Help for users of Garmin sat navs

...and even more questions in the reply.
Which Garmin have you got? May be we should have a register for the group that list which sat-nav for each member, I've got a Garmin660 (& 550 previously). So I can only answer for that model and I suspect the later models have more functions (doesn't help that Garmin model numbers seem to be random).
Also I assume you're talking about when out on the bike with no access to pc/Basecamp.
On the Garmin660 ...
Settings>Navigation>Avoidances Enabled>Custom
The standard list of "avoidances" are by category, those being u-turns, motorways, toll roads, traffic, ferries, car share lanes, unpaved roads, seasonal closures.
But there is also a button at the bottom "Custom", that takes you to the next screen which has two options "add new avoidance area" or "add new avoidance road", select one and you're back to the map where you can select what you need. You would then need to get back to your route and run a recalculate.
Needless to say this is not a quick thing to do so I would think it only worth while if there is a road you want to avoid on a regular basis (and something I've never bothered using in 10+ years of use ).
For a route overview all I know of is to stop the route then re-select it and use the "preview" button, alternatively keep hitting the "-" to zoom out, neither of which is ideal.
Quick tip...long pressing the back button gets you back to the home screen without having to go back through each screen.

 

Garmin v TomTom..my opinion (for what it's worth).
I've always used Garmin for the reasons below so my opinions on TomTom are purely based on (now old) research rather than use.

Originally they were aimed at two different markets/usage.
TomTom is/was more user friendly and intended for basic "get me to X" navigation for non geeky types. In the early days there was no ability to sit at your pc, plan a route and then upload it to your TomTom ....(why would you, you just want to get to X)
Meanwhile Garmin sat-navs where for the geeks (me), they came with mapping software you could load to your pc and a common map for both pc and sat-nav, so you could sit at your pc and plan routes that took you on exactly whatever route you wanted by using waypoints. So I would plan a 2-3 week holiday with a route for each day and then upload it to my sat-nav, boring/unadventurous perhaps, but also a relatively stress free and relaxed way of touring. My first sat-nav (Garmin-V) was bought after getting lost missing the turning to Bilbao ferry and almost missing the weekly ferry!
I use Basecamp now to plan all my routes and it automatically keeps a database so you can organise / go back to them, previously I used MapSource which is now obsolete and superseded by Basecamp, both of which Garmin supply with the sat-nav and work well.

As with all things software (I use CAD in my daily job) the competitors slowly converge towards each other in a common theme that hopefully provides the best of both worlds. TomTom are improving their pc route planning capabilities with "Tyre Pro" (although I suspect they still have a way to go), and Garmin are slowly adding features to their sat-navs to make them more user friendly.

My (not very) local bike shop recently did a hard sell on me with the TomTom Rider 410, looked very nice and something I might consider if the Garmin dies.

 

thanks Col_C, I have the 340lm zumo, takes a bit of getting used to as I have used tomtoms in the car for as long as I can remember. I do like the avoid route section on the Tomtom, it brings up all the roads on your route and you can press on the one you want to avoid and it recalculates from there. Only 3 presses to achieve it and no typing. I guess the Zumo has features that are useful that the tomtom hasn't though

 

Who's TC on the group ???? Jus out of interest which one of you guys it is !

 

Coooeee

 

Yes, from all I've heard from yourself and others Tomtom seems to be more user-friendly once you're out on the bike (or car) and want to do something unplanned, I just wish they'd come up with a descent pc based route planner to go with it. I don't really fancy cloud based software which I think their "Tyre" program is and not sure how they deal with map-sets and updates, if anybody has experience I'd be interested to hear.
That Tomtom410 looks a nice piece of kit, just not convinced about route planning and uploading.
BTW
Ref previous discussion regarding confusion over routes and tracks...
Yes agreed tracks are where you've been.. but another important consideration is that it is simply a series of gps positions recorded against time (and therefore also gives your speed) and is independent of any map data being used.
Whereas a route is a series of planned key points (waypoints) and then depends on the map data to fill in the gaps and thus calculate the route. This is why routes created in Basecamp work very well with a Garmin sat-nav (provided they're using the same release of map) but not necessarily so with other sat-nav brands (unless using the same map set - probably unlikely)
I would think converting a track to a route might be more prone to errors as the source data is attempting to match to map data it was previously independent of.

I remember back in the days of yore on my old Garmin GPS-V, map data was not as accurate then (and memory the price of gold), you'd see the cursor drift off-road until the software decided you should be on one and would snap back to the nearest available.

 

I remember when it was annoying when your turn off on a map was on the fold and you couldn't see where it was

I think Myrouteapp can be used with tomtom too

 

Yep, first Euro tour, wave to the nice French motorists as they pull over for you as you pass by..........
Ten miles down the road...wave to them again.... as they pass you while stopped to study map on the tank bag (again).
Happy days.

