Frustrations Fini!

[Phil Tarman]

I've been frustrated a bunch by my Zumo 350. Both at the Big Sky Rally in 2015 and again at the How the West Was Won Rally in '17, I was unable to load rally routes I'd calculated on my computer into the GPS. I had sent the Zumo in and gotten it repaired once and then it quit working well again. I sent it back in and this time another repair was done, but when I got it back, it still wouldn't talk to my computer. Chris Short, the owner of Short Tronics, Inc., who had done the repairs has been responsive and suggested several things, none of which worked. Finally, I got the bright idea of going to Best Buy and buying an new USB cord.

I also followed Chris's suggestion to uninstall and reinstall Garmin Express. It worked! I was finally able to update the maps in my two Zumos (I use one in my car, too). And, I was able to create a route in Microsoft S&T and convert it to a gpx file and almost instantly transfer it to my Zumo.

It's soooooo nice.

 

[mikesim]

One of these days you're going to have to walk me thru the S&T to Zumo process. Certainly before our trip to WV.

Mike

 

[DirtFlier]

For a long time, I was also intrigued by being able to download S & T maps into my Garmin but gave up that search.

I have perhaps the last version of S & T (circa 2011) on both my desktop and laptop, the latter going along on all my trips - it's invaluable for point-to-point distance and can even estimate where I'll be around lunchtime.

I also have Garmin City Navigator (2008) on both my computers. For both of those I bought the disc version which went out of fashion years ago. I've resisted going to Garmin Basecamp although off & on, I've played with it until major frustration set in but perhaps one of these days? My two newer Garmin units, 660 in my car and 590 on my bike, can convert the older maps to up-to-date stuff but I've never chosen that option because changes are always so minor.

 

[Phil Tarman]

I can agree 100% with your frustrations with Base Camp, Tosh. I've fiddled with it and tried to follow some of the tutorials that have been posted on LD Rider, but I'm just too dense to make process through Base Camp's density.

My version of S&T is dated 2013. Under the "Data" tab is an option to "Export to GPX File." I clicked on that and then saved that file in my "Trips" folder in "Documents" on my computer. I cannot see that .gpx file in S&T, but it's there when I do a file search.

Then I sent the file to my GPS, which shows as a "device" on my computer when I use the file search on the computer. It transfers instantly and shows up on the GPS as a .gpx file under "Trip Planner." I renamed the trip on the GPS so that the .gpx extension is gone on the GPS.

I'm not sure that the utility to convert .est files (S&T's designation for route files) to .gpx files (the Garmin format for their GPSs) was on the earlier versions of S&T. Back when I was using S&T 2011 (or S&T 2010 -- I don't remember which), I was using older GPSs. I had a buddy in the Concours Owners Group who was constantly changing GPSs and I got hooked up with him and would buy his old ones from him when he "upgraded." I had GPS III, a GPS III+, and a GPS V I got from him before I found a Garmin 2780 that I loved. The 2780 died in west Texas when I was on my Epic Ride. I ordered my Zumo and had it delivered to my brother's house in SC.

I installed it there and quickly learned that I couldn't plan a long trip. When I left my brother's I was riding to Woodaddict's (David VanSlyke) house to give him the 2nd ever 50K Sticker. He also had a new Zumo 350 and we spent some time together trying to figure out how to use them to navigate. That's when we learned that we needed an internal microSD card. My digital camera had also died before I got to my brother's and I'd bought a new one there and then realized while I was at Woodaddict's that it needed an SD card, too. So Woodaddict and I rode to the nearest Walmart and he bought one microSD card while I bought two microSD cards. Then we ate at my first-ever Zaxby's restaurant and he rode with me my overnight stop in Henderson, NC.

There are still features I miss from those old Garmin GPSs. The first ones had fairly poor maps, but they usually were enough. They had an option to do a straight-line route to your destination and then have a data-element on-screen that showed how far left or right you were from that straight line route. They also had moon-rise/set data. I've still got one of those oldies and I've thought about mounting it on the left side of my handlebars so I'd have some of that now-gone data.

