Garmin Basecamp Very Difficult to Use

[Itznuthin]

I just bought a 2016 R1200RT including the Garmin BWM Nav V. I like to ride with a destination but without a plan to get there, but my sense of direction is not good, so I thought it would be great to have the Nav V so when I'm totally lost I can use the GPS to get home or to my destination. I'm sorry for turning this post negative, but I really need to know if it's me or if it's Garmin. I'm an educated guy like most of you, I assume. I'm a CFO, I deal with complex issues every day, I'm able to learn new and complex tasks quickly, but I would rather be lost than plan a route with Garnim's BaseCamp software. I bought a Garmin for my car years ago with route planning software, and I stopped using it for the same reason as I'm experiencing with the new software. It is not easy or intuitive -- I want to pull my hair out every time I try and plan a trip. You have to become an expert at understanding how they designed their software to use it. I don't have patience for such a poorly designed product. Am I missing something? Does it get easy at some point? Do I just have some mental block with this thing and the rest of you find it easy to use. It cost me $800 so I'm not a happy camper right now.

[kioolt]

I also found Basecamp difficult to use when I first started using it.  I found the following tutorial for Basecamp.  http://www.newenglandriders.org/Learn_BaseCamp.htm
Once going through the tutorial I am now much more comfortable with Basecamp.

[guest2360]

You say that you want to be able to rely on your Nav V to get you home or to your destination if you end up lost.  I'm sure you have already saved Home in it so it will always get you back with just a couple of taps in the screen.  Likewise if you have loaded you destination it will always get you there. 
None of the above needs  BASECAMP.  Building routes and them transferring them to your Nav V needs practice but once you get used to it its straight forward enough.

[timminator]

I just bought a 2016 R1200RT including the Garmin BWM Nav V. I like to ride with a destination but without a plan to get there, but my sense of direction is not good, so I thought it would be great to have the Nav V so when I'm totally lost I can use the GPS to get home or to my destination. I'm sorry for turning this post negative, but I really need to know if it's me or if it's Garmin. I'm an educated guy like most of you, I assume. I'm a CFO, I deal with complex issues every day, I'm able to learn new and complex tasks quickly, but I would rather be lost than plan a route with Garnim's BaseCamp software. I bought a Garmin for my car years ago with route planning software, and I stopped using it for the same reason as I'm experiencing with the new software. It is not easy or intuitive -- I want to pull my hair out every time I try and plan a trip. You have to become an expert at understanding how they designed their software to use it. I don't have patience for such a poorly designed product. Am I missing something? Does it get easy at some point? Do I just have some mental block with this thing and the rest of you find it easy to use. It cost me $800 so I'm not a happy camper right now.

You are not alone, Basecamp is a nightmare (And I've been writing enterprise software for 20+years).  Tracks, routes, trips, adventures, it has too many options to be intuitive.  The thing that I have found most challenging is getting the Nav to follow the actual route/trip I created in basecamp.  Often the problem is that the avoidances are set differently between basecamp and the Nav itself, so the Nav starts making it's own adjustments to the route.  I've had the most success when I setup a series of waypoints, and then draw a "route" that follows them.  I am fairly proficient at using it now, but it took many, many, many hours of practice and countless tutorials.

[bushbikie]

For route planning I want quick and easy - have a wander over to https://www.motogoloco.com/map/  and have a play.

[Kenkeni53]

Has anyone had success creating maps in Google and transferring them to Base Camp or Nav 5

[tony23]

Has anyone had success creating maps in Google and transferring them to Base Camp or Nav 5

Download Tyre route planner. It uses google maps to create routes which can be saved as Gpx  and imported into basecamp.

[Kenkeni53]

Tyre dosen't work with Apple products

[Steve F]

Yes, just what I was about to say. Is there any other reliable route planning software compatible with Applle Macs?

[guest2360]

Yes Basecamp with a bit of practice.

[Casbar]

Yes Basecamp with a bit of practice.

What he said but with lots and lots of practice and patience. Have managed quite a few successful routes after many years

[Masq85]

So, good to know it's not just me !!  A couple of weeks ago I used Google Maps and transferred the maps in KML to Basecamp then created a "trip" around Wales and uploaded it to the Nav 5.  Everything was set up, the trip was (finally) uploaded to the Nav.  However, because I decided to turn left out of my road and not right, the Nav 5 never did accept the fact that I had rejoined my route a few miles down the road and spent all of the ride down the M4 telling me to turn around when possible (!!).  Needless to say that the Nav 5 nearly got stomped on when I tried to use that really annoying touch screen and rubbish interface to re-plan the route whilst sat in the Newport services.  :clap:


So, I have now come to the conclusion that the only "easy" way to use the Nav 5 is to create a number of Waypoints/locations and just tell it to go to the next one.  This does mean stopping every now and again and/or remembering which one to use next.  The alternative is to plug your iPhone Tom Tom App into your headphones and use the trip that you planned (so much more easily) on that instead.  PS - Tom Tom + iPhone 6 . . . still cheaper than a Nav 5.

[guest2360]

That happened because you had programmed it to  follow a series of points and then went off route. It was just trying to get you back to the first one you missed,  The solution is easy,
Having created the route in Bsecamp you then delete all the waypoints you don't want to stop at and then transfer it all to the Nav V.

[Casbar]

Yep, its user error, admit Basecamp is not easy to use, but once you know it, it does work. I have done many routes and quite often missed turns, the sat nav just let me pick up the route again and didn't re-direct me. Basecamp is the only option if you use a Mac, so i have learnt to use it. There is a Zumo forum on the net which has a whole sub section about Basecamp on the Mac, which has really good tips. http://www.zumoforums.com/index.php?action=forum

[Sam De Rycke]

I use this online tool : http://www.ridewithgps.com


It is free!