 

Does anyone use Waze (Android app) this is a fantastic free app that allowes registered users to log traffic jams, police camera positions (temp ones on the bridge etc) and bad weather.
So you plan your route and it will flag up any issues raised by other users.

I havent tried planning whole routs yet, just to and from stuff. But it works on the smart phone so no need to have a dedicated sat nav
(I had TomTom on my iPhone 4, but switched to Android)

 

Yes, I'll have another go at that. I tried loading the whole (3 weeks worth) route and MyRoute went into overload.
Obvious really if you stop and think about it, Basecamp & MyRoute will be using different maps and settings so it must only be working off the waypoints...which there are a gazillion of.......
I'll try day by day uploads.

 

I used waze for a short while but didnt like it, lots of little reasons but each to their own

 

has anyone managed to connect their phone to their Garmin for hands free calling? Everytime I try mine the garmin tels me its not a wireless headset and my iphone tells me its not compatible. I've been on to Garmin and they said if I have all the latest updates on Garmin, which I do , it should work. but it doesnt

 

Ok, I've uploaded the routes as individual days then grouped them in a folder. Better result but unfortunately checking through I can see a few errors where the MyRoute map hasn't interpreted the route correctly. I assume if you downloaded them back to your Garmin (either Basecamp or sat-nav) it will use the waypoints and probably convert the route back to being correct, ......but not necessarily for Tomtoms etc.

 

I've connected my Android HTC One M8 to my Zumo660 ok and it reads my phone contacts and works via the Zumo screen fine.
Probably not much help to you though.

 

On the "Routes" page over on the right there's a button "+new" > Folder, once created you can drag the routes into that folder.

Yes, sharing routes is always going to have some limitations/problems depending how we go about it. MyRoutesApp hasn't missed any waypoints, it's just that it doesn't fill in the gaps in the same way as Garmin software.

Probably worth discussing some sat-nav basics (apologies if I'm teaching granny to suck eggs), and how I create my routes.
Sat-nav basics:-
consists of 3 components

1. GPS - gives the position of your unit as two numbers defining north/south - east/west position on our planet. Clever, but not very useful without parts 2 and 3
2. Map data - this defines the road network, also carries speed classification data for road sections and other info such as POI's (fuel stations, etc)
3. Navigation software - uses the above to calculate your route. Depending on your choice it may/may not have custom options to influence the resulting route.

GPS - this is the only bit that is essentially common to all of us, however it's also the only part that is irrelevant to route planning.

Map data - this is loaded on your sat-nav but also appears on any software you use on your pc or internet. If the map data is different there's potential for error. Even if we both use Garmin map data the version must also be the same - it's updated on a regular basis. For best results the map data on your pc and sat-nav should be the same, this is why I use BaseCamp on my pc when creating routes, it's supplied by Garmin (free download) and is able to use the same map data that is loaded on my sat-nav.

Navigation Software - this interacts with the map data to provide a route either on pc or sat-nav, when in transit on the sat-nav it also monitors your GPS position data.

BaseCamp has a bunch of options that mimics the route settings that are also available on Garmin sat-navs, i.e.
faster/shorter/curvy roads
avoidances such as motorway/residential/unpaved/toll roads/ferries etc.
You can also customise your speed for types of road, this affects the estimated route time duration.

So....
I keep things as simple as possible, start with the start and destination points and see what the software comes up with. I usually have my options set to shorter and avoid motorways but that can be tweaked when necessary. I then add waypoints only where necessary to force the route along the roads I want.
The sample routes I've uploaded cover nearly 3000mls, so would obviously be a mammoth task to put waypoints at every turn. The above method works very well stand alone, but obviously has drawbacks if sharing to others with different equipment or settings.

An obvious example - if you look at the 07-05.. route, for some reason MyRouteApp is avoiding the section from waypoints 10 to 11 leading up to the Stelvio pass. It would be interesting to see if you downloaded that .gpx file and loaded it into BaseCamp or your Garmin whether the route would correct itself.

 

Been exploring the MyRoute-app a bit further, am I right in thinking you need to pay for gold membership to enable downloads?
Was going to upload some gpx files for Triumph dealers to convert to POI's but not much point if most can't download them.
Triumph POI's is a "work in progress", some data I've downloaded from various sources on the 'net plus a few I've tweaked or added myself, but bloody time consuming so don't hold your breath.

I'm going to the NEC bike show on Monday, I'll try and find someone on the Triumph stand and see if I can persuade them to put gpx files for all their dealers up on their web site for owners to download. They publish them in pdf files and an interactive map, surely in sat-nav format would be more sensible in this day and age.