Routes (SD card or XT )

[rbentnail]

Another question Dan... What format are you using for your SD Card on your iMac? I know Garmin states to use FAT32 but, as you know it's been changed to ExFat for quite some time. Thanks. Ray

You do NOT have to format a new SD card for the XT. The XT will do it for you. Simply put the card in place in the XT and turn on the XT. Be very patient. It will ask you if you want to format. Select yes. Your card is now ready for you to put routes on. Don't make this harder than it is. dan seems very adept at computers, no insult intended but it sounds like you are not. Stay away from all the computer gobbledy gook you'll read about. Keep it simple.

Really, please try it the easy way first. Same thing with putting routes on the card. Drag and drop- no file choices, no destination choices, nothing. Just drag and drop.

You then import the route you want and delete it when done. You used a 59x model before, right? Same process for importing and deleting on the XT.

[danham]

Another question Dan... What format are you using for your SD Card on your iMac? I know Garmin states to use FAT32 but, as you know it's been changed to ExFat for quite some time. Thanks. Ray

You do NOT have to format a new SD card for the XT. The XT will do it for you. Simply put the card in place in the XT and turn on the XT. Be very patient. It will ask you if you want to format. Select yes. Your card is now ready for you to put routes on. Don't make this harder than it is. dan seems very adept at computers, no insult intended but it sounds like you are not. Stay away from all the computer gobbledy gook you'll read about. Keep it simple.

Really, please try it the easy way first. Same thing with putting routes on the card. Drag and drop- no file choices, no destination choices, nothing. Just drag and drop.

You then import the route you want and delete it when done. You used a 59x model before, right? Same process for importing and deleting on the XT.

Russ,

Thanks for helping out by providing a less technical POV. The only "defense" I'd offer for my method of popping the card in and out is that it avoids any Android issues and lets you see instantly what you have done -- handy when you are moving lots of routes. So while you've got it mounted on the Mac desktop, why not format it (which is much faster than letting the XT do it, but hey, you said "very patient" and that ain't me).

-dan

[PaulaRay]

I use FAT 32, which you can do using Disk Utility or the excellent SD Card Formatter app on my iMac. Route files, even long routes, are pretty small, so no need for ExFAT.

-dan

Thank You Dan! I'm thinking, no way..... Then I opened Disc Utility. I now see that FAT 32 is the same as MS DOS (FAT) I didn't realize that.....dahh. It does show it in the first pic. I will indeed run with that! Thanks again!

FAT32 1.jpg (63 KiB) Viewed 611 times

FAT32.jpg (93.19 KiB) Viewed 611 times

[PaulaRay]

@PaulaRay

Maps don't have to be changed just because you're pulling routes from the card.

Ahh... Thank You. Ray

[PaulaRay]

Sounds like a great easy way to go! I will definitely try that out... I have a question if you don't mind; Since I want my routes on the SD Card, do I need to have Garmins Maps loaded on it as well or does it communicate with the loaded maps on the Zumo XT? Thank you for your input along with your Mac experience with this GPS.


Another question Dan... What format are you using for your SD Card on your iMac? I know Garmin states to use FAT32 but, as you know it's been changed to ExFat for quite some time. Thanks. Ray

You do NOT have to format a new SD card for the XT. The XT will do it for you. Simply put the card in place in the XT and turn on the XT. Be very patient. It will ask you if you want to format. Select yes. Your card is now ready for you to put routes on. Don't make this harder than it is. dan seems very adept at computers, no insult intended but it sounds like you are not. Stay away from all the computer gobbledy gook you'll read about. Keep it simple.

Really, please try it the easy way first.

Thank You for some further information! I Love easy! No insult taken, I do know quite a bit about computers. With that being said, I'm here to learn something I'm oblivious about. I'd rather ask everyone here their experience "before hand" for proper procedures instead of wasting my time and/or screwing something up. Thanks again, appreciate your input. Ray

[PaulaRay]

Another question Dan... What format are you using for your SD Card on your iMac? I know Garmin states to use FAT32 but, as you know it's been changed to ExFat for quite some time. Thanks. Ray

You do NOT have to format a new SD card for the XT. The XT will do it for you. Simply put the card in place in the XT and turn on the XT. Be very patient. It will ask you if you want to format. Select yes. Your card is now ready for you to put routes on. Don't make this harder than it is. dan seems very adept at computers, no insult intended but it sounds like you are not. Stay away from all the computer gobbledy gook you'll read about. Keep it simple.

