Gps

Tyre has been superceded by MyRouteApp. We’ve been struggling with it since buying the Garmin Zumo 395LM last year. Has a mind of its own and where you put the way point is still crucial. Won’t be long before the sat nav is consigned to the man draw as a useless piece of junk. Andy

 

Yep my Garmin does that. When planning a route and particularly a twisty play route you have to zoom down to max level to stop this. Also to prevent ending up in a field or a dirt track.

 

One could say that sloppy, slap-dash route planning results in frustration and poor execution of the route once under way. Most route plotting software relies on the likes of the Google Maps API to provide the calculation of the route, there are other similar providers out there. All, that I've used, will do the same as you've experienced with dual carriageways. Even if they don't the GPS will interpret the routes that the software produces in a manner that will.

As far as I know only Garmin Basecamp does it's own thing in terms of the routing algorithm, having that all as an integral part of the software. It still does the one side of the dual carriageway thing though. Learning how to use Basecamp does take a bit of time and is unfamiliar to those used to Google Maps. However, it does have some advantages one of which being able to go through each way-point and shaping node in a route with a close-up view in fairly short order to check for such anomalies.

As a long term Garmin user I started years ago with MapSource and didn't like Basecamp to start with. Finally sat down and gave it half a day of my time and haven't looked back. Mind you I do use other software as part of my route planning work-flow.

Over the years I've heard of people buying a Garmin the week before going on a tour and expecting it to provide perfect navigation over a hastily prepared route. They come back claiming that it's an expensive piece of crap and put it in the drawer or flog it on eBay. Fundamentally a case of garbage in, garbage out when it came to their preparation. I've been on numerous tours on the continent and with some work at the planning stage they've all gone really well as far as the routes are concerned. Yes there is sometimes the occasional minor deviation from what was expected, nothing is perfect, but generally I highly rate the experience compared to the old map, or list of places, in a tank bag window. The latter was, unless you wanted to stop and check regularly, a fairly main road affair. With planning and a GPS you can plot really decent cross country routes.

I have a subscription to MyRouteApp and think it's great. I use it on my PC for planning and plotting and as an app on the phone. It can be set to use HERE mapping for the route calculation which is as close to the Garmin routing algorithm as you'll get, maybe they have a tie-in or this is intentional, which means routes as plotted will generally run as set. With an on-the-go cable I can write routes to the SD card that goes in my Garmin Zumo 590 from my phone. This potentially saves me having to take a netbook on tour (if I didn't need one for work...). MyRouteApp also does the via-michelin thing as well as Google Street View, both of which are a great aid in the planning stage. This used to be the preserve of ITN Converter but this seems to have lost a lot of useful functionality lately though is still very useful for opening and saving routes in a wide variety of formats.

 

Managed to navigate from central Paris to Calais with about four lines of instructions back in the day. However, pan European trips have been great for me since the discovery of sat nav and forward planning (helps to occupy me during the winter months and keep my enthusiasm up for the coming year of biking...).

Many say that it kills the spirit of adventure and the old 'analogue', do it by the map way id better. Maybe if you're retired and can just meander aimlessly but if I have 7 days and want to go places, via interesting routes, I'll stick with my methodology thanks

Yes, in Basecamp dropping a routing node from altitude will risk the point being on the wrong side of the armco. Once your route is complete though; using the list of points with the 'centre map' check-box selected you click on the first point and just use the down arrow to see each point in succession at a zoom level that allows you to see drop errors. These can include; points dropped onto a close parallel road, a side road and also on the wrong side of the armco to name a few. I always do this as a sanity check and it only takes about 30 seconds.

There are some basic issues with the assumptions that Garmin make for the motorcycling profile in Basecamp, and on some Zumo models, that don't work for the way I plan routes. Basically I want, within reason, to decide where I'm going and not let some fancy supposed biking adjusted algorithm do that for me. I did this short video that applied at the time, might not be relevant now but maybe worth checking.

In relation to your quick and dirty (trying to be kind here...) route planning, yes, will be the same. Though later models will have the space for all of the latest mapping data for Europe (certainly with Garmins this becomes a problem over time though SD card slots do help) and speed of calculation/recalculation should be quicker assuming better processing power. Also, as you point out, features such as connection via bluetooth to mobile data provides extra data such as traffic (not all that relevant on a bike IMHO). I have it all the same as well as real-time weather radar (much more useful) and safety camera locations.

