Trouble transferring routes from Basecamp to Drive 52

Former Member over 4 years ago

I just purchased a Drive 52 yesterday. My brother gave me a DriveSmart 51 LMT-S a year or so ago and had similar problems with it. I finally just gave up on it and tossed it in the corner somewhere. I now cannot find it so thought I'd start back with the 52 since it was only $84. If I can get it to work I'll move on up the ladder at a later date. However, I'm finding I'm running into the exact same issues.

When I try to transfer a route from Basecamp to the device it only works once in a while. I finally broke down and called Garmin support this morning. Got someone very nice and knowledgeable and she walked me through it. I am downloading routes (I am new to this so don't know when it is correct to use routes vs. tracks, etc. - too much terminology I am not familiar with) off the internet to use on my motorcycle to follow. I know the 52 is not designed for motorcycle use but after the terrible experience I had with the 51 I did not want to go spend $400+ on a motorcycle unit only to find out I couldn't get that to work either.

Again, just about as frustrated with the 52 as I was with the 51. Anyhow, the support specialist helped me get two routes onto my 52 this morning. After I hung up I tried a 3rd myself - several times - to no avail. It "appears" to transfer in Basecamp. I get the green check mark on the Internal Storage under "Devices". If I click there I can see it in the lower pane. However, when I disconnect the device and power it up, it is not there. Thinking I am doing something wrong, I deleted one of the routes the specialist helped me with this morning from the device and then just tried to send it to the device again. Nothing... Again, it all looks like it's working in Basecamp but when I get to the device it is not there. If I connect the device back to Basecamp and then look at the Internal Storage then, the file is not there. It was there after I did the transfer (and it seemed to complete successfully) but at some point when I disconnect the device it disappears.

As an FYI... In one of these instance (I have tried this at least a dozen times with the same file, different files, etc.) I was poking around on the device, with it disconnected from the computer, and an error message came up stating that the file I had last tried to transfer - at least 10 minutes ago - could not be save (I think the wording was). This was, again, after it had appeared to successfully transfer in Basecamp, I get the green check box icon on the Internal Storage and had confirmed, in Basecamp, that the file was on the device.

Could I be out of storage space on the device? When I go to Windows Explorer and look, I have about 1.73 GB free. However, this number doesn't seem to have changed much, if any, after deleting the other route that the support specialist helped me transfer.

Any help would be greatly appreciate. Unlike the 51 that I just lost, I am about at my wit's end with this 52 and am about to take it back. At least I'd get some money back on this one :)

0 SUSSAMB over 4 years ago

First, ensure you're sending a route and not a track. Your device cannot read tracks. Please confirm?

0 Former Member over 4 years ago

When I bring the gpx files into Basecamp and select the file under "My Collection" there is a file that appears in the lower pane with the same name and an icon to the left of it with two shoe prints. I select that file, got to File | New | Direct Route from Selected Track and click on that menu item. A second file with the same name will then appear in the lower pane (I do not know what Basecamp calls this lower pane) except it has an icon next to it that has three green rectangles arranged in a triangle shape with the apex of the triangle to the right. A line connects the "head" rectangle on the right to each of the other rectangles on the left. Kind of like a sideways data structure tree. That is what I try to send to my device. Most of the time it is not successful. Sometimes it is, but not very often. One of the files I tried to transfer all of a sudden just showed up on my device, literally 1/2 to an hour after I gave up trying to transfer it. I had already disconnected the device. Again, a good 90% of the time I just get a generic error message stating that the file name could not be saved. This is after the filename under the "Internal Storage" in Basecamp shows a green check mark and I can see the file in the lower pane when I single click on the "internal Storage" under the Device | Garmin Drive 52 section of the navigation pane.

0 SUSSAMB over 4 years ago in reply to Former Member

Ok, so it seems you're sending a route. How many points are in the route? Your Garmin is limited to 30 points so if there are more than that there will be problems, and its particularly likely if, as it seems, you're converting a track to a route. Ideally you should work only with routes. Note too when you send a route it may not immediately appear in the Trip Planner app on your device, as the file you sent has to be imported into the app. The more points in the route the longer that import will take.

0 Former Member over 4 years ago in reply to SUSSAMB

Thank you for all your help. It is greatly appreciated. How do I tell how many points there are in the file? I'm not familiar with how to do that (i.e. a newbie to this in general). Thanks again.

0 SUSSAMB over 4 years ago in reply to Former Member

In BaseCamp right click on the route and look at the route properties. You may find the tutorials here useful, they are aimed at BaseCamp and Zumo users but most applies to other Garmin devices too