Latest XT2/Tread software version

[Oop North John]

Tried Tread this morning, still the same, so with some trepidation, uninstalled the app, and re-installed it.

I now have the CN style mapping in addition to the basemap showing, and it didn't force me into sharing the info which jfheath seems to get. IIRC the shaping points have always been unidentified, and so that's another reason I only only via / way points. Stops a little bit of the swearing at Tread!

Some waypoints seem to show irrespective of zoom level, some appear / disappear at varying zoom levels.

Routing is back working.

Tread still at 2.09.63.

[turbo19]

Update Summary of Garmin 'Improvements'

• Ability to install Tread without it synching / storing your data is no longer possible with Tread v 2.09.63
• Tread does not have to be connected, but if not, you lose weather, traffic, road closure and fuel data.
• In the Tread Route Planner, it is still not possible to insert shaping points - except in strict sequence of travel
• It is no longer possible to reorder shaping points in the Tread app. Even when it was possible, it was difficult because all are called 'Shaping Point'
• Changing a Via Point to a shaping point in the Tread App still often results in the route and the via point being moved to a faster road. I don't know what the purpose of a shaping point is.
• Allowing any gpx route to synchronise via Tread App often results in relocation of route and shaping points. This includes gpx routes exported by the Tread app - so it is not a Basecamp issue.
• Current Tread Driving Map is so cluttered with detail and shading, it is now extremely difficult to see town names road names and roads. They do not scale up when you zoom in, but more 'clutter' is added.
• Tread app still does not allow creation of Tracks eg from a route.
• Basecamp maps can no longer be put onto the computer. Unless you have an older Zumo to plug in.

I bought one product -an XT2 -full of promise. It seems that it is being downgraded to a Zumo 660 equivalent - No shaping points, no smartphone data links, all data transfer by cable, ..... Unless I want to use the Tread Magical Mystery Tour features.

That's not quite fair. If you create a route with the Tread App, it transfers and works perfectly.
So I would really expect the Tread App to be usable. The sort of tool that exceeds the capabilities of BC. But it doesn't. It falls a long way short. The tools most frequently used by me in BC are 'insert' and 'change via to/from shaping'.

It's not just a small smartphone screen issue. I use an ipad when attempting to use it.

I see lots of positive posts about the XT2. How are people using them ? I'm desperately trying to make it work and It's very difficult.

But .... thinking positively
I can choose not to install Tread and sacrifice weather, traffic, fuel data, route transfer via email.
I can still prepare routes and send via gpx file and Usb cable
I can prevent Rut behaviour by making a copy of the route from the XT2 screen
And it does have a nice, bright, large screen
Oh and a handlebar controller which I will now have to reprogram as I cant use weather, traffic, fuel etc.

And I get to have another phone call with tech support and send a follow up email to product.support

And I like puzzles so its all good fun really. It does bother me that this state of the art technology may be the future that we see in software development for Artificial Intelligence, for driverless cars, and for online banking.

Anyway, today I'm not doing any of that. Wheels are off the bike, today they are having new rubber fitted.
I was hoping to get new T33s but they are still not available.

I have been able to install Tread App without synchronization. Try following these steps:

1- Master Reset Zumo XT2
2- Uninstall Tread App from your mobile (with XT2 turned off, so that it does not detect the "nearby devices of the Android option")
3- With the Xt2 turned off, unpair the XT2 from your mobile's bluetooth list.
4- Perform the phone and Xt2 installation as normal, and do not activate cloud storage in the last steps of the APP installation.

If the XT2 at any time during a reinstall of the Tread app detects a previously installed device, it attempts to revert to the previous Bluetooth configuration with that device, including synchronization.

This way you will have the weather, traffic, fuel prices! etc.

[Oop North John]

I have been able to install Tread App without synchronization. Try following these steps:

1- Master Reset Zumo XT2
2- Uninstall Tread App from your mobile (with XT2 turned off, so that it does not detect the "nearby devices of the Android option")

When I re-installed Tread I only had the XT2 switched off for it not to force the external storage option.

[TheoTiger]

THX all for the testing and all this information. The "update" is no solution...

[jfheath]

Thanks @turbo19 .

I understand the need for clearing everything out and starting from scratch. This time if I scan the qr code, that links to the storage without the question. So I avoided the qr code method.

With this latest Tread 2.09.63 ? Whenever I managed to get the orange buttons to opt to store data or "maybe", nothing happened when I chose 'maybe' and display for weather on the XT2 demanded that Tread was connected.

I must have missed something - but it was a clean install of Tread each time along with a reset explore database and a hard shut down and power up of the XT2.

As I said it used to work. It was the way I intended to use it.

I'll give it a few more tries checking against what you did. I'll be back.

[jfheath]

I think that I forgot about the Master reset being necessary.
XT2 is currently throwing a wobbler - taking ages to boot up - repeated progress bar. I've rolled it back to v4.80 and it is now re-installlng 5.40

A little while later.

