How to save/categorize trips/tracks into separate "folders"

Having Garmin zumo XT problems? there is loads of help and advice in this forum
jfheath
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Re: How to save/categorize trips/tracks into separate "folders"

Post by jfheath »

Only 6 months late. Sorry, I seem to have been in limbo for about a year.
@JeremyC and
It seems that the trips are sorted into date order. A feature that was really useful on the 595, but which has been removed on the XT. However, in Basecamp, if you give the start point a date (and time) and then transfer them, I think you may be pleasantly surprised.

That is no help for organising tracks (I don't think).

Organisers of group rides should be convinced to get into the habit of giving routes a more useful name for those of us that own devices that have aspects that present these sorts of problem. eg ABC 971201 is much easier to find than some random destination.
(A Biking Club, 1st Dec '97 - put in yymm12 order for those devices that sort things into name order.)
JeremyC wrote: 12 Jun 2020 21:10 To clarify, in Basecamp I can create folders (such a each US state), and then save all my routes/tracks for that state in each. But the Garmin XT does not seem to follow that convention (is that correct)?


Yes - that is correct. In fact, even Basecamp doesn't seem to support its own folder structure. Have you ever tried exporting the folders and importing them again ? The entire folder structure is not saved.

But with the XT there is a bigger problem. When a route is transferred from Basecamp , it then has to be imported into its Saved Routes before it can be used. If you happen to edit that route while it is running, it is the saved route that gets changed. Thats OK - you can re-import it. That always used to be the case with previous Zumos. With the XT, you MAY be able to import them.

The problem is that the the transferred routes may no longer be there to import. The Zumo doesn't delete them, Basecamp doesn't delete them. But what Basecamp does do is to start each USB session with a clean desk. Tough if you left something threre that you wanted, it went out with the trash. And the 'clean desk' effectively starts the moment that you re-attach the USB cable.

So your saved routes are intact - the ones that you have already imported, but if you want to revert to the original, that's tough too, 'cos they are no longer there to import. And it will only catch you out when you need the facility the most.

Imagine the situation - you've prepared the trip of a lifetime. Planned out the whole of the first week, loaded the routes into BAsecamp, transferred them to the Zumo and imported them. And you've looked to see that all is OK. You might even have deleted them from the saved list and re-imported them just to make sure that you can do that.

Then you start working on the second week of routes in Basecamp, and when you have done, you transfer and import those too. And for once, your luck is in - all of the routes that you have just transferred are, for once, all together at the top of the list. Funny, that - but you think nothing of it, and import them into the Zumo, and you check that all of the routes for the 2 week trip are all stored. Yes they are. Magic.

And all is well. Until one night in the hotel, someone is admiring your new XT and loads up a route and somehow changes it. But thats OK - you can recover by deleting the altered route and re-importing it. What the.... where is it ??? Its not there.

And it isn't there, because you transferred the first week. Then a few days later, you transferred the second week - which clears out the previous transferred routes.

If only you'd know to transfer all of the routes that you want in the Zumo. Well now you do.

So the solution to that ? If you organise your Basecamp folders with the routes you want to have in your Zumo, then it becomes easier to transfer the whole lot in one go. Otherwise the older ones that you might want to import again will not be there.

Or store your routes on the memory card, which do not have this problem. It presents other (smaller) problems - like it may hide your favourites - but that is an easy fix when you know how.
Have owned Zumo 550, 660 == Now have Zumo XT2, XT, 595, 590, Headache
Use Basecamp (mainly), MyRouteApp (sometimes), Competent with Tread for XT2, Can use Explore for XT - but it offers nothing that I want !

Links: Zumo 590/5 & BC . . . Zumo XT & BC