confused - saving tracks in basecamp

Just create individual routes/tracks in Basecamp. When you want to send them to your Edge connect the Edge to your PC and launch Basecamp. Your Edge should then appear in the top left hand pane. You can then drag and drop and routes/tracks etc into your Edge or, if you have a card installed, into the card.

Have a look here at the video tutorials http://www8.garmin.com/learningcenter/training/basecamp/

Just create individual routes/tracks in Basecamp. When you want to send them to your Edge connect the Edge to your PC and launch Basecamp. Your Edge should then appear in the top left hand pane. You can then drag and drop and routes/tracks etc into your Edge or, if you have a card installed, into the card.

Have a look here at the video tutorials http://www8.garmin.com/learningcenter/training/basecamp/

I understand the bit about getting tracks onto my Garmin device BUT can I also store tracks on my laptop as individual tracks, say Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, etc., go back to them to edit and only when finished with the editing transfer them to the Garmin device?

Yes. When you close Basecamp it saves everything 'as is'. You can edit tracks/routes as often as you like. Only need to send them to your GPS when you're ready to do so.

.......can I also store tracks on my laptop as individual tracks, say Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, etc., go back to them to edit and only when finished with the editing transfer them to the Garmin device?

This is a point of confusion to those new to BaseCamp, especially those accustomed to using it's predecessor, MapSource. It also happens (probably) to be the biggest bone of contention between the two. Both BaseCamp and MapSource are stand-alone applications which link to Maps that are saved in a separate folder. The prime difference between the two is that with MapSource a user can create a route, give it a name and then save it in a folder of his/her own choosing and in a location of his/her choosing. In short, MapSource is folder/file based application. BaseCamp on the other hand is a Database application saving any routes created by the user in it's Database and as a result the user is not able to save the route into a folder of his/her choice. To make a route useable it needs to be exported (a) to a device such as the one you mentioned or (b) as a gpx file to a folder of your choice on your computer. From here it can also be dragged/dropped into the device or it's memory card.

As concerns your question directly - there is very little point in exporting gpx files out of BaseCamp into a separate folder if there exists a possibility of you needing to revisit them and possibly apply edits. Much better imho to leave them sitting in BaseCamp until you are ready to export them to the device and use them. One important thing to keep in mind though - and that is to make regular backups of the Database (File > Backup) because if you happen to suffer a corrupt Database file then of course you might well loose everything you've created.

FYI the latest BC beta allows you to select the location of the database (just a single GDB file--AllData.gdb and a folder/file list--FolderData.gfi).

https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?36044-What-s-new-in-BaseCamp-4-2&p=179140#post179140

I also now had a look at the Garmin Connect route planning facility (the Garmin guys told me that this could be an alternative to Basecamp in order to store routes/waypoints). This seems to be more straightforward in terms of storing my planned routes and recalling them as and when and then uploading them to my Edge. Or am I missing something here?

Martin