Can you plan a trip/route with Garmin?

[Darin]

Having trouble figuring out if this is a thing. I'd like to plan my trip on my mac and export it to my Garmin Nuvi. 

 

[Darin]

Found what I was looking for. Garmin Base Camp app.  Planning trip now.  So far so good. 

 

[Isaac-1]

Do let us know how it goes, I have tried Garmin basecamp and it was completely useless.

 

[Gods Country]

Yes base camp is what you need.

FYI your GPS needs to be plugged into your computer to properly utilize base camp.

 

[phil-t]

Basecamp can have a steep learning curve.  I have been using it for two years now and just getting comfortable with planning trips.  You do not have have your device connected to the PC for Basecamp to function - the map you have needs to be copied to the PC using Garmin Express.
I plan and route our travels on an almost daily basis using Basecamp, then transfer the data to the device.

There are tutorials on the net that can help with the learning thing.

 

[RockyHill]

Do let us know how it goes, I have tried Garmin basecamp and it was completely useless.

Basecamp can have a steep learning curve.  I have been using it for two years now and just getting comfortable with planning trips.  You do not have have your device connected to the PC for Basecamp to function - the map you have needs to be copied to the PC using Garmin Express.
I plan and route our travels on an almost daily basis using Basecamp, then transfer the data to the device.

There are tutorials on the net that can help with the learning thing.

That steep learning curve is right.  I have yet to get it to actually be a help.  I've watched some of the tutorials; really wish it were user friendly.

Shelia

 

[BinaryBob]

Is there some advantage to Basecamp? I stopped using it years ago as it was a complete headache.
Google maps to plan the entire trip, then I download to my phone.
Then the trip for each day is looked at again in Google Maps, which will tell me if any road conditions would warrant a detour, then put the day in my GPS.

 

[phil-t]

I use Google Maps, along with my Garmin.  One advantage to Garmin, and I experienced it last night, don't need internet access to plan and load a trip on the device.  Should have planned further ahead, I know; but we had a last minute change in plans and we are in a remote Canadian area for a day or two.

 

[judway]

I use Street Atlas for my main navigation. The last publication was in 2015 so is not up to date. Apparently a lot of travelers started using Google Maps and the demand decreased. There is no other good up to date reasonable cost program like Street Atlas. I also use a Garmin RV760 as a backup.

 

[Matt_C]

Like Judway, I still use SA2015 for the initial planning.  I have found that Base Camp doesn't just have a steep learning curve, but once you climb that curve, there is another mountain of stuff you can't get to the rest of what you should like to know.  The other issue is that it is internet dependent.  This is real bad for us because we are often out of cell coverage and that is with a good antenna and a 3werp repeater.  This makes that and all the other web-based stuff is useless for real time navigation.   

Only Google Maps can include real time location and then it is still limited and often inaccurate.  Yes, you can pre-load the chart (map) for when you run out of coverage, but you have to know before you loose the signal and often there is cell or 1G only.  We have "driven off the edge" more than a few times.  "There be monsters there." 

I have now become as good as anyone with:
AAA Tripplanner and Triptiks
Garmin Base Camp and Homeport has been dropped
Google maps.
RV Trip Planner,
RV Trip Wizard,
Good Sam,
Roadtrippers,
Furkot,
And am still learning Co Pilot, but they just changed a lot. 

Co pilot is the remaining  stand alone platform. 

I tried planning with a GPS and found it to be useless or worse. 

I wish you luck and I think that there is now little out there at beats a large format street atlas. 

Matt - at one time my name tag said "Navigator" 

 

[phil-t]

I have found that Base Camp doesn't just have a steep learning curve, but once you climb that curve, there is another mountain of stuff you can't get to the rest of what you should like to know.  The other issue is that it is internet dependent.  This is real bad for us because we are often out of cell coverage and that is with a good antenna and a 3werp repeater.  This makes that and all the other web-based stuff is useless for real time navigation.

Basecamp, nor many of the Garmin devices do not depend on internet access - only for map and database updates 3 to 4 times a year, if you have that device subscription.  Basecamp has many curves to throw at the user, for sure.

I had good luck with Google Maps (downloading the map I needed ahead of time) on my particular device.  There are definitely combinations that will not work well.