[dingdong]

If dealers knew everything, half of us wouldn't be here in the first place.

Maybe so however, there should be a consistent level of technical knowledge from the dealer network being broadcast to owners, buyers or potential buyers alike.

 

[dingdong]

A friend of mine has a F850GS with the new TFT and the GPS app sucks... I give him a gpx made with BaseCamp and it never indicate 100% of the planned roads compared to my NAV VI. Same gpx, riding together and often he's told to turn right while we should go left..

Well speaking from 1st hand experience, I have a 22MY S1000XR with the TFT and I get along with it just fine using the connected app for navigation. I confess that I still prefer the Nav 6 which I still have hooked up to the XR TFT but that’s more because I don’t know what else to do with it!

I’m not fearful about getting my new GT because it has a TFT / Connect app nav system. I’ve used BMW nav's / Base camp for so long that its almost second nature and that may be a problem for a lot of people switching to the connected ride system.

The acid test for that will be a big mileage tour whenever that happens but so far and personally speaking, I’m ok with it.
Just my 2 cents / 10 pence opinion mind………………….

 

[DavidMcK]

On recent travels around the country, I’ve spoken to quite a few dealers about the TFT functionality and heard a lot of varying opinions and comments from them. I’m thinking some dealers just don’t yet understand it or are so ill informed they are saying things that are not accurate.

Its worse than that.

I recently got my annual service and was told there were no software updates so they sent me home with version

I just happen to know that there is a later version (cause I am on a RT forum), so I called the dealer and told him. Turns out that if a software update is due for the bike i.e. engine or something else the dealer will be informed when the bike is plugged in and the software update will be done.

However, if the update is for the "infotainment system" the bike will not automatically get the latest version the dealer has to make other selections to get it.

So, I had a second visit that week and a two hour wait for the "infotainment system" to be updated. all FOC incidentally.

Again, I happened to know that this update provided the ability to program the buttons on the fairing, so I asked the dealer how to do that, he didn't know. He showed me the job card from BMW and there was exactly zero information on what the update did.

We spent a couple of minutes together working out how to program the buttons.

So yes the dealer knows less than nothing about all of this and its not his fault.

 

[TouringTim]

Maybe so however, there should be a consistent level of technical knowledge from the dealer network being broadcast to owners, buyers or potential buyers alike.

Try some simple question, like what phones are compatible with the compartment they've designed. Do you ask a dealer or look on Google? Dealers are only focussed on USPs, things that excite customers and get the sale. Yes they have after sales support, but any tricky question will need them to get back to you after checking

 

[Snowboy]

Well speaking from 1st hand experience, I have a 22MY S1000XR with the TFT and I get along with it just fine using the connected app for navigation. I confess that I still prefer the Nav 6 which I still have hooked up to the XR TFT but that’s more because I don’t know what else to do with it!

So if you trace a route, the Connected App and the NAV VI show exactly the same turns ? In the affirmative, could you share the settings you use on the connected app please ?

 

[dingdong]

So if you trace a route, the Connected App and the NAV VI show exactly the same turns ? In the affirmative, could you share the settings you use on the connected app please ?

Well, that’s the thing, I have the Nav 6 hooked up because I’ve no other use for it and it sits in the navigator cradle above the TFT. I can flick between the TFT and Nav from the menu button but now I always use the connected ride app when navigating. I initially tried them both together and flicking between them (Nav route plotted using basecamp) but always had a conflict route wise so had to choose one or the other hence now I just use the app.

The nav is great though for a visual reference and overview which isn’t available on the XR version of the TFT which it is on the K series TFT.

 

[dingdong]

Well, that’s the thing, I have the Nav 6 hooked up because I’ve no other use for it and it sits in the navigator cradle above the TFT. I can flick between the TFT and Nav from the menu button but now I always use the connected ride app when navigating. I initially tried them both together and flicking between them (Nav route plotted using basecamp) but always had a conflict route wise so had to choose one or the other hence now I just use the app.

The nav is great though for a visual reference and overview which isn’t available on the XR version of the TFT which it is on the K series TFT.

I should just add that the “route conflicts” I mentioned were only minor variances between them but when riding through French towns and the like it became annoying because I was having to choose on the fly, riding on the wrong side of the road and in a foreign land it was a distraction I didn’t want.

 

[st13phil]

I give him a gpx made with BaseCamp and it never indicate 100% of the planned roads compared to my NAV VI. Same gpx, riding together and often he's told to turn right while we should go left.

There are two issues here:

1. Garmin uses cartography supplied by Here and the BMW App uses cartography supplied by TomTom. Although they both represent the same roads, the two providers seem to apply different routing attributes to the same roads and use slightly different route calculation algorithms. The result is that the two environments will sometimes yield slightly different routes between any two given points
2. If you import a gpx file created in BaseCamp containing both Waypoints and Shaping points to the BMW App, it will strip out and ignore all Shaping points and also sequence the Waypoints in alphabetic name sequence which will almost certainly be different to the sequence in which they should appear in the route

Bottom line is that importing a route created in BaseCamp to the BMW App is likely to result in varying degrees of disappointment / frustration.

 

[DavidMcK]

Before I got my R1250RT with the TFT I knew I had to change my planning software, in addition to the problems Phil mentions above between Basecamp and the (Tom Tom) BMW App in their routing calculations I also sold my Nav VI which meant I would no longer get map updates for Basecamp.

For a variety of reasons I ended up with MyRouteApp (which I consider to be much better than Basecamp, but that's another story).

