Smartphone, Garmin Explore and Zumo XT - step by step setup.

[jfheath]

Yes.
There are three Garmin Explore 'things'. The Explore website, the Explore app on the Zumo XT, The Explore App for the smartphone(s).
The Garmin Explore App that is for your phone, cannot communicate directly with the Zumo, which apparently it can do on some other devices - or so I believe. However, the app also has features which allow it to access the website - so the stuff that you can do on explore.garmin.com, you can also do using the smartphone app. (You could also do it on a web broswer on your phone).

Download the App and open it. Ignore the threats of instant retribution if you try to run it on an XT. It doesn't mean it - it means that parts of the app that were designed to link to some satnavs will not work with the XT. That is because the XT talks to the smartphone using the Drive App instead. Just get a clove of garlic and a wooden stake and enter your user name and password. When it says to pair with a device, ignore it. The screen that remains seems to give you nowhere to go, but at the bottom are some familiar icons (or maybe just one icon). Click the map icon, and there will be the opportunity to download maps, get the world map, use that to move to your area on the map eg the whole of europe and download the street map as well.

Whatever you do using this app immediately appears if you access explore.garmin.com, as it should - it is using the same database. It isn't a sync'd copy. Although you may have to refresh the web page sometimes, as a website doesn't necessarily access the data immediately. It often waits for a while, or waits until something happens on the web page that you are viewing..

I tried this a while ago. It works just fine. It just cannot talk to the XT directly. But it talks to the website, and the XT talks to the website - via the drive app, which is also running on your phone ! So the data goes from the app, uses phone 4G/5G data connection to access the web. The drive app accesses the Explore database on the web via 4g/5G and transfers data to the Drive app on your phone via 4g/5G , which then transfers data to the XT by bluetooth. Clunky, but effective !

[neilb]

Thank you, Mr Heath, for this invaluable advice on using Explore. I’ve got it all working now. As you say, clunky but effective!

[JTLT]

The drive app accesses the Explore database on the web via 4g/5G and transfers data to the Drive app on your phone via 4g/5G , which then transfers data to the XT by bluetooth. Clunky, but effective !

Again - a GREAT response!! Change your avatar name to "Mr. Garmin Zumo" LOL. So, since the Garmin DRIVE app is the one that works with the ZumoXT... correct me if I'm wrong, but I haven't seen ANY way to access my Garmin Explore information (saved routes, etc) through this app. The only thing it appears to do is let you type in an address you want to go to. Why do I need this Drive app if I can just type in the address on my ZumoXT? I don't see a purpose for using the Drive app. Am I missing something that it does?
Many thanks for all your knowledge.
LT

[colirv]

FWIW I downloaded the Drive app to see what it had to offer, but the BT connection with my phone kept dropping, so I've given up.

[jfheath]

The drive app accesses the Explore database on the web via 4g/5G and transfers data to the Drive app on your phone via 4g/5G , which then transfers data to the XT by bluetooth. Clunky, but effective !

Again - a GREAT response!! Change your avatar name to "Mr. Garmin Zumo" LOL. So, since the Garmin DRIVE app is the one that works with the ZumoXT... correct me if I'm wrong, but I haven't seen ANY way to access my Garmin Explore information (saved routes, etc) through this app. The only thing it appears to do is let you type in an address you want to go to. Why do I need this Drive app if I can just type in the address on my ZumoXT? I don't see a purpose for using the Drive app. Am I missing something that it does?
Many thanks for all your knowledge.
LT

You don't need the Explore App or the Explore website. The Drive App talks to the explore.garmin.com website - to your account. Any tracks and waypoints you have will be sent to the Zumo and any you set up on the Zumo will be sent to your account on the website. I get the feeling that it is still in development. But Basecamp does a much better job at present - in my opinion.

The drive app is also optional - but it uses the phone's data (not a lot of it) to get information from the internet about traffic, weather. It also has traffic camera feeds showing very recent photos of major motorway junctions - every minute or so, it seems. Drive also controls the communication between your phone and the Zumo, so you can have the Zumo display text messages, email message and other alerts - if you really want. I like that aspect if I am out by myself and my wife wants to get in touch about something. SOmetimes there is no signal, but as soon as there is, it will pick it up and alert me, so I can stop and phone.

Do you need it? No. I wont be using any of the Explore stuff. I wanted to know what it was all about, so I worked out what it could and could not do. The Explore link seems to mess up the normal route and waypoint menus on the XT, so I have removed all of the stuff I set up to make it work.

I found the command to do it - eventually.

Thanks for your comments !

John

[jfheath]

FWIW I downloaded the Drive app to see what it had to offer, but the BT connection with my phone kept dropping, so I've given up.

BT drop out is often to do with devices trying to connect when something else is already connected in my experience. My phone connects to all sorts of things when at home. I usually have to unpair the one that it grabs hold of first when I move to a different room expecting it to work straight away.

[JohnnyRidesAlone]

Really good post well done jfheath. I managed to get most of it set up.
For me this would be a safety issue to pick up routes when i am away that may disapear.
Obviously I was unable to get my routes to callculate in the Garmin as I get "garmin is currently converting the route"
I suspect that shall be a few hours of messing around so that shall kill it. I shall continue to try and save routes to a spare SD card instread.

[jfheath]

Glad that it helped.

Once the routes tracks and waypoints from Explore are in the XT they stay there unless you delete them. They only need the phone signal to synchronise the XT with the website. Otherwise the XT has copies and the website has copies.

BUT if you delete something from the website, that will remove it from the XT. And if you delete something from the XT, that deletes it from the website.

I have so many devices that pair as soon as they are turned on, that I soemtimes have to go round, turn them all off and get the pairing that I want set up without anything else being visible. That sorts it out for a week or two until I need it to pair to something else.

[colirv]

FWIW I downloaded the Drive app to see what it had to offer, but the BT connection with my phone kept dropping, so I've given up.

BT drop out is often to do with devices trying to connect when something else is already connected in my experience. My phone connects to all sorts of things when at home. I usually have to unpair the one that it grabs hold of first when I move to a different room expecting it to work straight away.

Ah. Thanks for that. I might have a play when the next tuit comes along.

[JohnnyRidesAlone]

I just get a set of points connected by straight lines, no amount of messing around changes that. I am limiting the amount of messing around i do so i shall delete the ap.