Explore and Mapshare questions

[jfheath]

I have a cheap set - earbuds and Microphone - simply to test things out on the XT while sitting at my desk rather than working in the garage with my helmet on, flattening the battery.

I use it more often than I thought that I would.

I have an autocom BT03 that provides all my BT connectivity between my wired Autocom rider / pillion intercom and the XT. I hated BT , but this works really well providing it is not located near to the ECU.

[axil]

Thanks. I've been looking at some wired earbuds that can also be used wireless Bluetooth. I just have no idea what will work in my ears and what won't.

The 595 cable isn't too bad. I have the audio out jack routed to pop out between the tank & seat at my right thigh so if (when) I do forget to unplug it does it for me.

That's the setup I used with my old 660, except on the left side.

I tried a lot of earbuds to find ones that would work well under a full face helmet. I wound up with Etymotic Research ER3s that I really like, in-ear-canal and sound isolating with lots of choices for eartips.

[rbentnail]

Thanks. I've been looking at some wired earbuds that can also be used wireless Bluetooth. I just have no idea what will work in my ears and what won't.

The 595 cable isn't too bad. I have the audio out jack routed to pop out between the tank & seat at my right thigh so if (when) I do forget to unplug it does it for me.

That's the setup I used with my old 660, except on the left side.

I tried a lot of earbuds to find ones that would work well under a full face helmet. I wound up with Etymotic Research ER3s that I really like, in-ear-canal and sound isolating with lots of choices for eartips.

I'm using Etymotic MK5 earbuds with ER38-14F tips and a modular helmet. It's a bit more forgiving b/c I can flex it open a little to keep the earbuds from ripping out. This combo works really well for me. 10 hr comfort!

I'm hoping I can figure out more stuff on my new XT. I just wish I could delete or hide all the BS I'm never going to use. It's way too cluttered for me but I'm trying. Even the Accept/Reject page- what's up with that? I have to accept terms and conditions before each and every use? That's just stupid.

Anyway, I took your advice and ordered the Bluetooth thingee you linked to earlier. I'm hoping to have some music play, stop, give audio turn instructions, then music start again like the 595 does. I'm normally a visual only guy but it is nice to have audio turn instructions when in unfamiliar urban areas.

[jfheath]

I'm hoping I can figure out more stuff on my new XT. I just wish I could delete or hide all the BS I'm never going to use. It's way too cluttered for me but I'm trying. Even the Accept/Reject page- what's up with that? I have to accept terms and conditions before each and every use? That's just stupid.

Certain screens and behaviour change when the satnav has recognised that it has been moving in a car or on the bike. I think that is one of them. I can't check 'cos I recently reset mine and I haven't been out with it since - so it is in 'never been out for a ride' condition.

[rbentnail]

You can get a cheap Bluetooth receiver, pair that with the Zumo and use your wired earbuds. It's actually much easier than that old wiring harness (and forgetting to unplug before getting off the bike )

Here is the one I use:
https://www.taotronics.com/products/tt- ... h-receiver

Welp, I finally got one! FedEx lost the first one sent so they mailed me another. I've tried it out at my desk by pairing with the XT, playing music and starting a route. I think this is the perfect thing for me. Thanks!!

[rbentnail]

I finally got to put the Bluetooth doohickey https://www.taotronics.com/products/tt- ... h-receiver to the test. Man, that thing worked great! I listened to some tunes from my SD card and got audio turn instructions. Thanks again!

[jfheath]

When you transfer the same GPX file with Explore app it's totally different. You get a new Explore route in your Zumo Explore items (and eventually a new track if it was in the file). But an Explore route is nothing like a BaseCamp route, or an MRA route, or a Zumo XT trip. You can navigate it, but you can't see the route points you've eventually carefully chosen one by one in BC or any software you use, of course you can't edit them either, they all have lost their properties of route points, either shaping or via points.

To understand what's going on I tried to import a GPX route file into Explore web, then export the Explore route back to a GPX file, and then open this file with a text editor to look at XML. I saw that the exported GPX contains no route (<rte>) and no route points (<rtept>). It contains only a track (<trk>) and track points (<trkpt>). Thereby I got confirmation that Explore doesn't know what a route is, nor what a route point is. It seems that Explore only knows tracks and track points. I assume this is exactly why you loose all of your route points when you transfer a GPX route file with Explore app. Explore converts your original route to a track, your route points to track points... finally you get a so called Explore route which in reality is a track, very misleading !

Apart from the fact that Explore app doesn't communicate directly with Zumo, the fact that Explore doesn't cope with routes but only with tracks is for me a good reason to say that Explore is not compatible with Zumo XT. By now the only interests of Explore with Zumo XT is synchronizing waypoints and tracks, easier setting of waypoint icons and use of collections to show/hide groups of waypoints or tracks on the map.
That's limited interests because of no route/trip compatibility for the moment. Maybe one day ?

Thanks @bageddy - that is a very detailed explanation of what seems to be going on.

I will add that Explore doesn't use saved waypoints within a route or track. They are separate items and can be displayed with the route, rather than being part of the route.

There are some diagrams and my observations from transferring Basecamp Routes to Explore - describing how they appear in the XT, and how the XT navigates with the result. app.php/ZXT-P62. See the previous page too.

It is interesting to note that when deviating from a track-trip, you observed that the satnav just goes quiet until you rejoin. I assume that you had auto recalc turned off ? I didn't experiment with that setting when testing navigation of a track-trip, so my observations were that it heads for the closest point on the original route. So that is useful to know.

My Android app version of explore has the ability to create 'Courses' as opposed to tracks or routes. There is a magnet tool that makes the course follow the road between placed points - but for road users, be aware that it also follow footpaths, tracks and trails. I haven't found this on the ipad or the website version of Explore as yet, although they can be displayed.

I agree. It seems that the XT is (still being) developed primarily for off road use where staying on defined tracks may be much more important than getting to the next intermediate shaping points.