Zumo User Forums

Well, my update, I packed it up and sent it back yesterday, and keeping my xt..
I thought 62 points would be the issue... Wow was I so wrong... Tread, and calculating... Heck I don't think tread changed any of my routes... But it broke calculations... The simplest.. Say route manner in the xt2, touch 2 close spots... Say 2 block away.. When it works, perfect... When it didn't like something I import with tread before, the same 2 points would sit at 0, and could not calculate..
I had a simple route, 2 shaping points, 1 stop, and 1 final... The XT2 would not start the route, I had to use the xt...

Tread, and something it does completely stops calculations..
Not having tread, and loosing wireless access to send stuff was a no go for me... The card is a pita vs drive in the xt.. Don't usually have my laptop on trips, so that's out...

Overall, if it would have been similar to the xt but improved, I might have kept it.. I got it on sale for $500.... Since it wouldn't calculate for me... I returned it... Still within my free return window... Spent days loading some of my routes, one at a time till it capped out... Then reset, and start over.. Cable, card, wireless with tread... It was crazy the time I spent going in circles with my xt looking patiently at me, saying I still work lol... (plus that's new too, Garmin exchange march or April this year)

Wanted to like it, and the features, like improved radar and radar in motion, I would have paid the 550$ for, probably... But I have hundreds and hundreds of routes, recorded tracks and the rest I couldn't start from scratch building again..
I'll see what the next xt brings, or keep an eye on some of the newer options... My catch is I like the xt cradle type, click on and off, without having to mess with the ram arms... Gps is always in the same location after switching bikes..

@JS_racer, I noticed your profile shows Minnesota as you location but I immediately recognized those map images as Franklin, NC. That is great riding country. The one time I have laid a bike down while moving was on Wayah Rd not far from Franklin (low sided on wet leaves in a curve). That was about 2 decades ago. What I learned: Don't ride spirited on mountain roads in the early morning following an overnight rain in the fall. IOW, don't be stupid.

Hope I didn't hijack this discussion, just couldn't help but comment on an area that triggers fond, and not so fond memories.

Peobody wrote: ↑Sat Apr 26, 2025 12:52 pm @JS_racer, I noticed your profile shows Minnesota as you location but I immediately recognized those map images as Franklin, NC. That is great riding country. The one time I have laid a bike down while moving was on Wayah Rd not far from Franklin (low sided on wet leaves in a curve). That was about 2 decades ago. What I learned: Don't ride spirited on mountain roads in the early morning following an overnight rain in the fall. IOW, don't be stupid.

Hope I didn't hijack this discussion, just couldn't help but comment on an area that triggers fond, and not so fond memories.

You are correct.. I spend many weeks a year in Franklin.... part of my warm up loop is wayah, 28, and the other good stuff...
Wet leaves for sure can bet sketchy..

I ride quite spirited, usually alone, and always with a inreach mini2.. being smart, and with a ton of buffer is a good thing for sure...
No worries on the hijack, good eyes and observations...

I guess those of you that have decided the XT2 and/or the Tread combo do not work won’t be swayed but:-

When importing a GPX file into Tread and watching it build the magenta route, do you compare it with the imported track to see if they match? If Tread can’t build the route, it probably indicates some remedial action with your track is required eg. placing points correctly or similar. I use MRA (plan with HERE maps) and when checking over my route, make sure that my shaping points are placed on the line that MRA draws. If your Tread route diverges from the track, add some more points on your original route/track to nail it down.

Basecamp users may encounter similar and more given that your maps will possibly be out of date with those on your Zumo.

When setting off, I used to select my start point rather than closest entry point but I’ve found on the XT2, that triggers a complete new calculation (after it has already calculated the route) so will probably just accept closest entry from now on.

@Regain Can you share more about how you get routes from MRA to the XT2 via Tread? I have eliminated Tread from my world entirely, due, in part, to the fact that it changes existing and imported routes - see https://www.zumouserforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=3007.

It would be helpful if Garmin provided a means to simply transfer a gpx file wirelessly to the XT2 from a mobile device and from a pc -e.g. replace the USB cable connection with a wireless connection to simply copy the file over. The Tread app apparently can not do that without messing with the route.

I've been using Trip Manager with a USB connection between pc and zumo XT2 (thank you @FrankB ) with great success when I'm route planning at my desk. I continue to search for an "on the road" solution.

@smfollen I transfer via the MRA app. Download gpx1.1 (route, track, POI), export to Tread. Track and route arrive in Tread but you need to open the route to let Tread create its own version. If it’s not the same as the track, more shaping points required. If it’s just a small divergence, you can always just follow the track line when on the road if you can’t be bothered to do amend your original.

