Zumo XT SD card use

[fergannap133]

Hello Everyone,
I've been successful transferring GPX files for trips built on Rever using the USB connected to my Windows laptop. I'm planning a motorcycle trip from Maryland to Colorado and thought it would be good to put the various routes on an SD card, too. The thinking is: I can create a route on my laptop and save the GPX route to the SD card (skip the USB cable) and then have the Zumo XT "read" the route when I insert the SD card into the Zumo.

The card was formatted by the Zumo as a FAT32, confirmed when I inserted it into the laptop. However, I cannot seem to see any indication there is an SD card inserted into the Zumo, let alone getting the unit to read what is on it. Am I misunderstanding how the SD card works in the Zumo? I have read several threads here to see what to do and have not found an answer.

Looking in Trip Planner on the Zumo there are saved and imported trips, but not my "test" file on the SD card. Hitting the wrench icon and clicking Import says no trips found. Garmin just seems to say how to insert the card and nothing more.

Thank you for any help you can offer. Please feel free to overstate any obvious steps I need to take. Trust me, I am not proficient at this stuff at all.
Best regards,
Jim Ferguson
Annapolis, Maryland

[danham]

You have to import trips in Trip Planner when they are stored on the SD card. This a feature not a bug, as they say, because it allows you to always have the original route ready to import in case the one saved in Trip Planner gets butchered by an unintended recalculation or whatever.

-dan

[fergannap133]

Thank you, Dan.
I've been playing around with it and starting to see how to put trips or tracks on the SD card and then import them. Like you said, I just want to be able to keep a detailed, planned route intact just in case something should happen to it.

My original thought was to put the GPX on the SD card when it was in the laptop and then physically insert it into the Zumo. It does not appear that is possible. But I can save the GPX to the SD card when the Zumo is connected to the laptop via USB cable and Garmin Express. It appears it will remain on the SD card as an imported track, even after I convert it to a trip.

I appreciate the guidance.

Best regards,
Jim

[sussamb]

Putting a gpx file on a card in your laptop should work, but it needs to be in a folder named GPX in a Garmin folder on the card

[danham]

Transferring a GPX file from computer to SD card and then popping that card into the XT works smoothly and easily. Can you describe how it fails to work for you?

No need for Garmin Express to be involved at all.

-dan

[raesewell]

The file structure on the SD card is very important you must have a folder called Garmin (case sensitive) and within that folder another folder called GPX (again case sensitive) you then drop your route files into the GPX folder.

[Peobody]

@fergannap133, I have done trips from North Carolina to both Colorado and South Dakota using the SD card exactly as you are trying to. The trips were planned in BaseCamp, one route per day. A track was created for each one as well. I exported the routes and tracks from BaseCamp to a location on my HD. I then attached the SD card to my PC and used a file explorer to copy those .gpx files to \Garmin\GPX\<destination>. Each night I deleted the completed days route using Trip Planner, imported the next days route and track, and changed the track displayed on the map. The next morning I loaded the route for the day and headed out.

I did the file transfers to HD then to SD card so that I could control the filenames on the SD card (have a route-identifiable one). Using "Send to" in BaseCamp to transfer routes to the SD card results in meaningless filenames (Route.gpx, Route1.gpx, Route2.gpx,...). This was invaluable when I had to modify one of the days routes mid-trip.

I had cleaned out my XT before each trip so the only route listed each morning in Trip Planner was the one for that day.

I'm sorry that I don't have any advice into identifying and solving your problem beyond the already mentioned fat32 formatting and the directory structure for the .gpx files on the SD card

[fergannap133]

Thank you all for your replies. I will re-confirm I am copying and pasting to the SD - Garmin - GPX folder. Then I'll put the card in the Zumo and try to import. I did notice I need to import into Tracks and then convert to a Trip. Baby steps...

I really appreciate your support in finding an efficient way to follow my intended route on this trip.

Best regards, as always.
Jim

2017 Yamaha Super Tenere

[Peobody]

I did notice I need to import into Tracks and then convert to a Trip. Baby steps...

I don't know why you think this. You can create a route in BaseCamp, export it to your HD (creates a .gpx file), copy that to SDcard\Garmin\GPX, then import it on the XT using Apps > Trip Planner > Hamburger > Import. As previously mentioned, the export to HD then copy to SD card is optional. It just allows for control of the file names of the .gpx files on the SD card. There is no ill effect by creating subdirectories in the GPX directory on the card. The XT sees them just as if they were in the root \GPX directory.

If you like to have a track of the current route showing on the map then you create a track of the route in BaseCamp and follow steps above except that you import the track on the XT using Apps > Tracks > Spanner > Import.

[purds]

The file structure on the SD card is very important you must have a folder called Garmin (case sensitive) and within that folder another folder called GPX (again case sensitive) you then drop your route files into the GPX folder.

I've found it also works fine if you create a folder named GPX on the SD card itself - it doesn't have to be within the Garmin folder.