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Basecamp Mac Confused about which garmin to get for Basecamp

Confused about which garmin to get for Basecamp

Former Member over 13 years ago

So I am very intrigued by BaseCamp based on the tutorial videos I watched. I want to get a Nav for my motorcycle that will allow me to plan a route on the computer and then drag and drop it over to the unit, then hop on my bike and go. Anyone with a motorcycle knows that you often plan circuitous routes and do not want o rely on automatic route planning. The ability to create a very specific route and then use the device to follow that route would be great.

So you'd think you could just buy a Garmin unit, hook it up and go. But as I do more research it seems to be more complicated than that - very different than the videos make it out to be. All this talk about GPX files, wrong folders, trips vs. routes, max 10 routes, etc. Now I'm confused.

Does anyone know which Garmin unit I should buy so my ability to create a route and use it just like the videos show? I'd like to be able to use BaseCamp to draw, drag, drop a route, and with the click of a mouse have it move over to the unit to be EASILY used? I'd like to spend <$200. I will never be using this in a car as a normal nav. I'd love to load up a bunch of my favorite rides and have them stored on the unit.

Any advice?

-Josh

0 Former Member over 13 years ago

The Nuvi 1450 might be the only thing you will find in that price range. It won't be waterproof or shockproof. You can easily send your routes to it, but you will need to go into the menus on the nuvi, select it and import it. However the Nuvi will automatically recalculate your route upon import which may give different results than you expect. See the discussion here: https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?t=25215

For a more ideal unit, the Zumo and Montana are more rugged and won't recalculate. But they are way over your budget. More recent models of Nuvi don't use routes, they use something called "trips" that have a number of issues.

The other thing you might look for would be a Nuvi 500 or 550 if you can still find one. They have smaller screens but are shockproof/waterproof and use routes like the 1450 does. They have been popular with riders of ATV's and motorcycles since they are durable and relatively cheap. It's an older model, so I don't know if you can still find them new at reasonable prices.

-Boyd

0 Former Member over 13 years ago

Hey thanks.

I'm all over finding something used. So the older 500 series will do routes and be shock/rain proof and work with base camp? Might be the way to go. I don't ride in the rain so the 14xx might be fine.

But isn't it disingenuous to post a video showing "drag and drop" routes including being able to drag the red line and everything. But then in reality it doesn't work like that.

0 Former Member over 13 years ago

Well I bought a Garmin 550 just now. I figure if I have a very specific motorcycle route in mind I'll just put extra waypoints in if I think it'll calculate it wrong.

0 Former Member over 13 years ago

My 550 Zumo works well most of the time with BaseCamp.

Use Shaping Points in BaseCamp to direct the route to the roads you prefer.

When you double click on a route name in the left hand pane, that opens the route poperties. In the via points tab, select a point and hit command (pretzel) -> k.

That will make the chosen point so that it is not announced or displayed by the Zumo.

This is very handy when you need to use lots of shaping points to keep you route on minor roads. The excessive announcements are very annoying if you are listening to MP3's.

0 Former Member over 13 years ago

I got the Nuvi, not the Zumo which was a lot more money.