Everything that gets hold of your GPX file will want to do its own thing with it. I have witnessed Tread ignoring shaping points and head for the nearest, fastest road. Another shaping point or two usually nails it in place.

Regain wrote: ↑Sun Apr 27, 2025 2:30 pm Everything that gets hold of your GPX file will want to do its own thing with it. I have witnessed Tread ignoring shaping points and head for the nearest, fastest road. Another shaping point or two usually nails it in place.

I now don't use shaping points when using the XT2 and Tread. One less thing for it to mess around with as via / waypoints seem to be used more consistently.

PS I don't use MRA but am only to fully aware of the changes Tread and the XT2 do when shaping points are used in an imported route.

Regain wrote: ↑Sun Apr 27, 2025 12:06 pm When setting off, I used to select my start point rather than closest entry point but I’ve found on the XT2, that triggers a complete new calculation (after it has already calculated the route) so will probably just accept closest entry from now on.

I'm not convinced by those statements.

I find that Closest Entry Point can (on occasions) produce some very weird results - which are instantly obvious if you check the preview map. It has to do with the way that the Zumo thinks that the bike is facing and whether or not the route is heading directly away from your current position. Closest Entry usually requires meeting the route at a right angle at some point, so it may end up joing the route a long way from the start. Also if you are not yet on the route and it is in a direct line from your current position - it cannot identify a point where the route and your path to meet the route intersect. So, as I say - you get some weird results sometimes - certainly not what you were expecting. So you MUST check the preview map it using Closest Entry.

The Zumo will often say 'Calculating ....' It doesn't mean that it is recalculating the route (necessarily). If you are using MRA 1.1, then yes, it probably is calculating the route, because MRA does not send the route that it plotted using v1.1. It sends only the via and shaping points - so it has got to calculate. But selecting start doesn't need a recalculation (it has already done that, and nothing has changed) - but it does need to work out how to get you to the start. So it needs your current position and the start point position. And if they are very close together - well that can be problematic, because computers that use 'floating point' arithemetic don't have a value for zero. Any of a host of very small numbers could be regarded as zero. If it thinks that the distance is zero - but the start point and your current location are not the same number but close enough together to believe that the disatnce between them is zero - how is it going to work out the direction ? The XTs keep the icon for the bike in the same spot, even if you wander around your bike with satnav in hand. It doesn't bother working anything out until you move further. So it doesn't know your exact location, it doesn't know how far from your start point you are and it therefore cannot work out a direction. Not until you have moved in the same direction for a bit further (and I think that it has to be at more than walking pace).

You can get a similar sort of problem if you ask a computer whether 7 x 7 is the same as 7 squared. I choose that because I have seen it on some early PCs. No they are not the same. 7x7 = 49. But 7 squared works out to be 49.0000000001. So not the same.

Normally your start point should not be in exaclty the same spot as the place where you get on your bike - if it is, you run the risk of the Zumo not realising that you have passed through it ! Better to have it a mile or so up the road when it will have got a decent satnav signal and it has the extra information that you have been traveling along a road. It knows that you are moving, it knows that you are getting closer and when you get within a certain range, then it recognises that you have vistied it. That situation is not the same as setting off from the start point.

There may be flaws in the way I have described this, but the gist is correct. I have only ever experienced the 'cannot calculate' when I am messing around with routes under simualtion at my desk, with the current position being my start point. Not always. But only in that situation. But never on any route. My start points are always a mile or so up the road.

@jfheath thank you again but you are definitely preaching to the converted here. I always place my start point some way up my track and wait until I have good satellite signal. I learned the hard way!

I’ll definitely preview my route before setting off. The hotel or wherever I am based will be where I’m starting usually, the start is a via point and another shaping point won’t be that far beyond it (probably about 5km).

If I find that closest entry is a bad idea, I’ll report back but it seems to be working for now. Certainly at the very start of the route.

@Regain For what it's worth, I have been using Closest Entry Point to start my routes for some time with good success.
My theory on how it works is this

... the “Closet Entry Point” is the point where two routes meet.
The first is the planned route.
The second is a route calculated from the current location to the closet point in the planned route.
Closest point here means, from the set of via, shaping or hidden points which specify the planned route, the point which is the shortest distance, as the crow flies, from the current location.

Note the difference between "Closest Entry Point" and closest point. A more complete explanation is here https://www.zumouserforums.co.uk/viewto ... 805#p20805

Of course, what @jfheath said is also true so

... check the preview map [if] using Closest Entry.