Folks,

I know that there are plenty of topics on this as I have searched but none have really answered my questions.

I have a Garmin 350LM and am planning my annual trip down south. I have spent far too much time today trying to transfer my route to my GPS without it going off course - something that I learned is impossible with Garmin.

I have always used Harley Trip Planner. Since it's based on Google Maps it is very easy to use. However, when I transfer my routes to the Garmin it always gives me a different route! The way points will be there but the routing never matches up with what Google gives me. So I have to manually open up each map side by side and scroll through looking for points where Garmin veers me off. I then place some strategic way points on Trip Planner hoping to overcome the re-routing that Garmin gives me. This is a very tedious process and extremely frustrating as it will often pick a funny route through a town (take back streets instead of logically staying on the same road). To make matters worse, I can't drop a way point where I want it to without Trip Planner replanting that way point a distance away.

I also tried to use Garmin Basecamp. As others have said, it has to be the most un-user friendly software ever. I watched a tutorial on how to import a Google map into Basecamp and change it to a route but it didn't work. I hate, hate, hate that software.

At this point I am very close to resorting to paper maps and my bad memory.

I have heard others mention this site: http://www.tyretotravel.com/
I am willing to learn how to use this software IF it will transfer the route EXACTLY as I create it onto the GPS.

Does anybody know if TyretoTravel or ANY software will allow you to upload a map into GPS without making any modifications to the route?

Any suggetion that will help me ease my frustration is greatly appreciated.

 

I have Garmin 2595 LMT on both bikes and have used tyre on several trips, including a 12 day trip to Deadwood last year. I plan where I want to stop use that as a waypoint and not had it change any routes.

Going to use it this weekend for a trip to Victoria BC and around the island, already planned several routes and loaded them in my Garmin.

The learning curve is very fast and it has a import to Garmin as well as TomTom gps. The file transfer only took 15 seconds at most.

 

I have a Garmin 2597. I used Tyre for about a year & had no issues. Then about a year ago, it stopped working. My Garmin will only recognize the starting & ending points, skips every waypoint in between and calculates the route based on its settings.

I switched to using Basecamp - it takes a bit to learn but it works!!

 

Ranfrol - I will take a look at Tyre this week since it sounds like it's rather simple to use.

tOSUSteve - I'm willing to invest the time in learning Basecamp if it actually works and will follow the routes I plan. Is there a specific tutorial that you watched online that simplified things?

 

I have NEVER had an issue with routes I have done on BC - it uses the map that is on your Garmin, so the route you plan on your PC will be the route it uses when your on the road.

I just googled what I was trying to do & followed the links. Here are somethings I noticed that helped me.

1) You MUST have your GPS hooked to your computer when running BC - technically you don't but it will use the map you have on your GPS when you do - very limited if you do not have it connected.

2). The search function is very slow - I don't even bother trying to use it.

3). I have google maps open while I'm planning a route and use it to do searches and look for other route options. Once I figure out where I need to go, I find it in BC and set a waypoint.

4). I add a waypoint at each change in road number - ex if I am taking I-77 South and will be exiting at Rt 70, I will create a waypoint on Rt 70. You don't have to do that if it is routing that way, but I like seeing that my next turn is x miles ahead. Sometimes you will need to add extra waypoints to keep you on a desired route. I just call them Rt70-a, Rt70-b etc

 

Another vote for Basecamp here. If you plan on doing a lot of custom routes in your future it is definitely worth taking the time to learn how to use it.

 

Thanks folks. It looks like I will have to learn how to use BaseCamp this week.

 

Another vote for Basecamp here. I have a 665 Garmin so a bit different. One note toSUSteve indicated having the GPS connected and this is a good tip but you can also upload the map(s) from the GPS to basecamp so you have the more complex map to view without the GPS being connected. You must make sure you utilize the exact same map between the two though or it becomes useless.

I have found the HD ride planner to be useless for most complex route planning, it always wants to grab a different path (like shortest path) regardless of whether I want that or not.
If I am going point to point with few variations and no restrictions configured, I seem to be able to use it without issue.

Make sure you are set to motorcycle on basecamp, first time I used it my route put me on a dirt hiking path up a mountain in VT -- common sense said, hey, a 30 degree three foot wide dirt path must be wrong. Basecamp does have some reasonably good fine tuning capabilities and some pretty good starter videos though they are generic. Maybe it was "climbing paths" that I did not did not have "off" under motorcycling :-) I have used it with decent success over the past three or four years but I still carry paper maps and when in doubt I pull over and check the paper map or ask a local. Some knarly dead ends up here in upper New England.

Good luck--Dave

 

*****PLEASE NOTE*****
The Garmin 350 will not accept custom routes. Trust me, I own one and fought with it for weeks. I finally called Garmin support and it was determined that it will not navigate a custom route, even though you can upload it. It acts like it will navigate your route but it does not. It will navigate waypoint to waypoint that you enter on the device itself. Back when I was a Goldwing rider I used a Garmin 550 but let it go with the bike. It worked perfectly so I couldn't figure out the 350 until I talked to Garmin.

I finally gave up and bought a 665 which is way too expensive, but it is waterproof and I upload mp3's into it and play through my Harley radio.

The best way to get a custom route is using either Basecamp (a PIA to learn) or the Harley Ride Planner. After you upload the route to the device, preview it to make sure it is correct as desired. If not, you will have to add additional via points to force it to follow your desired route and upload again.

I've successfully added a 13 day trip on the 665. Each day is it's own custom route and it's worked flawlessly.

Let me know if I can help. I know how frustrating it is.

 

After the advice I got on here I spent some time on BaseCamp (actually spent more time searching Google on how to do certain things) and have it figured out. Well, enough to create a route and upload it.

I didn't find any good tutorials on it so my method was to search certain tasks I wanted to perform ie. how to create a route, how to move a point, etc.

Robertwy - I was actually able to upload my custom route to my 350LM with no problems. I have created and uploaded 5 days of my trip thus far and I have double checked each route on the Garmin and it matches exactly what I have created on BaseCamp.