Really, please try it the easy way first. Same thing with putting routes on the card. Drag and drop- no file choices, no destination choices, nothing. Just drag and drop.

You then import the route you want and delete it when done. You used a 59x model before, right? Same process for importing and deleting on the XT.

Russ,

Thanks for helping out by providing a less technical POV. The only "defense" I'd offer for my method of popping the card in and out is that it avoids any Android issues and lets you see instantly what you have done -- handy when you are moving lots of routes. So while you've got it mounted on the Mac desktop, why not format it (which is much faster than letting the XT do it, but hey, you said "very patient" and that ain't me).

-dan

Ray

[PaulaRay]

Another question Dan... What format are you using for your SD Card on your iMac? I know Garmin states to use FAT32 but, as you know it's been changed to ExFat for quite some time. Thanks. Ray

You do NOT have to format a new SD card for the XT. The XT will do it for you. Simply put the card in place in the XT and turn on the XT. Be very patient. It will ask you if you want to format. Select yes. Your card is now ready for you to put routes on. Don't make this harder than it is. dan seems very adept at computers, no insult intended but it sounds like you are not. Stay away from all the computer gobbledy gook you'll read about. Keep it simple.

Really, please try it the easy way first. Same thing with putting routes on the card. Drag and drop- no file choices, no destination choices, nothing. Just drag and drop.

You then import the route you want and delete it when done.

You used a 59x model before, right? Same process for importing and deleting on the XT.
[/quote]

Yes... I have a Garmin 276c which I used for many cross country trips and still use it on my boat for navigation. Also, I have the 595LM which I never really liked mainly due to the screen. I've done many cross country trips on my Honda Goldwing in which I used both the 276c and 595LM. Never had an issue with having a glossy bright screen of the 276c. Can't wait to get the XT on my handlebars! Thanks. Ray

[PaulaRay]

Sounds like a great easy way to go! I will definitely try that out... I have a question if you don't mind; Since I want my routes on the SD Card, do I need to have Garmins Maps loaded on it as well or does it communicate with the loaded maps on the Zumo XT? Thank you for your input along with your Mac experience with this GPS.

You do nothing extra with maps. The routes you make and put on the SD card will use the maps in the XT. You mentioned that you use Base Camp so the most important thing is that BC maps on your computer and the maps in the XT be the same version. The XT may change your route when you import it if the maps are different.

Thank you... Having the Maps live on the XT and my Routes on the SD Card is great! I learned the hard way some time ago about matching maps. Whenever I update, I make sure they match on both, my Mac (BC) and GPS. In addition, I always go over any routes that I've created prior to an update to make sure nothing has changed. I have additional mapping that is for snowmobile trails. When snowmobiling, I have to make sure I uncheck all the other maps, otherwise everything is spaghetti.....LOL. Learning curves but once learned, they become simple. Thanks again. Ray

[rbentnail]

Russ,

Thanks for helping out by providing a less technical POV. The only "defense" I'd offer for my method of popping the card in and out is that it avoids any Android issues and lets you see instantly what you have done -- handy when you are moving lots of routes. So while you've got it mounted on the Mac desktop, why not format it (which is much faster than letting the XT do it, but hey, you said "very patient" and that ain't me).

-dan

Formatting a new 32 gb SD card in my XT took about 30 seconds. Not long but longer than a computer so patience is required. It's not like it takes hrs.

I can see the "handy when you are moving lots of routes " reasoning for moving the card. But as time goes by, just how many routes are you going to move at a time since none have to be "reloaded" from BC following deletion on the device? And I gotta ask- what Android issues? I don't use Explore. I don't use Drive for anything route-wise, just for the notifications from the phone. I guess I'm the simple one here!

I thank my lucky stars I never learned Mac machinery. It reminds me of the reverse Polish notation calculators. I was better with a slide rule!

[danham]

Russ,

Macs don’t play nice with Android, so you need an app to run interference. Also on Macs, if Express is running in the background, BC won’t see the XT. Mounting the card avoids both problems. I use my XT to plan long trips - I’ve got a 3000-miler coming up in June - so I do move lots of route files around. So just passing along what works for me. I‘ve got a full-time job telling me what to do, so try to refrain from doing that to others.

Retired from the newspaper biz, I used both Windows and Mac systems. Each has its pros and cons and as with so many things, it’s all about picking the best tool for the task at hand. For GPS work, not a lot of differences, so I’m sticking with what works for me.

-dan