TomTom Rider

[stevegrab]

That could be why they have the rebate out.....wanting to clear out the old before bringing in the new?

Always a good way to get a good deal if you don't need the latest and greatest.

[K Rider]

Purchased the 5 a few months ago. Very different than the garmin that I'm use to. Seem to work pretty well and maybe better than I realize but I'm still in the learning stage. It is a little difficult to see the screen in bright lights. The thing I don't like is that when transferring routes from tyre if u don't have enough waypoints (as mentioned previously) tomtom will change the route and it's a pain to go through and check it on the rider. Maybe there is an easier way that I don't know about yet.

[FJRider]

I bought the 5 last year and have worked with Tyre to Travel downloading a few different routes. My first real experiment with it was at Fall Colors/2014. I carefully mapped the routes with the PDF's available and downloaded them into the Rider as "itineraries". When I tried to use them, I had to find them in the itineraries section, then it says "start navigating" and then asks if I want a winding route, avoid highways route, fastest route, etc, and it takes me to who knows where, so I just stuck with the Gazeteer paper maps that I always carry. If someone can explain to me what I'm doing wrong, I'd sure appreciate it, because I'm thinking they'll be putting out the routes for STAR shortly, and I'd sure like to have them loaded!


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[K Rider]

You have to make sure you use plenty of waypoints to force the Tomtom on the roads you want to take. If there isn't enough waypoints the tomtom may take a different road to get to the next waypoint.

[K Rider]

When you choose your route and it asks: winding route, fastest, etc. which one do u choose? I was choosing shortest route and if I didn't have enough waypoints it would change route and take me on some back road that is a shorter distance to next waypoint than what I originally choose in Tyre. I recently started using fastest route, which seems to work better for me.

[normkern]

Dunno about the TomTom, but Garmin users in the club long ago standardized on 'fastest time'.

It's important that the routing/mapping app on the computer be set to the same parameters s the GPS itself. Matching the preferences, reduces but does not always eliminate discrepancies.

Building reliable GPS routes that will work the same on a variety of GPS units is a challenge.

The Garmin-oriented GPX format files the club provides at events should be able to be read by Tyre and loaded into the TomTom. Has anyone tried that?

Norm Kern

[dpippin]

I bought the 5 last year and have worked with Tyre to Travel downloading a few different routes. My first real experiment with it was at Fall Colors/2014. I carefully mapped the routes with the PDF's available and downloaded them into the Rider as "itineraries". When I tried to use them, I had to find them in the itineraries section, then it says "start navigating" and then asks if I want a winding route, avoid highways route, fastest route, etc, and it takes me to who knows where, so I just stuck with the Gazeteer paper maps that I always carry. If someone can explain to me what I'm doing wrong, I'd sure appreciate it, because I'm thinking they'll be putting out the routes for STAR shortly, and I'd sure like to have them loaded!

I'm not familiar with the Tom Tom line of GPS as I use Garmin products.
With Garmin GPS's I always load a track (of the route) as well as the route
The track never changes so if the GPS decides to deviate from the intended route I just follow the track.
In Basecamp it's very easy to generate a track of any route you have
If your Tom Tom supports tracks then you might try that.

Doug

[ericlarsen]

I've been using TomTom GPSs for a number of years and through time, I've learned that when I plan itineraries, I have to put a way point just before the intersection where I want to turn.   Tom Tom uses a different mapset than the Garmin (don't recall details) and TomTom likes to cut a corner in a route if it determines it to be "faster".  Sometimes it's fine, but sometimes you end up in the middle of a cornfield on Indiana with nothing but farms around you, in a rainstorm, in the cold, in October, at night.  But that's a story for another time.  I had to learn to not listen to the redirects sometimes. Having the basic route in mind and a map handy helps. 

 When converting .gpx or .gdb to .itn files, there is always a bit of tweaking to do.  I've used ITN converter for a while to do my mapping.   

[stevegrab]

"Having the basic route in mind and a map handy helps."

That is something I've learned the hard way and it applies to any GPS routing or brand. If not I'm clueless when it deviates from the route or the basics of where we're going.

[dpippin]

"Having the basic route in mind and a map handy helps."

That is something I've learned the hard way and it applies to any GPS routing or brand. If not I'm clueless when it deviates from the route or the basics of where we're going.

Steve

I agree with what you said
Another great resource is to load the route track into you GPS along with the route
If the route deviates from it's original intention then you follow the track.
The track never changes so it always reflects the original route
Usually you will get back on the route at some point

I do a few routes for the SE Region events and I always include a track with the route file.

Doug

[stevegrab]

"Having the basic route in mind and a map handy helps."

That is something I've learned the hard way and it applies to any GPS routing or brand. If not I'm clueless when it deviates from the route or the basics of where we're going.

Steve

I agree with what you said
Another great resource is to load the route track into you GPS along with the route
If the route deviates from it's original intention then you follow the track.
The track never changes so it always reflects the original route
Usually you will get back on the route at some point

I do a few routes for the SE Region events and I always include a track with the route file.

Doug

Not sure if my Nuvi is capable of showing tracks or not, or if I need to use one of the software options (Basecamp) to get the files on my unit to do that (instead of just pushing the GPX file to the unit's storage area).

Also now playing with Tyre and Rever to build routes and load them into my GPS, so far no luck with Tyre the GPX file got created and loaded to the proper folder, but the Garmin's route planner option doesn't notice the file and try to import it like it has for others I've gotten for MSTA events. Rever has an option to create GPS file, but appears to be part of their pay option.

[normkern]

Have not seen a nuvi that can display tracks on the map. In fact, the zumo 660 was the first road-oriented Garmin model I found that could do so. Even the zumo 550 lacked this feature- it could record and save a track, but could not display it on the screen.

Handheld models like the 60c, 60csx, 62s etc, do this with ease.

The zumo 660 has been an excellent unit. Am 100% satisfied with it for 4 years.

Norm Kern

[stevegrab]

Thanks Norm. Yes my Nuvi will also record the tracks, and seems to just restart them at some point (usually at the beginning of a day) and they've been useful to see where I actually went and deviated from the planned route. It can be displayed on the screen too.

I know its a simple and cheaper device, but so far it has been very useful for rallies and finding places. One thing I do like that I believe Quint said his Zumo didn't have, is creating routes on the fly in the unit. I've done that for rides to and from events, or for a day ride. Been trying to play with either Tyre or Rever programs to build routes to put into the GPS, so far no luck. (Tyre does it but my GPS won't import the GPX file it puts there, but has worked with all the ones distributed for MSTA events. Rever appears to require the pay option to export the route to the GPS. Maybe I should actually try Basecamp or Mapsource.

[normkern]

Basecamp is free and can use the maps in your nuvi when it is connected to your computer. Basecamp has  learning curve for sure but is very powerful.

Dunno which zumo Quint has but my 660 can create complex routes with multiple waypoints in the unit itself.  Basecamp on a computer is a helluva lot easier though.

As long as your nuvi can handle routes with multiple waypoints, you should be good to go with it and basecamp.

Re tracks, your nuvi can store a finite number of points, then starts overwriting them. Look under My Data and see if you can manage trip logs. If so, you can go there at the end of a day, name and save the track, then clear the trip log for the next day.

I do this daily on my zumo 660 and download them to the computer for future reference.

Norm Kern

[stevegrab]

Thanks for the feedback Norm, Quint had one of the 500 series I believe, and could be he just didn't know about this feature. May be easier on a computer, but I'm only carrying a tablet, and if I'm trying to change or make a route during the day the tablet is buried in my luggage.

I'll have to jump into basecamp and learn at some point, probabl not before my trip next week.