82a More About Waypoints

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The Disappearing Favourite Icons

I am still testing this out - but the story so far is worth including.

All of the below is the behaviour observed and tested when the link to Garmin Explore has NOT been set up.

When Explore is linked, favourites are controlled by the Explore App, and they have smaller, coloured icons.

When a Waypoint is transferred to the Zumo XT, it is stored in Favourites.

Sometimes Favourites have to be imported. Sometimes not.
If a Favourite is imported twice, it doesn’t create a second copy (unlike when importing routes)

Favourites can be made to show up on the XT screen.

Settings -> Map & Vehicle -> Map Layers -> Tick Up Ahead Places


The options in the right hand pointing triangle allow you to select other type of up ahead places, but none of these affect the display of the waypoint / favourites.

The icon that is used to represent a Favourite can be changed.

It is always a white symbol in a solid green square.


To change the icon :

Where To -> Favourites -> Choose from the list -> Press ( i ) -> 3 bar menu -> Edit -> Map Symbol

Icons should then show up on the map screen when it is zoomed in close enough. Typically when the scale is about 1m or less. Most will disappear when zoomed out above 1.2 miles.


However - in v6.30 and earlier, Favourites that once appeared seem to disappear after a restart. I have reported this to Garmin and have been trying to find a work around. This is far from ideal but it seems to work.

Start with a Zumo XT ‘clean sheet’.

This means:

  • Delete all Favourites
  • Delete all History
  • Delete all Routes
  • Connect the USB cable to your XT and computer.
  • Delete everything from the SD Card in the Garmin / GPX folder
  • In the Internal Storage / GPX folder, delete temp.gpx and Current.gpx
  • Disconnect the USB cable and let the XT restart. This will recreate a new Current.gpx
  • On the XT, Check that there are no favourites available to import and no route available to import.

You should only have to do this once, but it is a good way of wiping out all routing data out without doing a full reset.


Then in future, do one of the following.

Use Basecamp File / Export to create GPX files of the selected items or the selected list folder.


Then use a file explorer to drag and drop the gpx files into:

either: The Internal Storage / GPX folder

or : The SD Card Garmin / GPX folder

Name the gpx file(s) to make them recognisable. As long as they have the .gpx extension, the XT will find them.


With the routes and waypoints in their own named files, it effectively puts them out of reach of the XT. It can read them, and it can add a copy to Current.gpx, but it cannot delete or modify the original. You have by-passed the normal transfer process. One big advantage is that routes and waypoints can be deleted from the Zumo XT itself, and then re-imported from your untouched files. So you could have just the data for the next day loaded into your XT, with everything else handy should you need it.


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The information on these pages has been acquired from personal experience of using and testing the behaviour of Basecamp and my Zumo XT. I have no links with Garmin, and these pages should not be regarded as instructions. They are presented for interest only. The contents of these pages must not be shared, copied, transmitted, redistributed or re-published in any form without my permission. (C) JHeath 2021.