BaseCamp and Zumo first impressions not promising

Former Member over 10 years ago

Just getting to grips with my new Zumo350 and BaseCamp.

The Zumo seems to be a reasonable sat nav but the screen is a bit cluttered with stuff that gets in the way of the map. In my preferred 2d display mode the auto zoom on approach to junctions is so weak that I'm not even sure it has this functionality. In 3d view it's better. Lane guidance is similarly poor. Overall, not as good as the 6 year old TomTom I have in my car but the Zumo seems to be well made, is right for a motorbike and I'm sure will do what it says on the tin.

Then there's BaseCamp. What a piece of junk. Looks like a lot of very promising features but it simply does not do the fundamental function of simply planning a desired route. To start with it does not do drag and drop of the route! Come on chaps, this is 2015 you know.

I tried to create a route from A to B and then add C, D and E. How in the name of all things holy do I do that? After hours of fiddling about I managed it. Once. But forgot how I eventually did it so gave up.

Not to be that easily defeated I tried planning the route A to E and then tried adding B, C and D. Well, inserting a point just screws up the whole affair. Where in the list of waypoints it inserts a new point is somewhere between random and obscure. Moving points up and down the list causes hilarious results. I planned this journey with its start, finish with three waypoints intended to ensure I was routed along roads I wanted. In reality the journey is 9 miles. BaseCamp turned it into an epic 37 mile trip! Great route for a bimble about on a Saturday afternoon but as a tool to get me from A to E pretty useless.

I've spent hours changing route preferences to try and figure out how they work. I'm really sorry but I live in the UK and we don't have Interstates and State Highways. In BaseCamp a Motorway seems to be deemed an Interstate in if it's, say, the M6 but becomes a State Highway if its, say, the M58 and maybe a Major Highway if it's say the M56. Not good.

Then there's the map detail. I set the detail quite high, high enough to see what's what without having to zoom in too close and loose my bearings. When I do this the roads are cluttered and obscured by thousands of shopping trolleys, petrol station symbols, knife & fork symbols and other miscellaneous and largely irrelevant dross. I'm sure there is a way to turn it all off but frankly I've had a look and lost interest.

I would urge you chaps at Garmin to take a short look at Tyre. It doesn't have all the nice bells and whistles BaseCamp has but it does a first rate job of planning a route. It is simple, intuitive, uses Google Maps that are detailed and accurate. Drag and drop is a breeze. Adding points is simple and reliable. It actually plans a sensible route. In short, it works.

In summary, all the bells and whistles are useless if the basic route planning does not work simply, effectively, predictably and reliably.

0 SUSSAMB over 10 years ago

Then there's BaseCamp. What a piece of junk. Looks like a lot of very promising features but it simply does not do the fundamental function of simply planning a desired route. To start with it does not do drag and drop of the route! Come on chaps, this is 2015 you know.

Yes it does, just hold Alt then click on the route with the hand tool, or right click the route and select 'Insert into route'

I tried to create a route from A to B and then add C, D and E. How in the name of all things holy do I do that? After hours of fiddling about I managed it. Once. But forgot how I eventually did it so gave up.

There are 2 main ways to create a route.
1. Create the waypoints, then select them all, right click and choose 'Create route from selected waypoints'.
2. Select the Route tool, either drag/drop waypoints into start/finish boxes or close it and just click points on the map

Not to be that easily defeated I tried planning the route A to E and then tried adding B, C and D. Well, inserting a point just screws up the whole affair. Where in the list of waypoints it inserts a new point is somewhere between random and obscure. Moving points up and down the list causes hilarious results.

Does that surprise you? If you alter where waypoints are in a route it's bound to change

I planned this journey with its start, finish with three waypoints intended to ensure I was routed along roads I wanted. In reality the journey is 9 miles. BaseCamp turned it into an epic 37 mile trip! Great route for a bimble about on a Saturday afternoon but as a tool to get me from A to E pretty useless.

Which map did you have selected in Basecamp? Sounds like you didn't have the correct map enabled and/or had some weird avoidances/routing options set

I've spent hours changing route preferences to try and figure out how they work. I'm really sorry but I live in the UK and we don't have Interstates and State Highways. In BaseCamp a Motorway seems to be deemed an Interstate in if it's, say, the M6 but becomes a State Highway if its, say, the M58 and maybe a Major Highway if it's say the M56. Not good.
I live in the UK and travel extensively in France/Portugal. I've never found that give me any issues.

Then there's the map detail. I set the detail quite high, high enough to see what's what without having to zoom in too close and loose my bearings. When I do this the roads are cluttered and obscured by thousands of shopping trolleys, petrol station symbols, knife & fork symbols and other miscellaneous and largely irrelevant dross. I'm sure there is a way to turn it all off but frankly I've had a look and lost interest.

You can customise what's shown in 'Edit, Options, Activity profile, Select features to be displayed'

I would urge you chaps at Garmin to take a short look at Tyre. It doesn't have all the nice bells and whistles BaseCamp has but it does a first rate job of planning a route. It is simple, intuitive, uses Google Maps that are detailed and accurate. Drag and drop is a breeze. Adding points is simple and reliable. It actually plans a sensible route. In short, it works.

So does Basecamp, you just haven't taken the trouble to learn the basics. Try reading the Help files and/or looking through the videos available under the Help button on the toolbar. Note that planning routes on anything other than the map used in your Zumo is likely to cause some routing issues, it's always best to use the same map, which Basecamp allows you to do.

Hope that helps, any other questions just ask :)