Infotainment Navigation Question
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 5,859
Likes: 2,507
From: Lake Orion, MI
I am certain you all know there is a difference between waypoints and stops.
I use waypoints to help plot my route and stops as actual stopping points. I am. for example planning an 800 mile trip - want to take 2 days. First stop is 450 miles - somewhere in New York. Second stop is say, Boston.
When my route is planned and loaded into my system, there will be two routs on the trip.
THe waypoints are inside the route and they send me first to HW 1, then to HW 2 and then to HW 3. So, when I take off to stop one, the bike begins to lead me.
If i pass HW 1 and am still on the route when I stop for gas, when I turn the bike back on, it simply continues my route.
I use waypoints to help plot my route and stops as actual stopping points. I am. for example planning an 800 mile trip - want to take 2 days. First stop is 450 miles - somewhere in New York. Second stop is say, Boston.
When my route is planned and loaded into my system, there will be two routs on the trip.
THe waypoints are inside the route and they send me first to HW 1, then to HW 2 and then to HW 3. So, when I take off to stop one, the bike begins to lead me.
If i pass HW 1 and am still on the route when I stop for gas, when I turn the bike back on, it simply continues my route.
Road Captain
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 673
Likes: 29
From: NE Ohio
If I were you, I would take some time & plan a route around my local area first. Do it in Ride Planner. Make sure you have multiple destinations and waypoints included in your routes (be sure you are clear on the definition of each).
A tip on waypoints: do not locate them at intersections - get them beyond the intersection. Also, be sure they are on the road & in the correct lane. Zoom the Ride Planner screen way in to be sure they are properly located.
Then go for the ride, being certain to stop at the destinations. Fire the bike back up & see what it takes to get going again.
You may notice that the route will change between planning it out in Ride Planner & loading it into the bike. Unfortunately, that is normal. HD is clear about that in the manual. The GPS will import the destinations & waypoints, in the order you have them planned, but not the route. That's a major difference between using a portable Garmin with Basecamp & the HD unit with Ride Planner. With Basecamp you attach the Garmin to a computer & use the GPS, with its internal maps, to plan a route. With Ride Planner, you are using the maps in that software to plan the route but then load that into the GPS with it's own maps & logic.
You'll also find that the GPS will break out 1 trip into segments, defined by the destinations. For example: if destination #1 is Fuel, #2 is Food, #3 is a Park, & #4 is back home, the GPS will create (4) trips: Start to #1; #1 to #2, #2 to #3, #3 to #4. Each one will have to be loaded after stopping at the destination & beginning the next leg.
There are a bunch of posts here about the system & how to use it - along with a ton of complaints. If you have a working knowledge of how a Garmin operates, you can get frustrated because the HD unit doesn't work the same way. I've learned most of what I know about it by loading planned routes for rides where I didn't really need the GPS - I was familiar with the route from experience.
Good luck!
A tip on waypoints: do not locate them at intersections - get them beyond the intersection. Also, be sure they are on the road & in the correct lane. Zoom the Ride Planner screen way in to be sure they are properly located.
Then go for the ride, being certain to stop at the destinations. Fire the bike back up & see what it takes to get going again.
You may notice that the route will change between planning it out in Ride Planner & loading it into the bike. Unfortunately, that is normal. HD is clear about that in the manual. The GPS will import the destinations & waypoints, in the order you have them planned, but not the route. That's a major difference between using a portable Garmin with Basecamp & the HD unit with Ride Planner. With Basecamp you attach the Garmin to a computer & use the GPS, with its internal maps, to plan a route. With Ride Planner, you are using the maps in that software to plan the route but then load that into the GPS with it's own maps & logic.
You'll also find that the GPS will break out 1 trip into segments, defined by the destinations. For example: if destination #1 is Fuel, #2 is Food, #3 is a Park, & #4 is back home, the GPS will create (4) trips: Start to #1; #1 to #2, #2 to #3, #3 to #4. Each one will have to be loaded after stopping at the destination & beginning the next leg.
There are a bunch of posts here about the system & how to use it - along with a ton of complaints. If you have a working knowledge of how a Garmin operates, you can get frustrated because the HD unit doesn't work the same way. I've learned most of what I know about it by loading planned routes for rides where I didn't really need the GPS - I was familiar with the route from experience.
Good luck!
Road Warrior
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,422
Likes: 278
From: USA
Maps are more up to date, not perfect but better than HD.
HD had come up with a "warning incomplete rout info" three times on this trip so far. Garmin had no issues.
