Auto-Routing With Garmin. Anyone else have problems with it?

[cheezehead]

I have both a Garmin Etrex and A Garmin GPSmap 60CSx and both of them do the same thing when I try to auto route with them. I have tried ALL the different settings and they all end up with the same result. There is a new cache about 30 miles from my house located at a park and I do not know the area all that well. I punch-in goto and it sends me on a 50+ mile trek. There are many back roads and County roads but it seams stuck on the U.S Hwy. If I do it from home, it starts about 3 miles away.

I have the Garmin Topo loaded on my GPS. It distant seem to mater if I change the setting to car, bike , pedestrian, it gives the same route that makes NOOOOOOOOO SENSE! 😯 😡 👿

Anyone have any hints or help to offer? It’s no big deal, but that’s half the reason I bought the dang thing!

If you have no problems and it works for you, please share your settings. 😀

[K0rpl]

Well, your GPS is autorouting with the built in Basemap, which I don’t beleive goes to Street Level. You would need to purchase the City Navigator 7, or 8 to autoroute properly. Using all the roads available to CN7, or 8.

If you have any questions, Please feel free to give me a call at 920-471-8008

Justin

[One Paddle Short]

That’s the problem. And when you load both Navigator and Topo as I’ve started doing so as to have rivers and trails on my screen when I want them it’s easy to forget to switch back to Navigator. And if you’ve become used to just trusting the autorouting you can be in for a really long drive to get to a very close cache…

[cheezehead]

So, I need to get a Navigator program then? Up here, it really not that hard to get to spots and most hides(like mine) are a good hike into the woods. Topo shows most roads and such so why wouldn’t that work?

[One Paddle Short]

I’m not an expert. But my understanding is that Topo just doesn’t have the codes and so forth for the unit to use to autoroute. Navigator is set up for autorouting. It is not very good for showing trails, streams, or even small lakes. It has no Topo lines. That’s why I run both. I can switch to Navigator to autoroute in cities that I don’t know very well and then switch over to Topo when hiking or in parks (especially when you want to know which side of the water the cache is located).

It may not be worth it to you to purchase Navigator because other than having more up-to-date roads (Topo is really behind the times) and allowing autorouting Navigator is much worse once you are out of the truck.

[hogrod]

Everyone here is correct, garmin US topo maps do not include auto routing calculation data. you would need the city navigator V8 or NT versions to have the most current auto-routable street maps. routing the basemap is pretty much useless, it will take to to hwy exits that don’t even exist!

I would hold off a month or two to buy city navigator, garmin usually releases new maps every July/August so there may be an updated version coming out soon.
a side note Garmin just released a new version of topo US, it’s called topo US 2008. it still doesn’t have autorouting ability, but a much needed road data update(every road is now named).

Garmin topo 2008:
http://www8.garmin.com/cartography/mapSource/topous.jsp

[Team Deejay]

@hogrod wrote:

a side note Garmin just released a new version of topo US, it’s called topo US 2008. it still doesn’t have autorouting ability, but a much needed road data update(every road is now named).

You mean that all the roads smaller than Interstates will have a name other than “Road”??? They are making this much too easy. Are they keeping the powerlines the same color and weight as the roads in the new version? I would really miss trying to find a route down the utility easements.

[hogrod]

@Team Deejay wrote:

@hogrod wrote:

a side note Garmin just released a new version of topo US, it’s called topo US 2008. it still doesn’t have autorouting ability, but a much needed road data update(every road is now named).

You mean that all the roads smaller than Interstates will have a name other than “Road”???

Yes, all roads that are shown now have a real name, not just “road”. you can use the MapSource Map Viewer in the upper right of topo 2008 page to check out the new maps, all the places I checked seemed to have better detail than the old version.

topo 2008(check out map viewer in upper right)
http://www8.garmin.com/cartography/mapSource/topous.jsp

topic about topo 2008 on the geocaching.com forum
http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=164099&hl=2008

[djwini]

i’ve never used a topo map. is it worthwhile? most of my caching is milwaukee and the surrounding areas. is there anyone that has it near me that would be willing to show me how to use it?

[K0rpl]

topo is very nice if you do a lot of hiking, or backcountry work. I have that in my Garmin Rino, and I love it. Hogrod is correct, Wait for the new navigator.

It is going to be called City Navigator 2008. I spoke with Garmin Tech Support last week, and was told it would be out by the end of the July.

Justin

[Johnny Cache]

@K0rpl wrote:

It is going to be called City Navigator 2008. I spoke with Garmin Tech Support last week, and was told it would be out by the end of the July.

Justin

Thanks. That’s better info than I received: “We don’t have a specific release date for the next City Navigator software right now, but are anticipating release late this Summer, early Fall.”

[Author]

Posts