Newbie - HELP!

Former Member over 9 years ago

I must be doing something wrong - BaseCamp couldn't possibly be as bad as it appears.

I've installed BaseCamp 4.6.2 and the City Navigator North America NT 2017.1 on my Windows 10 computer. I'm now trying to use the Trip Planner.

First, when I type in a starting address (my home address) it comes back (eventually) with a list of addresses to choose from! Why would I want to choose another address when I've already entered the one I want?

Then after much futzing around I finally got it to accept a second address as the destination for my first day. But it immediately added a second day taking me back home again. I'm planning a 3-month road trip.

I managed to get rid of the trip back home and added a new waypoint. It showed the address of the first days' destination as the starting point so I thought I was finally moving forward. I entered the address for the second day's destination and it came back with (1) the starting point for the second day changed to my home address, (2) an overnight stop somewhere I've never heard of, (3) a third day completing the trip to the destination I'd entered for the second day, and (4) a fourth day returning to the first day's destination.

One of the reasons I just purchased a Garmin RV 760 was the claimed ability to use BaseCamp to plan out a complete trip and load it into the RV 760. At this rate the summer will be over before I get the trip planned.

FYI I've already planned the entire trip with Google Maps and Good Sam with no problems, and I have accurate addresses for each stop. I had a 45-year career in the computer software industry so I know my way around computers and software. I've looked for answers in the manual and watched the tutorial video. What am I doing wrong?

0 mariomobiel over 9 years ago

If u already have your trip planned in google earth/maps, just export/save the .kml file and import it in Garmin Basecamp.

0 Former Member over 9 years ago

Thanks

Thanks Mariomobiel. I hadn't saved it in Google Maps, but it will be much quicker to recreate it in Google MyMaps than to use BaseCamp. I'll try that next.

I'd still like to figure out how to use BaseCamp though, if you have any suggestions.

Thanks.

0 mariomobiel over 9 years ago

I must say that I alway struggled with address search in basecamp. I found that searching the addresses in the device (Nuvi or RV760) and than importing them in Basecamp works best for me.

just search the address/location save the location in the RV760, than hookup your device to the PC start Basecamp and copy/paste the locations in a new list. If you planned your trip, remove all points from the internal memory (or u end up with duplicate waypoints) on your RV760 send your planned trip including the waypoints to your RV760.

it should be possible to do all this in basecamp, but it works beter for me this way....

0 Former Member over 9 years ago

Hmm. So it sounds like BaseCamp might really be as bad as it appears to be? If it is, it would rank as one of the least intuitive and most bug-ridden programs I've seen put out by a major company in my 45 years of working with computers. I would have been ashamed to release a program so poorly designed and implemented. Do Garmin employees monitor this forum? Or do they already know how bad it is and just don't care?

I think it will be easier to just use Google MyMaps and export/import .kml files. At least I can use BaseCamp to get them into the RV760 - I've tested that and it appears to work.

Thanks again for your help.

0 Former Member over 9 years ago

Nah, Basecamp isn't as bad as you think. Trip Planner as implemented does need some work.

If you have the addresses already just set them as waypoints, highlight them in the order you want to arrive and then right click on them and select Create Route From Waypoints. That will give you the basic routing if that's what you want. You can easily modify the routing using the Option key and your mouse to click and drag it to the proper path. For a 3 month long trip I would definitely break it up into smaller routes to keep the number of waypoints below the device route limits.

You could also try looking at Furkot.com an online Trip Planner that uses Google Maps and will output Garmin Routes and Tracks for each day which can then be loaded into your GPS device.

If you are going to continue learning the Basecamp Trip Planner you might want to uncheck the round trip box. Then it won't keep adding your home to the end of the trip and recalculating the way back home.

0 SUSSAMB over 9 years ago

I'm not a great fan of trip planner in BaseCamp either. When planning multi day trips I simply use the route tool and create the routes I want for each day. It's very easy that way :)

As for locating addresses, using Ctrl + Alt + A gets me the best results. In the UK you can just enter the number and postcode and the address pops up.

0 Former Member over 9 years ago

Thanks Jack and Sussamb. Good to know that BaseCamp is still worth mastering. And good to know that it's not just me having trouble with Trip Planner.

I'll persevere, using your tips.