Many thanks @turbo19. It was the Master reset that was required. Stupid thing is that I knew about that. I remember it becoming a necessity on the XT1 after a software update. Prior to that a simple reset of the Explore database and a restart was all that was necessary.

But then forgot. Right - I'd better go back and correct my ramblings above !! Not to hide it, but to remove the incorrect information. Please keep your quote of it in your post. I'll refer my post to it. It's a useful reminder that I don't get it right every time !!

[proofresistant]

[*]Basecamp maps can no longer be put onto the computer. Unless you have an older Zumo to plug in.

Copying maps to the PC also works with XT2.
For a Windows PC you might need an older Garmin Express version like Garmin Express 7.23 ! With version 7.24 there is unfortunately no such function (anymore).
Here, however, it is not really copied, but apparently what is on the XT2 is downloaded again from the network and then copied to the PC.

I can still prepare routes and send via gpx file and Usb cable

ok It works, but it takes time, a lot of time, in some cases more than minutes.
If the XT2 device is almost empty, it works fine, but if you have a lot of routes in your XT2 device, it seems that the XT2 device wants to prepare all the internally stored routes first before you see your XT in your Computer and that takes time.

[FrankB]

it seems that the XT2 device wants to prepare all the internally stored routes first before you see your XT in your Computer and that takes time.

My experience is from the XT, not the XT2, but it might work the same. The startup time increases dramatically with the nr. of Saved Locations/Favourites. The nr. of routes/tracks is less important.

[jfheath]

This might have something to do with the fact that Saved Waypoints / Favourites are stripped out of the gpx file and reorganised in the XT / XT2 - either on tranefer or on Import. I forget which - I think on transfer.
The same applies to tracks if you have them in your gpx files. They are removed and stored somewhere on the XT1/2. I don't know where.

Typically I empty my Zumo before any trip. IT makes it easier to find the routes and points that I want. All of my organisation is done in Basecamp.

[proofresistant]

It's frustrating

The latest Tread app version is unfortunately still as bad as before, at least for my purposes.
I thought the new Tread app would be better, but now I have tested it more intensively over the weekend and the result is a disaster.
I need routes with shaping points, and these shaping points are simply destroyed in interaction with the XT2 and the Tread app according to a pattern I don't understand (shifted as Garmin probably thinks it knows better).
In addition, routes created from a track with only a start end are completely destroyed. You reach the destination, but nothing more and certainly not as planned.

Please don't tell me now that I can also use VIA points, because I can distinguish very well between the sense and nonsense of VIA and shaping points.
For those who get on well with VIA points, the Tread app is perhaps even really good.

What seems to have improved is that routes imported via the Tread app, at least my examples, have a different route line after the import, but at least they can still be edited, which was sometimes not the case for me before.

Then I'll stick with it, connecting the XT2 to the PC by cable rather than wirelessly is not an option for 2025, especially because it takes so long, firstly it takes ages for the XT2 to connect to the PC and secondly the internal import in the XT2 takes ages and then thirdly it takes ages to call up the route again.

So, what else happened to me, route names were renamed, not just the names of the shaping points

And what else did I see, in the Explore website, the routes were there after the whole back and forth synchronization, but the collections and also the tracks were missing there.

Another negative thing I noticed.
If you take a route with many Shapng points, add a Via point with the Tread app, then the whole route is very quickly destroyed.
Sorry, that's a no go for me.
Workaround: turn the shaping points before and after into via points, insert the new via point, maybe change the changed via points back into shaping points.



But I also have something positive.
1. a new workflow
I now use 2 very good tools. Both on a Samsung Galaxy S23.
a) Firstly, Onedrive. This gives me the routes synchronized with my PC folders very quickly and easily on my smartphone. (Of course, this can also be any other web drive app such as Google Drive or dropbox etc.)
b) I use the Samsung DeX app. This allows me to use my smartphone in desktop mode almost as well as a PC. DeX Desktop makes working with the Tread app as good as fun.
Attention, this won't work for much longer, because soon Samsung will have One UI 7 and with One UI 7 it won't work anymore, then you have to wire smartphone monitor, mouse and keyboard.

With the new workflow, I can work well with the Tread app. I will still try to use it to edit the imported routes.

Another thing that works quite well is converting routes from tracks with the Tread app.
This is a) much faster than in XT2 and b) information appears if and where route segments cannot be created due to restrictions.
What is missing, however, is the option to edit tracks in the Tread app. The fact that the Tread app cannot edit tracks is actually also a no-go in my opinion.

I hope this could help.

PS
Whether the routes in the XT2 have the imported flag or not does not matter to the Tread app if it destroys the routes.
I had previously been able to import all routes cleanly via SD card and use them in the XT2 while the Tread app was deactivated.