 

[Woodaddict]

easily a memory with phil, including the memory about hard to learn, navigate, and use basecamp. i'll choose to remember the good outing with phil over stupid basecamp. unless phil was using the stupid part of his brain to drink stove fuel at national NT gathering.

ahhh,,,soon we will have the WV rally to be entertained

 

[DirtFlier]

When I bought S & T 2011, they had a different version available that had capabilities to download to a GPS but I opted for the Plain Jane model.

My first Garmin was a Quest and it had no internal maps as delivered so it was completely dumb. I figured out that I had to download the map for my area but the Quest only a tiny storage capability so it was impossible to download all the maps for a long cross-country trip so what I had to do every few days was delete the previous maps and download the next sections. When they came out with the Quest II, it did have the entire US already in memory.

I next moved to a new Nuvi 500 which I thought was great until I rode into Canada then it went blank! I bought it when I got the NT in Dec 2009. The Nuvi 550 did have maps for Canada and Mexico but the cheaper 500 didn't and I didn't know that when I bought it! I upgraded to a used Zumo 550 from a friend and it worked OK but it also had limited memory so it would only take one region of the US at a time. I did love the big buttons and bright screen of the 550 and it's still the best in regards to the latter.

I bought a 660LM since it was considered an upgrade from the 550 but the screen was too dark for me to see in most daylight conditions, even with a large hood attached. And it also had small type so was mostly illegible to me when I was riding! Now, I have a 590 and it does have a brighter screen but still not as bright as the old 550 but nice sized lettering. After my cheap $40 car GPS crapped out, my car got the 660 and direct sunlight is not a problem!

ps. do you drink the stove fuel straight up or do you add a mixer...and ice or no ice?

 

[Warren]

I am still using my Zumo 550 and the maps have not been updated in a long time. i don't even know if they can be updated. Since I primarily ride the back roads of Tennessee not much changes so not having up to date maps has not been a problem. The Zumo 550 has been with me in thunderstorms, sub freezing mornings and been dropped a couple of times. It still keeps chugging along.

 

[Phil Tarman]

ps. do you drink the stove fuel straight up or do you add a mixer...and ice or no ice?

My start on the stove fuel was on Friday evening at Spearfish. Frosty brought me a glass with Jim Beam in it. I'd never had Jim Beam and added "water" from a bottle on the table. I thought Jim Beam was terrible bourbon and swore I'd never drink it again. But I managed to gag it down. The next morning Frosty (BTW, do you notice a trend here) offered me some Starbucks instant coffee. I poured "water" out of the same bottle on the table and put my cup on to somebody's little butane stove. I remember noticing that it started boiling really quickly, and the instant coffee didn't seem to dissolve very quickly. Then I took a big slug...and instantly spewed it out across the campground. That's when a guy on an old ST1100 said, "Hey! There's my stove fuel!"

I spent the next two or three days waiting for the first signs of blindness.

 

[junglejim]

I spent the next two or three days waiting for the first signs of blindness.

It turned out pretty well though. It didn't make you go blind and the rest of had great laughs.
However there may be aftereffects going on. That being you're still here associating with the rest of us crazys.

 

[Frosty]

My start on the stove fuel was on Friday evening at Spearfish. Frosty brought me a glass with Jim Beam in it. I'd never had Jim Beam and added "water" from a bottle on the table. I thought Jim Beam was terrible bourbon and swore I'd never drink it again. But I managed to gag it down. The next morning Frosty (BTW, do you notice a trend here) offered me some Starbucks instant coffee. I poured "water" out of the same bottle on the table and put my cup on to somebody's little butane stove. I remember noticing that it started boiling really quickly, and the instant coffee didn't seem to dissolve very quickly. Then I took a big slug...and instantly spewed it out across the campground. That's when a guy on an old ST1100 said, "Hey! There's my stove fuel!"

I spent the next two or three days waiting for the first signs of blindness.

It is the "water" that will get you.