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I give up. Any basecamp experts want to earn some gas money?

2K views 12 replies 11 participants last post by  Rider2 
#1 ·
I have tried to work with Basecamp and it apparently is beyond my ability.
I was trying to plan my first big trip from Spring Hill, Tn to Bar Harbor, Maine area and over to the Great Lakes and back home. I would like to ride on the best motorcycle roads along the route and in the areas I will be in.
I can spend up to 14 days on this trip and would like to go in October. I am willing to pay someone with the ability to plan this trip so I can put it into my Nav 5 . Yes I know I should work with it until I figure it out but life is to short. If you are interested, please PM me a price and any questions.
 
#2 ·
There are some YouTube tutorials that are money. I watched on iPad while I had the laptop open and working on basecamp.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Basecamp tutorials are here ............ https://www.garmin.com/en-GB/learning-center/basecamp
However it's been rendered obsolete as a product now, which users were warned about 3/4 years back. I never use it personally; too much hassle & far too clunky, so I tend to plan through Google Maps & then plot the route direct into my old NavIV using a few way-points. Works well in Europe, as a means of avoiding fresh/emerging traffic problems too.

Another idea is to plan a route on Google Maps & convert it to gpx for downloading to your Garmin device using www.mapstogpx.com.

Alternatively you could try the H-D route planning system. Plan your route, or use another rider's suggestions; just check it out through the Harley website....https://maps.harley-davidson.com/
 
#4 ·
Try Furkot (free) to plan your route. Export from Furkot to Garmin in GPX format. Import that GPX file into Basecamp and then SEND it to your device.

Note that when you import it into Basecamp, you will have to "play with it" to get it to work correctly with your Nav V: Make sure to change the routing only waypoints that you created in Furkot to DO NOT ALERT vias in Basecamp and only keep the waypoints for your planned stops.

I would also break the trip up into short legs consisting of one leg for each stop (1st morning leg, 2nd morning leg, 1st afternoon leg, etc..). That way if something is wrong, you only have 1 leg screwed up. I would also create a Favorite for each endpoint of each leg so that you can easily navigate to that point if you get way off route or somehow loose track of where you are - Just punch WHERE TO, hit FAVORITES and hit your desired destination.

If you are familiar with the peculiarities of the Trip Planner in the current generation of Garmins (Nav V and Nav VI), you already know that each waypoint is considered a destination so plan your routes to start somewhere down the road from where you actually start from on each leg or it will completely screw up your carefully planned routes.

If you can afford it, I would also buy a Zumo 660 or Nav IV as a backup - they do not have the Trip Planner feature. Last thing that you want to worry about on a long trip is navigation.
 
#6 ·
I was trying to plan my first big trip from Spring Hill, Tn to Bar Harbor, Maine area and over to the Great Lakes and back home. Yes I know I should work with it until I figure it out but life is to short. If you are interested, please PM me a price and any questions.
I know many will step up to help however, you NEED to know some key places you want to go. That is what I my wife does. We talk, edit, add etc.
BUT, I've done your trip and encourage you to make "The Lake Michigan Circle Tour" Lake Michigan Circle Tour - Travel the Lake Michigan Circle Tour around Lake Michigan stopping at the various great towns and attractions along the way.
It is one of my 'do again' trips...
 
#7 ·
I presently feel the same way you do about BT communication, however, I have used BC from day 1 and despite ite quirks has been my go to program for everything from day trips to this present 2 week trip I’m on. When I return home if you want to give it a try we can arrange a call and work on it simultaneously and then you can decide if you want to use it.

If you want to do that download the latest maps 2020.1 into your gps and the computer.
 
#8 ·
As with project planning, the real value is not just the smooth execution of said plan, but the understanding of what’s going to happen that you gain by constructing it. BaseCamp really isn’t that difficult to work with, and the big advantage is that you don’t have to worry about the cartography you use to plan your trip not perfectly matching that on your sat-nav. It’s worth persevering.
 
#11 ·
Thanks for the advice and offers to help. After watching a lot of videos on basecamp operation, I am making progress. I may still need some help but since our ride planner is not riding as much, I need to man up and figure this thing out. Thanks again for the offers of help this forum is great.
 
#13 ·
I just don't like cellphone solutions. I either need to ride with my fingers unprotected or have special gloves to manipulate the screen, and in remote places where there is NO cellphone service (Alaska highway) I can't imagine they're very helpful. My GSA has the Nav prep, and it's integrated with the wonderwheel. I travel with a laptop running BaseCamp so I use it for route planning, and upload routes to it as the trip progresses.

Tip: If you're going to use BaseCamp for route planning, be sure to turn off auto-recalculation completely. If you don't, and you miss a turn, it'll re-route you to the next waypoint according to whatever parameters you've set (fastest time, shortest distance, curvy roads). When (and yes, it's "when") I miss a turn, it just adds to the adventure trying to find my way back to the purple line without making a U-turn!
 
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