Zumo 590 + 595 - What the Manuals Do not Tell.

[Stu]

I'll happily send a copy, but No PM received as yet @mike_walker . I need an email address to send it to.

The new england riders stuff is worth a look on using Basecamp. Mine deals with avoiding the issues that crop up when following a route on the 590 - and how I use Basecamp to prevent these issues from happening in the first place, and ruining my trip.

Is there a reason why you don't want to upload it to the forum?

[mike_walker]

I'll happily send a copy, but No PM received as yet @mike_walker . I need an email address to send it to.

The new england riders stuff is worth a look on using Basecamp. Mine deals with avoiding the issues that crop up when following a route on the 590 - and how I use Basecamp to prevent these issues from happening in the first place, and ruining my trip.

Sure - will do now as was waiting for my account to be approved. I *think* I know Basecamp pretty well - it doesn't seem to have changed since I had a Nuvi back in 2012. What I'm after understanding better is ensuring routes stay exactly the same on the device as when planned on my PC. Also, getting custom icons to show on routes rather than just flags. I've managed to successfully import custom POIs with their own icons but have so far failed to get any kind of custom icon to show up in a route.

[jfheath]

I may be wrong, but I don't think that the 590 will do custom icons unless they are POIs. I did play around with POIs ages back with my 660 - putting in some local landmarks and getting the satnav to play tunes and recorded messages when we got within a certain distance of them. That was fun. But I lost interest in that and never tried including them in a route after I got rid of my 660 and got the 590. The 590 was presenting me with all sorts of headaches, from which came the document I am about to send.

[rbentnail]

Sure - will do now as was waiting for my account to be approved. I *think* I know Basecamp pretty well - it doesn't seem to have changed since I had a Nuvi back in 2012. What I'm after understanding better is ensuring routes stay exactly the same on the device as when planned on my PC.

IMHO you are correct. Base Camp hasn't changed much at all over the yrs. Some things that I've learned from others that help immensely:

- when you make a route, ask yourself, "if I remove any one point, will my route change?" Then check yourself with Base Camp. If it changes, you don't have enough points to maintain the route. Add more. I use a lot of non-announcing shaping points.

- after you've made your route- I'm assuming you know about the "double click route name in the list" to see route properties. This is the block where you can edit route name, route color, point properties, etc. In that box, at the top, is a tab called ROUTE OPTIONS. Click it then tick the box CUSTOMIZE ROUTE OPTIONS. You can then optimize that individual route for your needs.

Also, getting custom icons to show on routes rather than just flags. I've managed to successfully import custom POIs with their own icons but have so far failed to get any kind of custom icon to show up in a route.

I don't think we've ever figured that one out. Custom POIs yes, "standard" Base Camp chosen waypoint no.

[jfheath]

Is there a reason why you don't want to upload it to the forum?

Yes - See post #1

[rbentnail]

I highly recommend jfh's manual for Base Camp. Extremely helpful with terminology and the interfacing between BC and Zumos. It really helped me a lot with my 595.

[jfheath]

- after you've made your route- I'm assuming you know about the "double click route name in the list" to see route properties. This is the block where you can edit route name, route color, point properties, etc. In that box, at the top, is a tab called ROUTE OPTIONS. Click it then tick the box CUSTOMIZE ROUTE OPTIONS. You can then optimize that individual route for your needs.

This is true, but generally, once you have the options that you want set as you want them, I would advise against changing them for a particular route this for the following reasons:

i) Changing the properties of (say) the motorcycle profile will cause Basecamp to go through every single route in your database that has used the motorcycle profile and recalculate it to apply the changes that you have made to the profile.

ii) Basecamp doesn't send any of the avoidances set in the profile to the Zumo. The Zumo receives only the mode of transport (eg Motorcycling) and the route preferences (eg Faster Time, Shorter Distance and Curvy Roads). 'Curvy Roads' is only recognised by the 590. Not the 595 or the XT.

iii) If the Zumo has to recalculate a route, it uses the vehicle type (Car/Motorcycle) and the Faster/Shorter option. It will use the options and avoidances that are set for the vehicle (eg motorcycle) in the Zumo.

My preference is to set the vehicle to motorcycle, and the options to fastest time. All avoidances are turned off. That seems to ensure that the Zumo creates a similar route to the one that Basecamp produced.

If you want to play around with the routing on Zumo, choose to create a Custom Profile. The changes that you make will only affect that route and it is useful to be able to see what happens. Just make sure that you set it back to use the motorcycle profile when you have finished, cos the Zumo doens't recognise 'Custom' and it will default to motorcycling anyway.

The Zumos will recognise only car (driving) and motorcycle profiles. If you set it to anything else in the profile, the Zumo will ignore it and default to its motorcycle preferences.

If the route needs to be recalculated, the Zumos will always calculate a route that joins together all of the route points in the correct order. The more route points you have, the less chance the Zumo has of selecting a different route. But the more points you have, the more of a headache it becomes if a road is blocked and you have go a different way.

I know Russ has found this to be a particular problem in North Carolina - the roads on the ground and the roads on the map seem to bear only a passing resemblance to each other. The mapping for the UK is pretty accurate in comparison.

**I've deliberately missed out off-road. It raises a level of complexity that I don't want to go into here !!

[mike_walker]

I highly recommend jfh's manual for Base Camp. Extremely helpful with terminology and the interfacing between BC and Zumos. It really helped me a lot with my 595.

Yep - incredibly useful, informative, well written and a very easy read (if you're into that kind of thing but I guess if you're reading this then you most probably are!). The detail around route point extensions and how the Zumo recalculates vs the what you planned in Basecamp all make complete sense now. Thanks John!