MRA Community Forum

When I use my Garmin devices for navigation for navigation I tend to use GPX1.1 (plus a track of the route) because for me it's more flexible, as I often lead groups and want the option to use route recalculation and to be able to manually skip optional route loops which may or may not contain via points (when time becomes tight). For example, routes round Lochs, Loughs, Lakes or up and down valleys. If using my XT, or my Zumo 390/340 on the other bike, skipping a via point will force a route recalculation and destroy the rest of the route. If you have shaping points then the route is only altered to the next shaping point and the rest of the route is maintained. This means that quite a few shaping points are required to pin the route to the intended roads. For the XT this is more important as its "Faster Time" routing algorithm now equals "faster roads" whereas the older Zumo 390/340 will route on any road that it determines is producing a "Faster Time" between points. I think this change has been effected as Garmin just use car navigation device firmware and software in their motorcycle units these days. To ensure that routes are pinned for use on my (Now Backup) XT these days I often use the MRA expand function to increase the number of shaping points on a route before I export it to the Zumo XT. For me the easiest way to avoid all the faff with Garmin units is to use MRA for navigation on my Africa Twin screen then the routes are WYSIWYG. Bottom line is there are no right or wrong answers just find a strategy that gets you where you want to be. This was true even when we used maps some folk marked a line on the map and kept it in a clear pocket on the tank. I made a "tulip road book" with road numbers left and right turns and rough distances in between.......the map only came out when I got lost