LF: Tips on using Garmin Base camp

sburns said:
You make some good points. A lot of people have said having music or a radio does make it more fun. I am new at all this, I guess I am still in my honeymoon phase of just riding is fun never mind all the little extras.

GP Bikes sells this GPS case to wrap around it with a little visor. Might be worth it.

I am curious about your solo trip to Colorado & Utah. From Toronto / GTA to there?
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I am from Waterloo Region area. Just a trip I have been wanting to do for a few years. Did Pikes Peak in Colorado, out to Moab in Utah and some amazing riding around that area.
Have bluetooth is certainly not a must, especially if you are not wanting to shell out a large chunk of change for one at the moment. I have had Zumos since the 550 but only got a bluetooth helmet 2 years ago and have to say those long days of riding are more enjoyable. I mix it up with music as well as some stand up comedians, all loaded via an SD card into my nav that acts as a media player as well as a GPS.

Another reason I like the Garmin/Basecamp solution is you get offline maps on your computer. As far as I know no other mapping program works without an internet connection. I am certainly not sitting and plotting a large route or exploring a region and options on the small screen of a phone. I cary my MacBook Pro with me and will adjust my next days route every evening. I have been in places with no wifi or internet and would be a pain trying to plot out on the device itself.

This was a rough idea of what I was going to do, the route changed and evolved as I got out there and things came up that I wanted to do.



Pikes Peak Summit



Valley of the Gods which ended up being my favourite part of the whole trip. Isolated dirt road out in the middle of nowhere.
 
wonderings said:
I am from Waterloo Region area. Just a trip I have been wanting to do for a few years. Did Pikes Peak in Colorado, out to Moab in Utah and some amazing riding around that area.
Have bluetooth is certainly not a must, especially if you are not wanting to shell out a large chunk of change for one at the moment. I have had Zumos since the 550 but only got a bluetooth helmet 2 years ago and have to say those long days of riding are more enjoyable. I mix it up with music as well as some stand up comedians, all loaded via an SD card into my nav that acts as a media player as well as a GPS.

Another reason I like the Garmin/Basecamp solution is you get offline maps on your computer. As far as I know no other mapping program works without an internet connection. I am certainly not sitting and plotting a large route or exploring a region and options on the small screen of a phone. I cary my MacBook Pro with me and will adjust my next days route every evening. I have been in places with no wifi or internet and would be a pain trying to plot out on the device itself.

This was a rough idea of what I was going to do, the route changed and evolved as I got out there and things came up that I wanted to do.
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Looks awesome. Hmmm ideas ideas ideas....:p

I have always wanted to visit Utah to see the interesting rock formations in the desert. Like the blue sky as well, the warmer climates always seem to have more consistant and bright blue sky.

Now I am more curious, how many days for the trip? Camping or hotels? Did you limit your riding mileage per day etc?
 
sburns said:
Looks awesome. Hmmm ideas ideas ideas....:p

I have always wanted to visit Utah to see the interesting rock formations in the desert. Like the blue sky as well, the warmer climates always seem to have more consistant and bright blue sky.

Now I am more curious, how many days for the trip? Camping or hotels? Did you limit your riding mileage per day etc?
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I did it all in 2 weeks, had fantastic weather, maybe a bit too hot on some days coming back, but better then torrential downpours the entire trip like I had when I went out to Nova Scotia.

I want to go back to Utah, thinking in 2 years head that way again and push on out to the Grand Canyon as well.

I did hotels this trip, used to camp but found I do not like camping when solo travelling. Does make it a bit easier not needing to carry as much for camping. I had most of it plotted out for how many days I wanted to take to get out there though would finalize that every night when I booked the next nights hotel. Prices went up from my original planning, had to delay the trip for a family wedding and was pushed right into the middle of the summer rather then just before the high tourist season started. With Basecamp I would take a guess at where I think I want to ride to the next day then search in basecamp for hotels (I stuck with 2 major chains, Holiday Inn and Comfort Inn as I collect points and know they are clean hotels) in the area and then plotted away. Could have done it cheaper sticking to little mom and pop places but have had bad luck in the past on other trips that I just prefer the chains

More from Valley of the Gods




Lots of nice paved roads as well for bikes not well suited for gravel
 
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wonderings said:
I did it all in 2 weeks, had fantastic weather, maybe a bit too hot on some days coming back, but better then torrential downpours the entire trip like I had when I went out to Nova Scotia.

I want to go back to Utah, thinking in 2 years head that way again and push on out to the Grand Canyon as well.

I did hotels this trip, used to camp but found I do not like camping when solo travelling. Does make it a bit easier not needing to carry as much for camping. I had most of it plotted out for how many days I wanted to take to get out there though would finalize that every night when I booked the next nights hotel. Prices went up from my original planning, had to delay the trip for a family wedding and was pushed right into the middle of the summer rather then just before the high tourist season started. With Basecamp I would take a guess at where I think I want to ride to the next day then search in basecamp for hotels (I stuck with 2 major chains, Holiday Inn and Comfort Inn as I collect points and know they are clean hotels) in the area and then plotted away. Could have done it cheaper sticking to little mom and pop places but have had bad luck in the past on other trips that I just prefer the chains

More from Valley of the Gods

Lots of nice paved roads as well for bikes not well suited for gravel
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Nice thanks for sharing.

Would like to get out there one day. Not this season need some more seat time and testing things out more locally. Basically I will be exploring Norther Ontario. A trip out East would be fun as well at some point. I have driven out there in the car, Cape breaton and PEI I think would be great on the bike.

