Garmin Zumo XT and route planing.

[DT675]

So I’ve been trying to learn route planing on my Zumo lately. I’ve been using the Garmin Explore app to create the route with points. Then when I’m done I share the route with the Garmin Drive app that can then send the GPX file to the Zumo. I can’t send the file direct from Explore app to Zumo, it isn’t compatible. 
 

One problem I’ve had is that it seems I can only hold one route at a time. My 1st route I created was a 98 mile route that I’ve done before, that I wanted just as a trial to see how well this works. So I created the route, sent it to the drive app which immediately sent to the Zumo. Perfect. Took a look at the whole route on the Zumo, looks great. Then the day before I went to ride that route for a trial, I decided I wanted a much longer one. So I created a 2nd route of about 250 miles. Took a longass time to do that one. Sent the file to Drive, Drive to Zumo, an bingo! 250 mile route is on my Zumo ready to follow!  BUT, then I went to look back into the Zumo for the shorter route, and it’s gone! It seems the 250 mile route had overwritten the 1st one.  
 

So ok, I can go back into the Explore app as long as I don’t delete them in there and re-load on the Zumo.  Here is the main problem- on an upcoming trip I’m planing, we are going for 3 days and I wanted to plan 3 separate route files to load onto the Zumo, one for each day because most of the trip will be in no signal zone. (Although I might be able to via Bluetooth) It seems I cannot do this?  Why cant my Zumo hold more than one route file at a time? 

[Ray Ride4life]

It should do way more.
In Juli i went to the North Cape and made 19 sections, i loaded all sections as route and track to the Garmin plus the TET tracks along my route.
I did had a crash within the first hour of leaving home and the track was gone, it was there but it went blanc. On the ferry i saved all other tracks to the SD card but had no problems any more.

I make my trips in Basecamp and hook it to the computer to send them to the XT. With these multiple week trips i do it per week and also routes and tracks separate because last year it seemed like everything in one go didn't work.

[PNGL]

I think you may not be doing something right. Any changes I make on my Zumo XT, Explore app, or on the Explore site have always automatically been shared between the three. There's been many times that I'm riding somewhere with my GF driving and I'll see a dirt road that looks promising, so I whip out my phone and mark it on the Explore app. I've never manually transitioned anything between them.
Are you logged in with your Garmin account on the app and GPS? If not, that could be your issue.
Also, I have 521 waypoints, 15 Tracks, and 2 routes (one 120+ miles and one 327 miles) that are synced in all locations. They are all shown on my GPS under the various collections that I have saved them.
Do you have a MicroSD card in the Zumo? Maybe it's a capacity issue?

[DT675]

On 9/15/2022 at 3:48 AM, Ray Ride4life said:

It should do way more.
In Juli i went to the North Cape and made 19 sections, i loaded all sections as route and track to the Garmin plus the TET tracks along my route.
I did had a crash within the first hour of leaving home and the track was gone, it was there but it went blanc. On the ferry i saved all other tracks to the SD card but had no problems any more.

I make my trips in Basecamp and hook it to the computer to send them to the XT. With these multiple week trips i do it per week and also routes and tracks separate because last year it seemed like everything in one go didn't work.

It seems Basecamp is popular, but I dont use a regular PC computer.

[DT675]

On 9/15/2022 at 6:41 AM, PNGL said:

I think you may not be doing something right. Any changes I make on my Zumo XT, Explore app, or on the Explore site have always automatically been shared between the three. There's been many times that I'm riding somewhere with my GF driving and I'll see a dirt road that looks promising, so I whip out my phone and mark it on the Explore app. I've never manually transitioned anything between them.
Are you logged in with your Garmin account on the app and GPS? If not, that could be your issue.
Also, I have 521 waypoints, 15 Tracks, and 2 routes (one 120+ miles and one 327 miles) that are synced in all locations. They are all shown on my GPS under the various collections that I have saved them.
Do you have a MicroSD card in the Zumo? Maybe it's a capacity issue?

I "believe" I am logged into my account on all devises.  Maybe except the Zumo since I rarely have that on when at home with WIFI.

 

I do not have an SD card in the Zumo.  Maybe thats the issue. Maybe it wont store tracks brought in by outside sources without an SD card.  It seems to hold dozens, if not hundreds of my local tracks when its just following me so to speak.  But maybe its the outside source thing that is the problem.  Thas should be easy to try.

[DT675]

Ok so today I put a SD card in it.  I had 2 routes created on the Explore app to test, so I sent them over to the Zumo to try.  Sure enough it seem to keep both of them in the Zumo now and I can choose either of them.  So that problem is solved.  Next issue I saw was after I "checked them out" (to make sure they would both load proplerly without overwriting the other), and exited the "where to?" and went back to the "view map" for regular non-route type of navagation, it still shows both routes at the same time!  I imagine if I had 10 routes in it, it would show all 10 routes at the same time too. Is there no way to clear the routes without deleting them to just see the map again?  Or do I have to delete each time (but not from the Explore app) and re-load just the one(s) im about to use?

[Ray Ride4life]

Stupid thing with the Explore situation is that you see all tracks or none, when you're not connected to Explore and have the tracks on the device you can tell which tracks you want to see.
I like that better as i work with Basecamp and make my routes there and hook the device to the PC to load the routes or tracks i get from the web like the TET tracks but i can get those also via the TET app and Garmin Drive.
For showing/unshowing all tracks in Explore you go the the Explore app on the XT and then select the wrench (settings) and then i just translate it from Dutch because i don't know how Garmin named it but in Dutch it says "collections on map" and if you click that you have a checkbox saying "non-organised" and when checked it shows all tracks and unchecked it shows non.
Very annoying because the TET here in the Netherlands have multiple sections connecting and with a few short overlaps.
Now i have to keep changing colours to get them separated and ik can't find how i disconnect explore as it has more downsides for me than usefulness.

