Garmin Zumo Or Tomtom Rider?

@Bumpkin

I think I will definitely take a closer look at the preference settings. That video demonstration you posted was very effective

 

Oooh thats easy, just set whatever GPS to shortest route, took us three days to get back from the Catalunya motoGp but we saw lots of France found a great B&B in the safest town in France (Condom) had to revert to motorways on the last day or miss the train back

 

Basecamp does come with a learning curve I fully accept. Has it's foibles too, once you're used to it though the possibilities are, IMHO, greater.

With TomTom and/or using third party planning tools, like TYRE or ITN Converter, the issue for me is that you are using the Google Maps API for route planning on your PC but the TomTom or Gamin (you can use those tools with Garmin, amongst many other GPSs as well) routing algorithm when riding on the road. There will likely be differences in the routes that they calculate compared to what you planned and observed on your PC screen at home. With Basecamp I get pretty well what I see, granted it isn't perfect, there are occasional minor differences but nothing like what you will get using third party planning apps.

How many round the World adventurers use TomTom compared to Garmin?

As an additional note, with Garmin, you can use the OpenStreetMap mapping data when travelling outside of the region you have mapping for. I used this in the States, admittedly in a hire car on a family holiday, to great effect.

That's an effective alternative way to use any sat nav that can recalculate on the fly (don't know any decent ones that can't). You may want to turn off the audio until you decide to head for home though as the continual 'recalculating' and 'make a U turn' announcements will be more than distracting after a while :wink:

 

I don't have audio and rely entirely upon the screen.

On balance I am in favour of satnavs but like any modern technology there is a price to pay, eventually I am going to become a Ludite and throw it all away.

 

Don't get me wrong I love paper maps, nothing can beat them for the grand overview. Would quite happily revert back to using them and a route card in the tank bag if the satellites fell out of the sky tomorrow. However, the convenience of GPS and the ability to plan routes across minor roads for places you don't know both at home and abroad without having to stop and check a map every now and then is unbeatable.

 

I've also got a Zumo 660 which I haven't used for a couple of years (working away) ,but am now just updating the maps following this thread. It says on the Garmin website that the 660 is not compatible with Basecamp and that Mapsource is the preferred application?
I'm sure I used Basecamp with the 660 3 years ago. Any ideas?

 

Just been playing with it and no problem transferring data back and forth to my BMW Zumo 660, getting to grips with basecamp and yes it does teh same as mapsource but with the bonus of managing routes and waypoints more easily and logically.

 

Has anyone had routes corrupted when creating routes in Basecamp and transferring to a Zumo 660?

 

Not that I recall over the last 5 years of quite extensive use. Obviously if you unplug the Zumo part way through writing there's a likelyhood of corruption. Similarly if you use a shonky USB lead.

Always best to load and preview routes on you Zumo before setting off. Not sure about the TomTom Rider but the TomTom 720 I bought a few years back doesn't seem capable of this if you're not already at the start point...

Just remembered the Basecamp tutorials I created a few years back... getting senile...

Route plotting


Using with Google Earth


Both for older versions but the same principals apply.

 

Whilst you can download Basecamp to have a play around, the included mapping is extremely coarse with no fine detail; only main roads (straightened out into a series of straight lines) and major cities/towns. This is called the basemap and is pretty useless. Regrettably it won't really give you an idea of what to expect. Once you buy and register a Garmin you can then download the detailed mapping to your PC using the Garmin Express utility. Once you have done this you will have the same mapping on your PC as on your GPS. In fact a mapping update for the GPS might be available for the GPS at the same time if it's been in the retail chain for a few months.

It should be pointed out that Garmin don't expect the majority of their customers to use Basecamp, rather just use their GPS for A-B navigation with maybe one or two way-points in between, easily done on the device if you're not too fussed about the precise route. As a result the default for Garmin Express is to update the device only, updating/installing mapping onto your PC is something that needs to be specifically selected as part of the update process.

If you want to try Basecamp without making a purchase then you can download some mapping from the OpenStreetMap project. This generates the mapping file for your Garmin as well as an install file to add the mapping to Basecamp or Mapsource on your PC. If you take this course as an experiment I suggest only downloading a few tiles in your locality which will give you a good idea without taking too long or taking up too much space on your PC.

I need to reiterate that using Basecamp and a Garmin effectively will take a little time. If you put the effort in the rewards will come. Don't expect to buy one a week before setting off on a continental tour and not be frustrated to the extent that you'll chuck it off the deck of the ferry into the briny on the way home :smirk: Anyone can master it though, all it takes is a bit of effort.

 

Which is not difficult, but far from intuitive and the documentation is rubbish.

 

@Bumpkin
I haven't used Google Earth with Basecamp yet but it is now on my list of things to do .

 

ITN Converter has a Google Street View capability from within it's route editor window, useful for checking out road condition, views, locations of petrol stations, hotels etc. I find this more useful and less clunky to use that the link to Google Earth from Basecamp TBH. It almost always forms a part of my work-flow when planning trips. There's no fly-though capability but that's verging on eye-candy anyway.

Obviously any photographic reference such as Google Street View is dated and may not represent the facts on the ground when you get there. It's generally more up to date than the POIs in Garmin mapping though which can result in you arriving for fuel to find a derelict petrol station (scenes of tumble-weed spring to mind...), not always the case mind you but it's happened to me on more than one occasion. I do use the 'find fuel near current route' feature fairly regularly on my 660 though and, in vast majority of cases, it works well.

 

I've not come across a "find fuel near current route" facility on my Zumo 660. Just found it - select "Where to" and then "Near" from the menu at the bottom of the screen, then "Points of Interest", then "Fuel". Must try this next time, if I remember.

@Bumpkin - thanks for all the good advise on Garmin 660 and Basecamp. @Gimlet - sorry we've hijacked your thread.

 

Not many votes for the TomTom on here.

I have to confess the glove issue is driving me nuts with the iPhone and CoPilot.