Hello from East Tennessee
Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2019 12:00 pm
Just mounted a new Zumo 396 on our GoldWing after removing the trusty, dim, harder to load maps each time, longer to find satelites each time StreetPilot 2730 that has served me so well since 2005. With lifetime maps subscription, the 2730 led us up and down the Blue Ridge Parkway, to NOLA and back, bypassed interstates to Barber Motorsports Park, traveled to Hawaii and helped us find good snorkling beaches. It also aided in bypassing traffic snarls quite a few times, and was my companion for daytrip explorations in our beautiful mountains in all directions. We do have a Nuvi 755lmt for the car, but seldom use it. We use our phones as phones primarily, and even the youngest daughter uses her Nuvi 50lm for navigation instead of her phone (we are on a limited shared data plan).
Having recently retired and desiring to tour more, I realized that the 2730 was begining to show signs of failure. Taking ten minutes or more with a clear sky view to lock on to satelites was getting worrysome. I had stripped all that I could from its memory, and yet could only load small subsets of the USA (after jumping through additional hoops each time to download them) when doing map updates.
Installation was easy. The 2730 was on a RAM ball mounted on the clutch perch clamp, so just the short arm was used for mounting the 396 mount. Wiring followed the same path and went to the same auxilliary power connector that had powered the 2730.
Now I need to spend some time with it and learn how to do the things that were second-nature on the 2730. I'm not really upset with all of the unit changes. How many automobile controls are identically positioned, even within the same brand? Or TV remote buttons? Or how many times have you found the taps reversed on a sink? I don't see learning the 396 as an issue. Basecamp, that may be a much bigger mountain to climb. So far, using Mapsource for planning and creating the route, importing to Basecamp and then loading it to the Zumo has worked, but I worry about the routing changes that each itteration might create. Reviewing a trip is fairly easy on the laptop. Reviewing a 300-400 mile per day weeklong trip on the GPS might be unreasonable, and I've yet to find an option to turn recalculation of an imported route off.
Anyway, I'm here to learn and share if possible. It isn't the best rding weather for the nect few months, so I will be studying Basecamp tutorials.
Having recently retired and desiring to tour more, I realized that the 2730 was begining to show signs of failure. Taking ten minutes or more with a clear sky view to lock on to satelites was getting worrysome. I had stripped all that I could from its memory, and yet could only load small subsets of the USA (after jumping through additional hoops each time to download them) when doing map updates.
Installation was easy. The 2730 was on a RAM ball mounted on the clutch perch clamp, so just the short arm was used for mounting the 396 mount. Wiring followed the same path and went to the same auxilliary power connector that had powered the 2730.
Now I need to spend some time with it and learn how to do the things that were second-nature on the 2730. I'm not really upset with all of the unit changes. How many automobile controls are identically positioned, even within the same brand? Or TV remote buttons? Or how many times have you found the taps reversed on a sink? I don't see learning the 396 as an issue. Basecamp, that may be a much bigger mountain to climb. So far, using Mapsource for planning and creating the route, importing to Basecamp and then loading it to the Zumo has worked, but I worry about the routing changes that each itteration might create. Reviewing a trip is fairly easy on the laptop. Reviewing a 300-400 mile per day weeklong trip on the GPS might be unreasonable, and I've yet to find an option to turn recalculation of an imported route off.
Anyway, I'm here to learn and share if possible. It isn't the best rding weather for the nect few months, so I will be studying Basecamp tutorials.
Once I took the plunge and started using BC I found it was not so different from MS in actual route planning. BC uses a database for route management, where with MS you have to save your routes as files. This took some getting used to. After using BC and getting familiar with it I kind of like it better than MS. Unfortunately, I have a 660 and the two don't always play nice together which is known by Garmin. I have stated before that I wish Garmin would keep MS updated or fix the issues BC has with older units like the 660. I'm still wishing for this. I don't think either will happen, so I will just keep living with the nuances.