MRA to Zumo xt ??

Richard 18

It’s an interesting thread.

I ‘know’ Mzokk from another forum and know that he works hard to understand how Garmin devices work.

That aside, as it has developed, the thread does show that GPS devices (especially the most modern ones) are a bit like the ‘P’ in Personal Computers. By which I mean that they are ‘personal’ in as much as what works or makes sense for one person, might not necessarily make sense or work for someone else.

If modern GPS devices have one fault, it is that their owners often expect them to work in exactly the same way as a previous device or that the modern device will be completely intuitive. As we now live in a ‘plug and play’ world, that expectation is perhaps not unreasonable. But sometimes the devices don’t behave that way at all. I can remember when the BMW Navigator V (I think it was) was launched, which operated very differently from the Navigator IV, leading to all sorts of frustrations for some owners, some of which still linger today for some people.

I have owned and used GPS devices of one sort or another, right back to pre-dating the Garmin Quest, so I’d guess about 40 years. Over that time I was a big fan of Garmin’s MapSource and then BaseCamp, finding them both easy to use and intuitive. I didn’t need to dabble with Tyre or, in its early days, MyRoute simply as I was very happy with Garmin’s route creation offerings. That love affair ended when BaseCamp became increasingly unstable on my Mac and / or I bought a Garmin XT, which wouldn’t connect to my Mac properly. This forced me to look at MyRoute. Yes, I had bits to learn about it (and indeed, a lot to learn about my XT) but a bit of patience, along with some very good help from MyRoute’s excellent forum and UKGSer helped me to learn things. Likewise I also learned from my own mistakes, not least as I am not frightened to tap around on a screen, safe in the knowledge that I can’t break anything. What I guess I am saying is, I have learned what works for me; it’s that ‘P’ of ‘personal’ thing again.

If I had any advice for anyone, it would be:

A lot of people expect it to work straight out of the box and are disappointed or frustrated when it doesn’t. Learn how it all works.
Use the device regularly. Using it builds learning and confidence. If though you only want MyRoute or your device to take you from A to B, along roads and routes that it (and not you) chose, that is great, too.
Be patient and don’t just shout at the dumb (but really very clever) GPS device. It can’t hear you! It is trying its very best to only do what you (it’s owner) has told it to do. It might do it in a new way from the past or in a way that doesn’t necessarily make sense to you but, that’s life sometimes.
Read the MyRoute forum. Of course all of the topics and questions might not be relevant to you. But, sometimes you’ll learn something you didn’t know and / or see something you can try for yourself. If it works, great. If it doesn’t work for you, discard it.
Do not be afraid to tap around….. it won’t blow-up!

Cheers,

Richard