Zumo 346 help

[zorba61]

I have just bought a zumo 346 and slowly getting to know how to use it and this morning even managed to upload a route to it .My question is the route I uploaded has a section that is pink/purple and not part of my route whilst the rest of the route is black ,why the different coloured section , is it a recommendation? By the way could I reverse the colours in the settings?
Thanks

 

[Nuvi-Nebie]

Q1) Are the pink/purple and black lines being displayed on your computer screen or the Zumo screen?
Q2) Are either of the lines straight , I.e. not following a road or path ?

Both Routes and Tracks can have their colours changed in Garmin Basecamp, Route colours on your satnav can't be changed as far as I know

 

[zorba61]

Thanks for your reply this is on the zumo screen ,The purple/ pink line is following a road and I think it's showing most direct route as opposed to my route .I actually used google maps for route which I dragged to the route I wanted to take and then converted to gpx file.Does Basesecamp suggest routes or do you have to plot the route yourself?
Thanks

 

[Nuvi-Nebie]

Click on picture

To use Routes successfully on Garmin Satnavs you must use the same map to generate the Route before sending it to the unit, this is because the Route file does not contain any map data, it only has a series of waypoints. In this example let us say you use a map containing the green road and you pick points A,B and C from it, the Route file only contains the 3 points.

A Satnav will take the 3 Route points and connect them by auto-routing between them, that means finding a road on it's map to follow using any rules like, shortest, quickest, no motorways etc., BUT if the map on the Satnav only has the purple road it will use that because it doesn't know about the green road.

Some Satnavs may accept Tracks as well as Routes, Tracks are not auto-routed, the same 3 points in a Track are joined by straight lines to form the red line, however in my experience most Satvans only allow Routes and not Tracks.

If you use Garmin Basecamp to generate the Route you don't get these problems because Basecamp will copy maps from your Satnav into it's own area, you then have exactly the same maps on both Basecamp and Satnav, you also get the same shortest, quickest etc. rules applied so you know that the Route on Basecamp and Satnav will be the same and the maps are updated when the maps on your Satnav are updated

Basecamp will perform auto-route exactly the same as your Satnav will to suggest a Route, you can alter it if you want to change it before downloading to your Satnav

 

[zorba61]

Well that's what I call a comprehensive answer and also one that is clear to understand.
THANKS...NN
Ps
Didn't use Basecamp as I was on a laptop using Linux and didn't want to faff about trying to get it to work in Wine.However desktop dual boots with Windows so will use Basecamp on that.

 

[zorba61]

Well I've been trying to use Basecamp and it's not the best of software I've used, seems to take a long time to refresh the map.Anyway with regards to above problem with a section being purple/pink which wasn't the route I wanted to take,I found a tip on line.By going into the saved route and changing it from motorcycle to car it recalculates the route and comes up with the exact route I imported in !

 

[Nuvi-Nebie]

Yes you need to set all rules the same on computer and satnav, as for the map refresh, the first time Basecamp 'sees' the satnav it has to copy it's maps so it will be slow, the next time it just checks they are the same.

Basecamp isn't the friendliness piece of software but you will get used to it, it becomes a mirror image of your satnav once it is set up properly and should act in exactly the same way

 

[zorba61]

I've read on the net that the reason for slow map refresh is because the sat nav is connected but if I unplug the sat nav I don't have a very detailed map.Is the a way to import and save the detailed map on the sat nav to basecamp so i don't need to connect sat nav for detailed map?
Ps
Thanks again for all your help NN

 

[zorba61]

Looks like a good source for learning Basecamp.
https://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?74203-Learn-Garmin-BaseCamp-Tutorial-Videos

 

[Nuvi-Nebie]

I'm guessing that you haven't allowed enough time with the satnav connected for Basecamp to copy the maps from your satnav, this is usually done automatically, you can watch the progress of the file copying on screen, you can also look in the Basecsmp >> Maps screen, once the map from the satnav is in the Basecamp >> maps area, you can use the maps in Basecamp when the satnav is not connected.

Make sure there is enough disk space on the Basecamp computer to store these maps, you may need 5GB, 10GB or even more

 

[zorba61]

Yes the map showed up in Basecamp and was listed as europe map but when I unplugged sat nav it disappeared,anyway have now managed to install detailed map by updating map via Garmin express tp pc.
Thanks for reply.

 

[Nuvi-Nebie]

Ah O.K., I usually download any satnav map updates to both satnav and computer at the same time (using Garmin Express), So may be that is the only way to have a permanent copy on the computer when the satnav is not connected

 

[zorba61]

Well I've eventually managed to plot a 350 mile route and load it to satnav but even though I optimized it it still has a small stretch of magenta road instead of black like rest of route.I can see the two different road to the same place but thought optimizing would have got rid of any magenta?
I can see why people get fed up with Basecamp but I think it's down to people just wanting to drag a route to where they want it as in google maps as opposed to learning how to use Basecamp (bit of a learning curve).Things like making sure you click on correct side of a dual carriageway otherwise it will have doing a U turn.Anyway I'll keep plugging away at it and hopefully learn to use it's full potential.People like you NN give hope to newbies like me that it's worth sticking with.Thanks again.
PS
does 'no alert' next to points on the route just mean when you arrive at that point it won't be announced as if it was your final destination?

 

[Nuvi-Nebie]

does 'no alert' next to points on the route just mean when you arrive at that point if you don't select 'no alert'it won't be announced as if it was your final destination?

Yes and no, it will say 'Arriving at XYZ' when it gets to that point if you don't select 'no alert' because it thinks you have multiple destinations, like a delivery driver might, selecting 'no alert' turns a Via point into a shaping point, but also if you miss a Via (because you chose to take a slightly different path), you will be divereted back to the via rather than carrying on towards the final destination, with a shaping point, if you miss one out you are just directed to the next one and not directed back to the one that you missed​