One of the things MRA has is a comparisons between how Garmin and Tom Tom plot routes and it would be very useful for those situations where there is a mixture of navigation devices. What you can do is drop waypoints on to the route to iron out differences. It would make for a easier group ride out, all I got to do now is find someone with a Garmin device who wants to go out for a run.

The lazy guys I go out with all follow me cause they know I put the effort into planning a route, I am gonna do a Thelma and Louise stunt some day and see how many of them end up in heaven/**** with me.

 

[dingdong]

The lazy guys I go out with all follow me cause they know I put the effort into planning a route, I am gonna do a Thelma and Louise stunt some day and see how many of them end up in heaven/**** with me.

 

[JohnS1955]

For a variety of reasons I ended up with MyRouteApp (which I consider to be much better than Basecamp, but that's another story).

You've alluded to this in the past, and have provided a few less than convincing snippets, but I've never seen a compelling description of all the things that make MRA "much better than Basecamp". For the benefit of those who have gone to the Connected App (CA), but are considering adding a Zumo XT due to CA limitations, maybe you can post in the TFT forum your comprehensive pitch for MRA.

 

[DavidMcK]

@JohnS1955 I obviously have no personal interest in MRA other than as a route planning system and have used Mapsource and then Basecamp since about 2005, so I got quite a bit of time invested in Garmin software. When I get a chance I will do a video on why I like MRA, but, for those who want to use the BMW App and the TFT they will have to move away from Basecamp. Garmin uses Here maps and routing which is different from Tom Tom, in addition, their Basecamp maps will become out of date.

I get it that some people will want a second navigation device on their bike, the BMW map display is Tom Tom and its pretty poor in detail and contrast. I am off to the Alps soon and on the way back have to navigate around Paris and catch a boat in Cherbourg,.so I will have my personal phone in my handlebar bag, charging from the USB socket running Co-Pilot simply because it is better at lane management. Having a phone in your handlebar bag as a backup is a very simple solution, don't you think?

 

[TouringTim]

am off to the Alps soon

I'm just trying to rearrange my life to go to Germany and motorrad days. Funny you going from Cherbourg because normally I would take the tunnel out of Dover but with everything that's happened in the past few months I decided Brittany ferries waa a safer trip even though it's a few more hours in France. I just don't want to get to Dover and find everything's cancelled.

 

[DavidMcK]

@TouringTim

I am doing Ireland to Dublin then ferry to Holyhead, followed by Wales and then the dreaded motorways of England. Its about 430 miles from my house to Folkestone. The next day I am on the tunnel to Calais and then meet up with the group in Belgium.

We tour for 7 days then I park the bike in Geneva for 8 days because my wife, brother in law and sister in law meet me in Geneva and we tour around Switzerland in a car.

After I drop them at the airport I have 550 miles to Cherbourg and a boat back to Ireland. Its three years since I did a trip like this and I am therefore three years older, hope I still have it in me.

I missed Scotland this year due to Covid so miles have been few so far.

 

[cruisincruzan]

Hi David, I Have used BaseCamp for Mac since it started and have planned numerous multi day rides and have a good grasp of its functionality and quirks. I did purchase a lifetime subscription to MyRoute mostly to avoid having to carry my computer if I wanted to create routes while on a trip (I find creating routes on my computer much easier and more precise). I haven’t really started to use it yet. If I understand the basics when I am building a route for my ‘21RT I would use the TomTom layer convert to GPX and then import via my Connected app?

 

[DavidMcK]

Hi @cruisincruzan

Set MRA to use Tom Tom maps as I have, also notice the layers button as highlighted.

Using the layers button you can then drop a layer over the Tom Tom map, these are excellent.

Note this button on the left of the screen, it opens up Street View to let you drill down to see what the road is like, just like Google.

Finally, on the MRA phone app you can load your routes and save them to your phone use HD Boombox rout, this gives you two types of route to import on the BMW App, one is a route with waypoints and the other is a track, i.e. no waypoints.

 

[cruisincruzan]

Thanks David. Why not save it as a gpx?

 

[dingdong]

Thanks David. Why not save it as a gpx?

I wondered the same, Ive been exporting routes as .gpx.1 (route, track and POI) and its been fine but am going to try the HD Boombox setting David mentiones tonight so will see what that does.

 

[dingdong]

I wondered the same, Ive been exporting routes as .gpx.1 (route, track and POI) and its been fine but am going to try the HD Boombox setting David mentiones tonight so will see what that does.

Well I rode the same route twice, once as a .gpx 1 (route, track and POI) and again as a HD Boombox route - the bike was directed along the same route both times so Im not sure whats what!

 

[Radian]

@JohnS1955 I obviously have no personal interest in MRA other than as a route planning system and have used Mapsource and then Basecamp since about 2005, so I got quite a bit of time invested in Garmin software. When I get a chance I will do a video on why I like MRA, but, for those who want to use the BMW App and the TFT they will have to move away from Basecamp. Garmin uses Here maps and routing which is different from Tom Tom, in addition, their Basecamp maps will become out of date.

I get it that some people will want a second navigation device on their bike, the BMW map display is Tom Tom and its pretty poor in detail and contrast. I am off to the Alps soon and on the way back have to navigate around Paris and catch a boat in Cherbourg,.so I will have my personal phone in my handlebar bag, charging from the USB socket running Co-Pilot simply because it is better at lane management. Having a phone in your handlebar bag as a backup is a very simple solution, don't you think?

View attachment 165792

How do you get that nav screen with the full overview on the right? Is you location indicated on the overall view?
I have the 2022 K1600GT Option 719 and sure have not seen that yet.