Turn Off Auto Recalculate on Routes Created Outside the GPS!

After having done so much work building routes in Basecamp or Mapsource, why can't those routes be used without recalculation on our gps units?

I'm speaking specifically about the Montana here - many people are waiting for Garmin to fix this automatic "Route Recalculation" issue before giving up their antique X76 units.

Many people simply won't buy a unit which does not take routes as downloaded and just navigate them, assuming of course that the same maps reside and are enabled on the gps.

Actually, this brings up an idea - maybe the route you download from Basecamp could have settings included which 'enable' the required map, assuming it's on the gps.

I hate to quote my own text here but I see no better way to ask if these features might be coming soon? Especially the forced recalculation of routes created outside the Montana - this continues to be a major annoyance both for those who own the Montana and those who're waiting for that to be fixed to finally buy one.

The Montana is so close to being the perfect gps for so many different kinds of users.

Please, make it so!

BaseCamp's default settings for activity profiles are attempting to match the Montana's routing settings for the same activities. So long as your Montana has the same map you created the route on and is set to the same activity, it should match BaseCamp's route calculation. This is something Garmin's always working to improve, so keep eyes out for firmware updates if the behavior isn't quite what you were hoping for yet.

BaseCamp's default settings for activity profiles are attempting to match the Montana's routing settings for the same activities. So long as your Montana has the same map you created the route on and is set to the same activity, it should match BaseCamp's route calculation. This is something Garmin's always working to improve, so keep eyes out for firmware updates if the behavior isn't quite what you were hoping for yet.

Thanks for the feedback PAXTER1. Unfortunately the Montana Team has a bit of work to do for this to be the case. My simple routing almost never comes out the same on the Montana as it does in BaseCamp.

But, the real issue is, why should the GPS have to "calculate" the saved route using any other data besides what is in the Route.GPX data file? As long as the maps are the same there should be no reason to "apply" any profile data. The Profile should only come into play if there is "profile" information in the Route.GPX data file.

This is the number one customer satisfaction issues when I talk to Garmin GPS users - especially those who use to not have these problems with their older Garmin GPS's.

Cheers,

Just a wild guess on my part but I have never believed the solution to uploading routes was as simple as turning off recalculations in most GPS. I believe most GPS firmware requires the GPS to construct the route from the waypoints defining the route before the device can use the route for navigation. Some devices can follow a track but many can't. I have owned many Garmin GPS but all I have owned required recalculation of routes. In an effort to maintain compatibility with as many devices as possible, Garmin has tried to duplicate the BC algorithm with the GPS algorithm and if you can match route preference and maps, you can get the same route most of the time but with so many different GPS devices supported it is just about impossible to match preferences. I am guessing the devices that allowed you to not recalculate the route had firmware that would gather enough information form the BC route to reconstruct the exact route on the device. Even the GPS's that allow you to upload routes (the ones I have used) just store the waypoints and you have to try and manually match preference on the GPS to get close to the same route. The device can't even retrieve preferences form BC. Using shaping points helps with getting the route to match but all of my Garmin friends just upload waypoints because when they spend hours making the prefect route in BC they can't get the route in the GPS to match.

Between iPhone and iPads, BC is the only thing keeping me buying Garmin GPSs. If Garmin can't fix the problem with a firmware update to current GPS, Garmin would be very wise to give every new GPS made the firmware capability to navigate the exact BC route that was drug to the GPS. I would replace my nuvi today for this feature. I would think it would be possible to fix the top end models with a firmware update but the real fix would be to add the feature to every garmin GPS sold.

I construct a number of routes every year for our motorcycle group's tour of France, germany, Austria and Switzerland. As someone mentioned earlier, the roads we ride are carefully chosen and we don't appreciate the GPS - a Zumo 550 or 660 in most cases, changing the route on us once loaded. So, we use a lot of waypoints and shaping points to force the GPS to produce the same route as Basecamp and it works on 99% of occasions. However, a careless click on a town name can result in quick diversion to the point rather than following the road that you though it was on!! - a 100% check of each WP in a very high magnification will eradicate this issue as well - a good job for cold winter nights. It is also important to try and get the GPS set to the same preferences as Basecamp to try and ensure that recalculations will be done around similar parameters. Finally, we make sure that whoever is leading buys a beer for every "route faff" along the way - saves struggling too hard for perfection - after all the aim is to ride the bike.

I am a long time Garmin owner (12Map, 276C, G6 and Montana 600) and would very much like to have to option for the Montana to read and use routes as they were created in Basemap. The current system seems like a step backwards. Adding this option should be simple, right?

Also, we need more options for the sorting of tracks/routes/waypoints. Using proximity alone is another big step backwards.

I use the Montana for multi-week motorcycle and question if its purchase was justified beyond the capabilities I actually used on my old 276C...

Same here. Next month I go to Germany to tour on my motorcycle with friends who have Zumo's . In basecamp I created some nice routes, but it is not possible to load them exacly to the Montana. So I take my old 276C with me, so we all will have the same routes :mad:

Convert the routes to Tracks in BaseCamp.

Load both the tracks and the routes to your Montana.

You can display both the tracks and the routes on that model.

Hope that helps.

Another option is to add Shaping points to your route so that the Montana will be forced to follow your pre determined roads.

Botom line is that Garmin needs to fix this once and for all.......

Thanks, I will try that. And what I thought of last night, I can always put another ram-mount on the bike and ride with the Montana and the 276c, and explane to my friends why I need two GPS'es to navigate a simple route ;)

You see very few post from GeoCachers and automobile drivers, but most of the people I know use BaseCamp for driving and geocaching. I think the reason is Geocaching just works and works well and the automobile group has given up on trying to upload routes. The Nuvi group just uploads waypoints and let the GPX calculate the route.

I think Garmin is missing an opportunity to really distinguish the company form manufactures of GPS, smartphones, and tablets and really capitalize on the BaseCamp advantage. I think the nuvi group want to tweak their route almost as much as riders but the juice is not worth the squeeze. Even with shaping points and matching preferences, the last time I tried tweaking a major route the miles from BaseCamp did not match the Nuvi. Why pick garmin for driving if you are stuck with the shortest or fastest route calculated by the GPS? Surly the Montana group can update the firmware and you can design a Nuvi with the ability to receive and duplicate a BaseCamp route.

The issue for drivers, is with large cities and trying to mix shortest and fastest routing.