I can have live doppler radar and traffic on the screen. Smartphone link app subscription was 20 bucks one time fee.
wheels/...can i use base camp and download a gpx file to a flash drive just like i download the hd ride planner maps???? i though you needed to have a garmin to use the base camp???
Road Master
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 752
Likes: 23
From: Acton, CA
Yes you can use Basecamp. Create your route with stops and waypoints and then export that route to a gpx file (let's say you call the gpx file awesome.gpx), save it to flash drive, and import to the HD Nav system. That's what I do all the time, and it works great every time. You just need to have a map for the Basecamp application, which you will already have if you have a Garmin GPS.
When you go to import your awesome.gpx file to the HD Nav system, you only want to import the actual GPX file (awesome.gpx), NOT any of the waypoints (even though the radio will give you the option to); the waypoints are already included in the awesome.gpx file. Just import the file itself.
Then, from the Where To menu in the Nav system, select trips, and then select your "awesome" trip.
Last edited by caberto; Jun 24, 2015 at 12:08 PM.
Road Captain
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 673
Likes: 29
From: NE Ohio
You do - I think. Basecamp doesn't really have maps included with it. For instance, I have a Garmin 665 I used with my last bike. If I remember correctly: I attach it to my computer, & when I start Basecamp there is a window pane on the left where I select my 665 & the map within the GPS opens up on the screen for route planning.
Maybe you can use other map sources, I don't know - but you will need one, because standing alone Basecamp doesn't have one.
Maybe you can use other map sources, I don't know - but you will need one, because standing alone Basecamp doesn't have one.
Grand HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 3,820
Likes: 588
From: Michigan
Yes you can use Basecamp. Create your route with stops and waypoints and then export that route to a gpx file (let's say you call the gpx file awesome.gpx), save it to flash drive, and import to the HD Nav system. That's what I do all the time, and it works great every time. You just need to have a map for the Basecamp application, which you will already have if you have a Garmin GPS.
When you go to import the awesome.gpx file to the HD Nav system, you only want to import the actual GPX file (awesome.gpx), NOT any of the waypoints (even though the radio will give you the option to); the waypoints are already included in the awesome.gpx file. Just import the file itself.
Then, from the Where To menu in the Nav system, select trips, and then select your "awesome" trip.
When you go to import the awesome.gpx file to the HD Nav system, you only want to import the actual GPX file (awesome.gpx), NOT any of the waypoints (even though the radio will give you the option to); the waypoints are already included in the awesome.gpx file. Just import the file itself.
Then, from the Where To menu in the Nav system, select trips, and then select your "awesome" trip.
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Cruiser
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 229
Likes: 11
From: East Iowa
No matter which software you use, keep the number of way points to a minimum. Why?? Because once again the engineers have their head up their *** and can't write program that makes sense. If you've got a start and stop point 500 miles apart on a 4 lane road, why would you want a way point 3/8 of a mile down a gravel road. Why wouldn't the program ask "do you really want to leave your main road??"
Last edited by tdkkart; Jun 25, 2015 at 12:01 AM.
Cruiser
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 116
Likes: 3
From: Canadian Lakes MI and Jackson MO
You do - I think. Basecamp doesn't really have maps included with it. For instance, I have a Garmin 665 I used with my last bike. If I remember correctly: I attach it to my computer, & when I start Basecamp there is a window pane on the left where I select my 665 & the map within the GPS opens up on the screen for route planning.
Maybe you can use other map sources, I don't know - but you will need one, because standing alone Basecamp doesn't have one.
Maybe you can use other map sources, I don't know - but you will need one, because standing alone Basecamp doesn't have one.
After you have the detailed maps installed on your PC, you no longer need to have any Garmin GPS plugged into your PC.
Identify wanted/needed waypoint locations in BaseCamp or Google Maps and make an individual waypoint for each. Then build routes (aka trips) using a maximum of nine (9) waypoints for an individual trip (or trip segment). This is a Harley Infotainment constraint; not a Garmin or BaseCamp constraint.
So if I have a trip that needs 99 waypoints to keep me on the specific roads of my choice, I have to build 11 separate trips, which I name 1, 2, 3, ..., 11 so that they sort in the order of my planned total adventure.
Picking up my first ever Harley this afternoon at Great Lakes Harley Davidson in Bay City, Michigan. I went over yesterday and updated the Harley Infotainment Navigation GPS firmware to the current version 1.19.0.
Jim Puckett
Midland MI and Jackson MO