Ok I think I have hijacked this thread enough, thanks all for sharing and info.
 
sburns said:
Nice thanks for sharing.

Would like to get out there one day. Not this season need some more seat time and testing things out more locally. Basically I will be exploring Norther Ontario. A trip out East would be fun as well at some point. I have driven out there in the car, Cape breaton and PEI I think would be great on the bike.

Ok I think I have hijacked this thread enough, thanks all for sharing and info.
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That is the way to do it, smaller trips lead to bigger and bigger and bigger. You figure out what you need and what you can live without when on the road. Happy trails!
 
Another side question about Basecamp

Since you can use open maps or other maps besides Garmins, do the waypoints transfer over or are the independent from the maps. Meaning if start playing around in Basecamp with open maps, setup waypoints then switch over to Garmin maps I will still see all my waypoints?
 
sburns said:
Another side question about Basecamp

Since you can use open maps or other maps besides Garmins, do the waypoints transfer over or are the independent from the maps. Meaning if start playing around in Basecamp with open maps, setup waypoints then switch over to Garmin maps I will still see all my waypoints?
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I think you have to save your wayponts etc as a file in your collection.When you open the different map you can open the file in it.Did you watch the RallyConnex seminar?
https://www.facebook.com/DualSportPlus/videos/10156190412860719/
 
sburns said:
Another side question about Basecamp

Since you can use open maps or other maps besides Garmins, do the waypoints transfer over or are the independent from the maps. Meaning if start playing around in Basecamp with open maps, setup waypoints then switch over to Garmin maps I will still see all my waypoints?
Click to expand...

You should still see your waypoints, I only have one other map to test with and I cannot remember where I got it. I have a topo map of Canada. When I had something plotted with my Garmin 2019 maps (2019 already?!) and then switched the map to the topo it still showed my route and waypoints.
 
wonderings said:
You should still see your waypoints, I only have one other map to test with and I cannot remember where I got it. I have a topo map of Canada. When I had something plotted with my Garmin 2019 maps (2019 already?!) and then switched the map to the topo it still showed my route and waypoints.
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Thanks that is exactly what I was hoping for. I was going to test it out with another set of open maps with some way points then swap back and forth. This is helpful.

I going a little starcrazy without riding and I keep learning-hearing about new destinations. While I am waiting I thought I might at least plug in some notes, lists etc in basecamp to get the routes in progress. All this before I pick up a garmin, still waiting to make that decision. Not many places these days sell GPS's or at least have them in store. So I'll be going do to the show and see what is going on there then figure it out.

@Wingboy - thanks for the link I didn't watch the seminar, may check this out later though.
 
sburns said:
Thanks that is exactly what I was hoping for. I was going to test it out with another set of open maps with some way points then swap back and forth. This is helpful.

I going a little starcrazy without riding and I keep learning-hearing about new destinations. While I am waiting I thought I might at least plug in some notes, lists etc in basecamp to get the routes in progress. All this before I pick up a garmin, still waiting to make that decision. Not many places these days sell GPS's or at least have them in store. So I'll be going do to the show and see what is going on there then figure it out.

@Wingboy - thanks for the link I didn't watch the seminar, may check this out later though.
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I do most of my dreaming and plotting in the winter months and then have to decide which one I can make a reality when riding season is here.

I have bought my garmin devices from this Calgary store www.gpscentral.ca
The prices were good, they were quick to reply to my questions and shipping was quick as well. It has been a while since I have ordered from them though. I purchased all my GPS's from them save for my current one which came with my GS. Bought a Garmin Quest 2 that I quickly replaced with a Garmin Zumo 550, then a Zumo 660 and now my BMW Nav V.
 
Is anyone using a Garmin Montana 680? I watched a really good demo at dsp with it.Looks really good.Better than a zumo.My 12 yr old Nuvi 675 that i used on my Wing can't last much longer and i won't have it wired to helmet speakers.

@sburns...welcome
 
wonderings said:
I do most of my dreaming and plotting in the winter months and then have to decide which one I can make a reality when riding season is here.

I have bought my garmin devices from this Calgary store www.gpscentral.ca
The prices were good, they were quick to reply to my questions and shipping was quick as well. It has been a while since I have ordered from them though. I purchased all my GPS's from them save for my current one which came with my GS. Bought a Garmin Quest 2 that I quickly replaced with a Garmin Zumo 550, then a Zumo 660 and now my BMW Nav V.
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I think I may have come across that site. For something like this I would prefer to see it in person to get a sense of it. But yes the pricing is good on that site.

The only other place which comes to mind is radioworld up in Vaughn. I bought my RAM mount from them, they had better pricing then GP bikes and more options. I know there is best buy but they had them all locked up, and a couple of models, and well there is basically no service there, nobody knows anything about anything.
 
I just create in Google maps, import track into basecamp (GPX) and convert it to a route (reduce waypoints). Another cool thing is Google timeline which is in Google Maps (you have to turn set permission), if you bring your phone it will log your exact path you drove, when you started, when you finished, the date as well as any stops. Timeline is on where ever you travel, so you dont have to remember to turn it on. You can review your entire season etc. What ever routes you want to keep, import the track into basecamp, covert to route and done.
 
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My best tip for using Garmin Base Camp is not to use it.

I also generate my routes on Google Maps (I split them if I have to) then I convert to gpx files using online apps. There are several available.

gpsvisualizer.com
mapstogpx.com
myrouteapp.com

As for hardware, Garmin is still the best just so damn expensive.
I'm using Zumo 660 at the moment. Keep looking for deals on the new ones but good luck with that.
 
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