routing is a bit different. I have had a few issues, once I left a loaded route for a coffee break, from then on, it wouldn't calculate any route at all, even when the route was cancelled and I tried to just hit go home. Phoned Garmin, the fix was to delete all the archive files on the internal memory.
 
Simon, really the best way to learn is by using the thing. In a way, you having not used one before is an advantage, not least as you arrive with none of the prejudices (good and bad) developed from using other devices in the past. To you, it’s all new so (like your first girlfriend) it’s great! You know how to sail; I guess you’d not get someone from landlubber to single handed ocean racer in two minutes. Similarly, the only way to go from novice to a single handed master sailor, is through practice and experience, there are no real shortcuts. The video’s are a good guide for sure but hands on is best. Use them together.

Don’t try to do too much at first. Just ask the device to take you from A to B. Then from A to C via B. Then A to D via B and C. That way you’ll very quickly learn how the thing operates and, not least, the owner’s preference settings. These seem to be the cause of most problems, second only to the infamous ‘route recalculation’.

Above all, ask questions here on the forum. Lots of people will help, I promise. One tip or more of a request really….. Ask one question per post topic or the answers become really muddled.

Tip number two: They are, in a sense, personal computers, with emphasis on the P for ‘personal’. What works for you might not work for someone else and visa-versa. That doesn’t matter, there are though some basic rules (which you’ll discover) which apply to everyone. It’s often a good idea to discover what these are.
 
Brilliant, thanks chaps. Plenty there to keep me going until the package arrives from Garmin, via Pukemeister's worthy heads up about the Discount scheme being offered. It was too good an opportunity to miss.

I shall go and join the forum and watch the yoo toobs.
Much obliged All. I shall still have my route notes written out in the tankbag window, just in case. :D :beerjug:
 
Dear God, it is very complicated. That video, I am rewinding it every 10 seconds and trying to read the instruction along the bottom, but then I can't watch the video at the same time.... I have got as far as him naming his XT so far and had to stop watching. My stomach is churning and my head is in a whirl. It is so much to try and take in. I hope I don't regret spending all that money.
 
Why not just watch the video two or three times, then have a go at doing it yourself on the device?
 
Wapping said:
Why not just watch the video two or three times, then have a go at doing it yourself on the device?
Click to expand...

I will, it is just my initial reaction to the video is WOAH, hang on a minute. It hasn't been delivered yet, supposedly today but still waiting. I have watched 2 and 3 now... I don't need music because I have nothing to hear it on, so that sorts out one complication. Likewise the phone calling nonsense. It is the setting up the road that I need. But not this week. I have Billy's funeral tomorrow (advertising girl from BSH / Streetfighters), she joined the magazines in the late 80s? Early 90s? I can get there with a map. Then down to the bridge job for 2 days, last minute relief crew for a family emergency. Again down and back is in my head, so no rush.
 
A good way to learn is to ride routes that you know, as it shows up any oddities the device might throw up.

Many of the most common oddities come about through human error. The most regular (non-human) error is where the Garmin device cuts a corner in a town, taking the rider down some back alley, as it is 5 yards shorter and therefore quicker. You get used to these and can very often spot them on the screen as you ride along and / or when you create (and then check) the route.
 
Wapping said:
A good way to learn is to ride routes that you know, as it shows up any oddities the device might throw up.

Many of the most common oddities come about through human error. The most regular (non-human) error is where the Garmin device cuts a corner in a town, taking the rider down some back alley, as it is 5 yards shorter and therefore quicker. You get used to these and can very often spot them on the screen as you ride along and / or when you create (and then check) the route.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your patience Richard. I will continue to read and watch while I wait for the DPD man!
 
My box has arrived! Yesterday, but I was too tired to open it when I got back. Just opened it this morning and there is no motorcycle lead in it.... car lead with the cigarette plug on the end, suction cup, U-bend and clamp, but no motorcycle lead. It will give me a bit longer to work things out.
I have contacted Garmin on their 'contact us' page and will see what happens on Monday. meanwhile I shall leave everything in the box in case it has to go back. Bummer.
 
King Rat said:
My box has arrived! Yesterday, but I was too tired to open it when I got back. Just opened it this morning and there is no motorcycle lead in it.... car lead with the cigarette plug on the end, suction cup, U-bend and clamp, but no motorcycle lead. It will give me a bit longer to work things out.
I have contacted Garmin on their 'contact us' page and will see what happens on Monday. meanwhile I shall leave everything in the box in case it has to go back. Bummer.
Click to expand...

The "motorcycle lead" is not obvious....

There should be a load of bits such as RAM mounting bits, a square plate with a ball on it, another square plastic plate with an oblong hole in it (that's the mount for the XT), and then a cable with two eyelets for the battery, a black box in the middle of it and a small oblong plastic plug on the end of it with two pins.

You have to assemble the motorcycle mount piece from the gubbins above. IIRC, it's the cable with the small oblong on the end, the plastic plate thing, the metal base plate with the ball attached, four bolts, nuts and washers and four little plastic "top hats". Along with one very important and very tiny screw that holds the power cable into the plastic mount - there should also be a very small screwdriver for the very tiny, very important screw.
 
King Rat said:
My box has arrived! Yesterday, but I was too tired to open it when I got back. Just opened it this morning and there is no motorcycle lead in it.... car lead with the cigarette plug on the end, suction cup, U-bend and clamp, but no motorcycle lead. It will give me a bit longer to work things out.
I have contacted Garmin on their 'contact us' page and will see what happens on Monday. meanwhile I shall leave everything in the box in case it has to go back. Bummer.
Click to expand...

How on earth can one be "too tired to open a box" ?

Also, spookily I did wonder to myself that when your box did arrive and you were fit enough to open it, I'd bet that something would be wrong with the contents . Spooky huh, or in Yorkshire parlance, "ood av thowt it?".


:rolleyes:;)
 
Tinytim said:
How on earth can one be "too tired to open a box" ?

Also, spookily I did wonder to myself that when your box did arrive and you were fit enough to open it, I'd bet that something would be wrong with the contents . Spooky huh, or in Yorkshire parlance, "ood av thowt it?".


:rolleyes:;)
Click to expand...

300 mile round trip, an emotional day at a funeral and quite a bit of beer afterwards.... does that answer the question for you? I rode home, probably shouldn't have, through some heavy rain the far side of Nottingham, and got through the door and just went up to bed. It was 10 ish before I got up the next day, I was bushed.

I have gone through the box, laying everything out agai, and there are parts missing. The long lead with the box in the middle, the plate that attaches to the Garmin unit and the metal ball. I have the ball on a bar that goes on the Ubend. Maybe I can use the car mount on that ball instead of on the suction cup ball.
 
UPDATE: got hold of Garmin today and a cable and mount are on their way. The girl on the phone did say that I can plug the Zumo into the computer to turn it on have a play with it. So I will try that and see what it looks like. The parts might be several weeks before they arrive. :augie
 
King Rat said:
UPDATE: got hold of Garmin today and a cable and mount are on their way. The girl on the phone did say that I can plug the Zumo into the computer to turn it on have a play with it. So I will try that and see what it looks like. The parts might be several weeks before they arrive. :augie
Click to expand...

If the battery for the XT is flat then it's possible the computer won't give enough output to let you switch on the XT. Solution is to charge it using a wall charger that gives out a couple of amps. Mine takes 1.5 amps when switched on with a charged battery.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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