[DT675]

Hey that worked! I went into the Explore app on the Zumo and unchecked "organized".  I then went back into "where to", explore, found my route, loaded it. That works. I then backed out to the main screen and selected "stop", went back to "view map" and it's no longer there. I tried this a couple times and it works with both my tracks still saved in the Zumo. 

 

Thanks for your help! 

[Redneckj]

This past summer I used the Gaia App on my computer to compile routes.  It is easy to export the routes and get them into the Garmin Zumo XT.  Has anyone else used the Gaia app on their computer to build routes for their Zumo XT?

[roygilbo]

I have, but all the offroad portions (logging roads) the Zumo changed the routes back to pavement.  I lost a ton of map plotting and every route was changed by the Zumo from nice off road terrain to the nearest highway.  (British Columbia and the Yukon).  It seems like off road is dicey at best (for me anyway) and I would love to be more confident.  Don't like having to use my iphone with Gaia GPS and have the Zumo staring at me.  

Has anyone else had this problem or is it just me perhaps not doing it correctly?  

 

Thanks

[Redneckj]

2 hours ago, roygilbo said:

I have, but all the offroad portions (logging roads) the Zumo changed the routes back to pavement.  I lost a ton of map plotting and every route was changed by the Zumo from nice off road terrain to the nearest highway.  (British Columbia and the Yukon).  It seems like off road is dicey at best (for me anyway) and I would love to be more confident.  Don't like having to use my iphone with Gaia GPS and have the Zumo staring at me.  

Has anyone else had this problem or is it just me perhaps not doing it correctly?  

 

Thanks

Are you saving where you want to go as routes or as Tracks.  A route can try to reroute you, tracks will not.   You can also turn on avoidances to take out highways and you can allow dirt roads.  Also, make sure your Zumo is in motorcycle mode and not auto mode.  

[Black99S]

5 hours ago, roygilbo said:

I have, but all the offroad portions (logging roads) the Zumo changed the routes back to pavement.  I lost a ton of map plotting and every route was changed by the Zumo from nice off road terrain to the nearest highway.  (British Columbia and the Yukon).  It seems like off road is dicey at best (for me anyway) and I would love to be more confident.  Don't like having to use my iphone with Gaia GPS and have the Zumo staring at me.  

Has anyone else had this problem or is it just me perhaps not doing it correctly?  

 

Thanks

I have Backroads Maps BC on my XT. It will route on gravel roads. Without the XT will route on the stored maps. Depends on your default settings too.
You should have topo maps on your XT. As @Redneckj said, use tracks not routes. 

[roygilbo]

Thank you gents.  Will try the Tracks as I believe I was making routes.  If it is that simple, I will be a happy camper.  

[roygilbo]

On 12/2/2022 at 6:01 PM, Redneckj said:

Are you saving where you want to go as routes or as Tracks.  A route can try to reroute you, tracks will not.   You can also turn on avoidances to take out highways and you can allow dirt roads.  Also, make sure your Zumo is in motorcycle mode and not auto mode.  

Where do you create your tracks to put on to your Zumo if you are doing multi days?  Or any track for that matter.  

Thanks.   

[Ray Ride4life]

Tip.
I guess it's the same for the USA but there are topo maps on the Garmin that give you more offroad tracks that are routeable but you have to make the routes in those maps.
If you hang tour device on a cable you can select these maps in Basecamp for easy route making, downside is that it can be a lot slower.
If you copy the system folder from your Garmin you can create an image file on a virtual drive.
I just have to figure out how i can keep my virtual drive because every time i restart my laptop the virtual drive is gone.

[Lewie]

Came acrosss this YouTube vid - seemed to make it quite easy

 

[r1superstar]

Sub'd

[Hibobb]

On 4/17/2023 at 8:56 AM, Lewie said:

seemed to make it quite easy

My idea of easy is different than yours!

[DT675]

One thing I've noticed this year with my XT is- when it's raining and the screen gets wet, the rain drops are registered as screen touches and the screen is flickering all over the dang place in utter chaos.  When this happens it's unusable and i have to remove it, turn it off (if i can!) and put it away.  That happened to me once this year in a very unfamiliar area in the rain (obviously).  I do have a screen protector on it if that makes any difference.  

Anyone had this happen or have a solution?

[AZJW]

Maybe a sun shade would help? Something like this?

 

Garmin Zumo XT2 | 6” | SUN SHADE VISOR SCREEN MOTORBIKE | GPS SAT NAV

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Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Garmin Zumo XT2 | 6” | SUN SHADE VISOR SCREEN MOTORBIKE | GPS SAT NAV at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

 

[DT675]

I think I would benefit from that but I’m not sure it would solve my issue. Water drops coming off the wind screen seem to acrobatics and end up on the gps screen. 

[Hollybrook]

I have ridden in the rain multiple times without any Zumo XT issues. No screen protector on mine and I have the stock windscreen with an adjustable windshield extension from Amazon.

Edited October 23, 2023 by Hollybrook

[DT675]

Ive kinda wondered if that might have anything to do with it. Is sure shouldn't, but would be easy enough to remove and try.