Staying with a pre-planned route

[tojjer]

Thanks for the reply. I will give it a go starting from scratch with recalc on.

[pidjones]

What about mode on the 396? Does setting to Automotive just turn off the fuel minder, or does setting it to Motorcycle do other things?

[pidjones]

Ok I've taken all the suggestions, marked a ton of shaping points. The trip is from North of Knoxville, TN to Williams, AZ via US-70 (NOT I-70!). I broke it up into states and used Basecamp to figure ballpark travel times so that lodging can be arranged at easy to achieve (hopefully) distances. Auto-recalc is off. I inported the routes and looked fairly close at the results and so far, so good. Wish me luck!

[advnzer]

good luck!

[pidjones]

So far, if I tell it NOT to recalculate when starting the new route (at a state border), even though preferences have changed - it seems to work fairly well. It can even rejoin a route, but woun't lead me back to it. Will even let me load that route a mile or so early and just continue on it. It is worrying me however because twice today it shut down and rebooted itself all on its own - at 75 mph over 1000 miles from home! It did restart and resume, but looking down at a blank screen is pretty scary this far from home on a tight schedule.

[tojjer]

So far, if I tell it NOT to recalculate when starting the new route (at a state border), even though preferences have changed - it seems to work fairly well. It can even rejoin a route, but woun't lead me back to it. Will even let me load that route a mile or so early and just continue on it. It is worrying me however because twice today it shut down and rebooted itself all on its own - at 75 mph over 1000 miles from home! It did restart and resume, but looking down at a blank screen is pretty scary this far from home on a tight schedule.

I tried it with recalc on, and it "kinda" worked. I purposely missed a turn and it immediately started telling me to make a u turn. I didn't cos I knew a few miles up the road, was a turn that would put me back on my route. It DID eventually change its mind and send me to that turn. What it did when I reached the route though, was to try to send me back to the point I had missed. I saved the route as GPX 1.0 as I was told it is better than 1.1.

With regards the unit turning itself on/off, look at the two metal pins that stick out of the cradle. I had this same problem, and found one of the pins had stuck in, so wasn't contacting the unit properly. A bit of WD40 and a touch or two on the spring loaded pin and it popped back out to where it should be, and no problems since.

[pidjones]

After over 3000 miles (so far) on this trip, I can really say that I've wasted my money on this POS. Even with tons of shaping points, when imported my route gets changed to whatever it feels like. Yesterday it worked, today garbage. I'll probably eBay it when I return home and see if I can buy a couple 2820s or 2720/30s for backups. The Bluetooth worked the first day, letting me talk to my wife but cutting in with directions or speed limit changes. Once I turned the speed limit change notifications off, I had to press the headset switch to go between them, and sometimes the GPS just refused to talk. I'll go back to hardwired with my 2730 or maybe even run it to a Bluetooth dongle I have. I'm certainly glad that US 70 and US 60 are so well marked as those were our Westerly and Easterly routes.

BTW, the unit has a battery - it should switch to the battery if the pin looses contact.

[tojjer]

I have to say, if I were to buy another sat nav again, I don't think it would be a Garmin.

[electro_handyman]

Sounds like I better keep my old 2820 and 550 alive, even if it means life support......

[pidjones]

Sounds like I better keep my old 2820 and 550 alive, even if it means life support......

Buy some used ones and screen repair kits. The map support will be lacking, but then the 396 showed us going through fields and forests when on a three-year-old road. I might look at one of the newer China units, too. I finally had to tell the 396 to navigate to the starting point for the day instead of the next waypoint to get it to stop recalculating and throwing away shaping points. These work-arounds are getting old fast. Hearing the nav instructions in my BT headset is great, but not when I have to switch off the wife to hear them.

I will say that my home-made visor worked great unless the sun was directly behind me. The rough inner side of the leather prevented reflections from it and it aided in keeping rain drops off the screen. Velcro allows it to be removed, but I usually just left it on.