Sat nav with itinerary planning

Sat nav with itinerary planning

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Discussion

mikey k

Original Poster:

13,011 posts

215 months

Wednesday 20th July 2016
quotequote all
I've been using my Tom Tom Go510 Live for a few years, I've relied on it for my work and hoon routes.
Its great because I can plan a route on the PC and then up load it to the Tom Tom. It has traffic rerouting as well.
We do a couple of Euro trip a year and I'm concerned its getting unreliable.
Won't hold a charge, often resetting, sometimes losses GPS, regularly losses the traffic info.
I'm a bit pissed off with Tom Tom that I have to keep nursing it back to life and fettling it.
BUT it is one of the very few sat navs I can up load an itinerary to.

I need to replace it.
I hear all sorts issues with using phones to do this frown
What else is out there?

Krikkit

26,500 posts

180 months

Wednesday 20th July 2016
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Garmin allows pretty detailed map planning using BaseCamp, the last model I had even included a built-in route planner to go with it.

littleredrooster

5,523 posts

195 months

Wednesday 20th July 2016
quotequote all
Krikkit said:
Garmin allows pretty detailed map planning using BaseCamp, the last model I had even included a built-in route planner to go with it.
BaseCamp is awful, IMO. Download the earlier Mapsource software for route planning - it is light-years ahead!

Slushbox

1,484 posts

104 months

Thursday 21st July 2016
quotequote all
I have a Garmin 2597 LMT. Lifetime maps and traffic, Western Europe. Add a 4GB card for lengthy updates.

I prefer this to the built-in nav in the car, just back from Europe, door-to-door without error. Traffic warnings work in France and Belgium, picked up French road works yesterday, but too late for a detour. It will re-route, if there's an exit nearby and has saved me a couple of long dealys coming back from Germany.

Unit is smart enough to switch the screen to Night mode when you enter a tunnel. Also, in Eurotunnel, the thing appears to work under the sea, as it somehow interpolates your last speed and keeps on tracking. Quite alarming.

If by 'itinerary' you mean a selection of waypoints combined into a route, it does this. Once waypoints are saved as 'Favourites' it's easier to build a route on the unit, rather than in Basecamp. Where Basecamp does come in useful is for backing up your waypoints and displaying logs.

If you want to deviate to someplace else you can 'add a waypoint to the active route' on the unit. Works well for me.

Also has good BlueTooth handsfree, and reversing cam/babycam software. Fuel usage prediction is useful for costing journeys.

  • Other units are available.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Garmin-2597LM-Lifetime-Up...



Edited by Slushbox on Thursday 21st July 13:14

mikey k

Original Poster:

13,011 posts

215 months

Thursday 21st July 2016
quotequote all
Slushbox said:
I have a Garmin 2597 LMT. Lifetime maps and traffic, Western Europe. Add a 4GB card for lengthy updates.

I prefer this to the built-in nav in the car, just back from Europe, door-to-door without error. Traffic warnings work in France and Belgium, picked up French road works yesterday, but too late for a detour. It will re-route, if there's an exit nearby and has saved me a couple of long dealys coming back from Germany.

Unit is smart enough to switch the screen to Night mode when you enter a tunnel. Also, in Eurotunnel, the thing appears to work under the sea, as it somehow interpolates your last speed and keeps on tracking. Quite alarming.

If by 'itinerary' you mean a selection of waypoints combined into a route, it does this. Once waypoints are saved as 'Favourites' it's easier to build a route on the unit, rather than in Basecamp. Where Basecamp does come in useful is for backing up your waypoints and displaying logs.

If you want to deviate to someplace else you can 'add a waypoint to the active route' on the unit. Works well for me.

Also has good BlueTooth handsfree, and reversing cam/babycam software. Fuel usage prediction is useful for costing journeys.