 

It's not infallible. It will report closures, broken down vehicles, accidents and things like debris in road. However, this is patchy and usually main routes only. On a trip to the Vosges earlier this year whilst crossing rural northern France on D roads I can across a road that was closed for about 5 miles. I wasn't mentioned by the sat nav but judging by the signage as I approached and the number of workmen and lorries this was a big rebuild/resurface job. As it was it was almost complete so I rode around the barrier and bemused workmen and had a virgin road, just missing the white lines, until I reached the barrier at the other end. Sometimes reported traffic issues are gone by the time you get there but still showing but that's understandable, there's obviously a delay in removing them from the system. I tend to use them as advisory only.

As above, quite often you can ride around even big roadworks that have closed the road to bigger vehicles. When on tour we tend to ride around road closed signs and find out for ourselves. Accidents are maybe a different matter, especially if emergency services are working the scene, I tend to respect that and find another way.

Just looked on the app (Garmin Smartphone Link) the GPS connects to on my phone and it's showing 7 traffic issues within 4 miles of where I am. Please note that I'm in a small market town in rural Herefordshire so that's probably about normal in reality. These are all A roads plus one lane closure for the M50 which I drove through earlier. Farmer Giles and his broken down tractor in some back B road won't feature...

As said, I use the traffic feature for info only. Out of the data feeds the weather radar is the aspect I find most useful.



It's live, maybe 20 mins maximum delay, and shows severity of weather ahead quite accurately. The above image is after just boarding the Eurotunnel at Calais, shows the rain I rode into at the very end of a dry run across From Reims, between two storms (one was showing on the radar as just off the left and sure enough you could see it). After emerging from the chunnel I was fully suited up for a wet run up the M20 and around the M25. The German bikers I was chatting to on the train were appreciative of the heads up and had donned their waterproofs too. The advanced weather feature of the Garmin Smartphone Link app is an extra subscription based service (all of about £4 for a lifetime sub).

There is a free basic weather service but the sub version with the radar is well worth splashing out on. Will also do weather forecast along a loaded route as well.

Safety camera alerts are pretty accurate and let you know if it's a potential van site, GATSO etc.

 

You only have the basemap installed with a downloaded copy of Basecamp. Once you have a Garmin you have access to the detail mapping that comes with your GPS. LM (lifetime mapping) is now included with most of these and using their Garmin Express app you can download the most recent mapping data for the region you've bought to your PC and the GPS itself.

You can use Basecamp without detailed mapping downloaded to your PC with a Garmin plugged into your PC and see full detail. Thus is slower and less convenient than having it installed though. Mapping for full Europe is quite large, something like 5 to 6 GB.

Basecamp, as I've said above, isn't to everyone's taste. There are a lot of detractors out there who slag it off. Persist and put a bit if time and effort in to learn how it works and it's a useful tool in the box.

If you want to try Basecamp with detailed mapping without buying a Garmin there is free third party mapping you can download. I'm on my phone ATM, I'll add a link later once on my PC. I used this free mapping on a trip to the States once, works as well as the Garmin mapping but lacks a few minor features such as speed limits.

EDIT: just remembered that I was going to add a link to the mapping that would work on Garmins and in Basecamp > http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/

 

I'm a Luddite when it comes to tech, so I took Rides recommendation when it came to sat nav's. Their opinion is the Garmin, once your used to it, can do more than the Tomtom but they recommended the Tomtom as they felt the cost of the Garmin didn't justify the extra cost. What I have found with my Tomtom is the screen is better in sunlight than my mates Garmin, and recalculates for quicker as well.

 

When I first bought my TomTom it drove me crackers. I almost threw it in the sea. However with use you get used to it but occasionally I still find an instruction comes too late to make a turn.

I asked quite a few bikers ‘Garmin or Tom Tom?’ Some had owned both. General consensus was Tom Tom was simpler to use. I can’t comment as I’ve never used a Garmin.

As for route planning, I never use a Pc as I don’t find it necessary.
I find this method dead easy on the Tom Tom itself. Once plotted I name the route and save it in My Routes.

1.Input my start point.
2.Input my destination.
3.Input waypoints (or stopping points) to make it select the route ‘you’ want.
By selecting points on the map with your finger as opposed to naming points or letting it auto select a faster or more direct route.
4. Add as many waypoints as necessary along the route to get it as you you want it.

Save it to my routes and there it is when you want it.

Once you’ve done it once or twice it’s fast and easy. You can plan your whole trip and save it without any complex movement between pc and Satnav.

I’m sure this is teaching many to suck eggs but if anyone has a simpler method I’d like to know.