@Guzzist I've been transferring my routes created on MRA using GPX 1.0, the "OLD" Garmin, despite being told to use the "NEW" Garmin. Doing that I don't get straight lines !
But I also like to know where my stops are likely to be and where I can restart my route if I take an unscheduled break or diversion. This is where Waypoints are handy on a long route.

@Hans-van-de-Ven-MRA-Master I use Route, just because I've never tried using Tracks. I think I know how to generate a Track and convert it to a Route. I just can't help thinking that gives the Zumo too many opportunities to take me up some dark alley.....or worse a Toll Road !
But what the hell, let's boldly go and I'll give it a try !

@Lars-Jensen Thanks for the advice, but I'm afraid I don't use a smartphone. Yes, I know, verging on a Luddite ! I know some people can't live without them but I just don't trust the buggers !
I'm not a fan of Swiss Army Knives either. If you need a tool get a good one, not a compromise.

@PAD-0 It's not been for the want of trying with BaseCamp, I assure you. I too am mystified why some people can get to grips with it easily but it won't even download for me ?
I agree the Zumo 396 is an excellent device if you ask it to take you from point A to point B. Maybe not so good if you want to travel along a particular stretch of road ? And, of course all the "bells and whistles" can be switched off if you want.
But I'm five generations Navy so accurate navigation has been bred into me and I'm not fond of being sent down a road I didn't ask for. Unless of course I deliberately asked for a mystery tour ?
This is of course all very minor criticism when you remember navigating across a continent with paper maps .

I bought a Garmin Zumo 396 a few weeks ago to replace my Garmin Nuvi which had served me ,temperamentally, for the last 7 years.
At first I was seriously disappointed. Creating routes on MRA and transferring them to the Zumo resulted in mostly straight lines !
I even had a much closer look at Garmin Basecamp to overcome this. That was a complete waste of several days. I find it hard to believe that a company that can provide such serviceable hardware is so badly let down by abysmal software.
So back to MRA. I then found that if I transferred my routes using "GARMIN OLD GPX 1.0" I could get excellent routes with all waypoints etc clearly displayed.
MRA was back in my good books !
Back to Zumo 396. The apparatus itself is very good, a fairly clear screen, a solid mounting and easily removed. There are numerous features many of which I find frankly pure distraction. The fuel level being one of them. Every so often it stthat it arts asking you if you want the Zumo to start looking to fuel stations, often when you're concentrating on riding through a busy town centre !
The other feature that I find curious is the fact that it will occasionally ask if you want to skip the next waypoint ? Why ? I'd spent time putting the damn thing on the route ?
And once or twice, it sent me onto a Toll Road despite having carefully set both MRA and Zumo itself to avoid toll roads.
So, though at first I was close to sending it back, I'm gradually getting used to it....... although I still don't trust it !

Thanks for the replies people. That's given me some things to try.
I'll let you know what happens.....

Ronnie Weaver.

I've only experienced this in France so far......
But here's what happens. I spend some time carefully devising a nice interesting route and transferring it to my Garmin Sat Nav. I double check that the route I've created on my PC has accurately been transferred to my Garmin and off I go.....
Only, at some point on the ride, I come across the "route barrée" ! with questionably signed "Deviations" Fair enough, I can accept that and just follow the "deviation" signs. But !! if there is a Waypoint somewhere along the section of closed road, my Sat Nav goes crazy trying to redirect me to this Waypoint.
It's a damn nuisance stopping at the side of the road to try and find the particular Waypoint ( or even Two !) and delete them from the route.

Any suggestions ??

Ronnie weaver.

I wish I knew the answer to this ! I have noticed a significant difference between time estimates given on HERE routes created on MRA and the time estimates on my Garmin Sat Nav device. For local runs it's not much of a problem but it becomes a bit of a worry when devising much longer trips.
It can be awkward when setting time deadlines for hotels etc.
Maybe we should do what Peter Fonda did at the beginning of Easy Rider, and just throw away your watch, wish I could ?