  • Other units are available.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Garmin-2597LM-Lifetime-Up...
Sounds interesting thumbup
The issue is the bit in bold
Currently I can use autoroute, google maps or other apps to formulate a route (my impending Norway trip has 164 way points)
I can tweak it, research changes, stop offs etc and finalise it all in the app.
Then I convert it to an ITN file and load it to the TOM TOM. Running that ITN file on the sat nav plans the route between the way points, reroutes on jams etc.
It works a treat.
PITA is newer TOM TOMs don't have it and I can't seem to find anything remotely similar on other makes frownbanghead

OverSteery

3,586 posts

230 months

Thursday 21st July 2016
quotequote all
mikey k said:
Sounds interesting thumbup
The issue is the bit in bold
Currently I can use autoroute, google maps or other apps to formulate a route (my impending Norway trip has 164 way points)
I can tweak it, research changes, stop offs etc and finalise it all in the app.
Then I convert it to an ITN file and load it to the TOM TOM. Running that ITN file on the sat nav plans the route between the way points, reroutes on jams etc.
It works a treat.
PITA is newer TOM TOMs don't have it and I can't seem to find anything remotely similar on other makes frownbanghead
you can certainly do that with Garmin. Basecamp is a powerful, but unfriendly tool. You can also use Tyre ( download for free). I am 95% sure you can use tyre for tomtom too. I you sure "newer TOM TOMs don't have it ".
have a look at http://www.tyretotravel.com/

Edited by OverSteery on Thursday 21st July 15:40

mikey k

Original Poster:

13,011 posts

215 months

Thursday 21st July 2016
quotequote all
TOM TOM took the function off the menus
Someone created a hack to put it back
But they have now closed that down with v8 software frown
I think I need to understand more about Basecamp
Anyone know what the file suffix is it up loads to the nav?

Slushbox

1,484 posts

104 months

Thursday 21st July 2016
quotequote all
Here's a chap using Google Maps to create a KML export file which he loads into BaseCamp which he loads into his Garmin as a route.

A bit later on he says you can speed this up by losing some of the many points on the route with the 'Direct' option in BaseCamp.

Well, dang me.

https://youtu.be/VMv0yK7XCrY


Edited by Slushbox on Thursday 21st July 17:54

Big E 118

2,408 posts

168 months

Thursday 21st July 2016
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I used an old Tom Tom for years but it died so I went with a current Garmin. I found it very difficult to use Basecamp, not logical at all and no drag and drop like the Tom Tom.

I was speaking to someone the other day who said the latest Tom Toms have re-introduced itinerary planning, not sure of the models though.

Garmin use gpx files.

mikey k

Original Poster:

13,011 posts

215 months

Thursday 21st July 2016
quotequote all
Big E 118 said:
I used an old Tom Tom for years but it died so I went with a current Garmin. I found it very difficult to use Basecamp, not logical at all and no drag and drop like the Tom Tom.

I was speaking to someone the other day who said the latest Tom Toms have re-introduced itinerary planning, not sure of the models though.

Garmin use gpx files.
2 excellent pieces of info thanks!

mikey k

Original Poster:

13,011 posts

215 months

Thursday 21st July 2016
quotequote all
Slushbox said:
Here's a chap using Google Maps to create a KML export file which he loads into BaseCamp which he loads into his Garmin as a route.

A bit later on he says you can speed this up by losing some of the many points on the route with the 'Direct' option in BaseCamp.

Well, dang me.

https://youtu.be/VMv0yK7XCrY
Thanks for that
It would work but is more hassle than the current method

Slushbox

1,484 posts

104 months

Friday 22nd July 2016
quotequote all
mikey k said:
Thanks for that
It would work but is more hassle than the current method
You're welcome. I tried it, but I can plan routes in minutes by poking the screen on the Garmin and selecting Add To Favorites. (sic)

Getting involved with BaseCamp is rarely pleasant.

I've got a 7" Android tablet in the car with a handful of Nav apps and that's working well at the moment.

'Car DashDroid' app adds a simplified screen so you can 'poke and go'.


SmilerFTM

829 posts

149 months

Sunday 24th July 2016
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http://www.tyretotravel.com
That uses Google maps to plan a route which you can save directly onto your Garmin or Tom Tom.

My preferred choice is CoPilot which is a sat nav App I use on my phone or tablet. You can pick your destination plus a number of waypoints and then drag the route onto the roads you want to drive along inbetween. Maps are all saved onto you device so no worriws with data usage and you can design and save the routes before you set off and you can change them as you go.

Edited by SmilerFTM on Sunday 24th July 04:04

mikey k

Original Poster:

13,011 posts

215 months

Sunday 24th July 2016
quotequote all
That sounds interesting!