This is not about which GPS to buy or what mount or even how to mount the GPS.

I have a garmin ZUMO 550 that i bought from a guy who didnt have the book. For the most part I have figured everything out except for: Putting in a premade route from mapquest.

Every time I make the route in mapquest the gps changes the route that i have laid out on mapquest. For example from home to Front Royal , VA it takes me thru Baltimore even though I have made my route to go the back way across the countryside.
I have gone into the menu and have changes to shortest distance but it still dont go the way I choose.

I thought going to the ZUMO would allow me to make my own route but it dont see to be working. Hope I have made sense here, getting a bit unwinded with this..... Any ideas, halp

Don

 

If you go to the Garmin website you should be able to download the manual.

Not all map software is compatible with the Zumo including Maquest, Google and others. Garmin supplies Mapsource with their GPS to use for route planning. Frankly it's a POS that looks like it's built off a DOS platform from 1985.

Also, check out http://www.zumoforums.com It's the place to go for all things Zumo.

 

I've had good luck using the HD Ride Planner to plan and download maps into my 660. I agree that the MapSource software that is included with the Garmin units is a POS and looks like it was designed by a monkey in DOS.

 

HD ride planner, transfer file saved to SD card. Insert to GPS. Select route from map directions.

 

The zumo forums can really help. One thing to remember is that making the GPS use the route you want will require many via points to force it to take the roads you want. Without the via points it will just pick the shortest or quickest based on your setup. Neither of those will be the exact roads you want unless you force the issue with via points along the route you pick. Even then when you transfer the route from a planner to your gps it may still not use the roads you want. What I usually do its make the route using the HD planner (with lots of via points) and import it to my Road Tech 660. Once it is in the gps I then review it by looking at the turn list the gps is going to use. If it is not using the roads I want then I add even more via points manually with the gps. It may still not do exactly what you want. When that happens you will need to know the roads you should be taking then when the gps goes elsewhere just hit the detour button and hopefully it will detour to the route you want. Bottom line is getting a gps to take the exact backroad route you want is not easy and requires a lot of planning. One last tip is break long trips up into indivdual days or even mutiple daily destinations. This reduces the complexity of each leg and makes it easier to force the route you want. Hope this helps.

 

I've had pretty good luck with Mapsource. For a personal route I put the software in "shortest" mode. You do have to use a few more via points & you have to zoom in to avoid mistakes in direction, but it's not too complicated.

To the O.P., you can get other software to work, but Mapsource is designed for the Zumo. It's probably worth the cost to get a copy.

 

I also meant to add that I use Microsoft Streets and Trips for planning a long ride. It can take a quick and easy look at time frames required to make a ride and possible stops etc. The program also can send routes to a GPS. It also provides road construction information which helps on bypassing those areas on your route.