Garmin Route Planning

[MattF]

Hey guys, hope you all had a great Mother’s Day weekend. So, this post is in regard to Garmin's mapping and route planning software.

I usually download GPX files and upload them to the online Garmin software, then tweak/refine the routes within Garmin to make them more accurate. It usually involves me saving the route every 5 minutes or so, because the Garmin server crashes causing me to start over. I then use Earthmate on the trails for navigation. Well, these days, I am trying to tweak the OBDR Route 4 for a trip in June, and unless I save and restart the route every 30 seconds it does not save. Is anyone aware of an alternative or fix to this? I could always plot the route elsewhere and upload it, but the Garmin software removes 50% or more of the points and makes it wildly inaccurate. Does Garmin have offline route-planning software that won't crash that I am unaware of? Thanks in advance.

 

[1Louder]

On a Mac look at ADZE or GPX Edit. Maybe even Road Trip Planner.

 

[genocache]

Are you using Mapsource? I don't find any of the Garmin route planning stuff user friendly. The old stuff 10 years ago was much more friendly.

 

[Downs]

I'm pretty adept at Basecamp but yeah Garmin software has a steep learning curve. I used to be fairly active in a Sport Touring motorcycle association and they even had "Garmin Mapsource/Basecamp" classes because the software just wasn't intuitive. I moved to Gaia about 6 months ago and haven't looked back. Most of my other NAV apps never get used anymore except for Google Maps. Much better program.

I still have Basecamp around but probably haven't used it in over a year.

 

[genocache]

I was wondering if there are any apps (iOS) or websites which make it easier to specifically plan routes that I can follow with a phone mount on my bars








Tutuapp 9Apps Showbox

This might work for ya; MapMyRide

 

[Mtnmn99]

Caltopo works well. It's free

 

[ChadHahn]

I don't have the links handy but there are videos showing how to plan trips on GoogleEarth and then convert them to a format you can load onto your Garmin. I've done it a few times and it works pretty well.