Help with a routing issue on a Vista Cx please

[toddreg]

I have created a route from the airport to a couple stops for an upcoming vacation. I have City Navigator and the Topo maps loaded on my unit for the area I am going to. I have the topos turned off as well as the base map.

 

Mapquest on the computer shows the routes as traveling by road, i.e. it sticks to roads going from point to point. When I transfer these routes and maps and waypoints to my Vista and then I go in to view the route map it has a straight line drawn from point A to B to C etc.

 

I have routing on the unit set to roads. Why is the route not showing in the same manner it is on the computer. Perhaps it will change when I am actually on site and running the route.

 

Thanks for any pointers here.

[+fratermus]

When you upload a calculated route from CN into an autorouting GPS only the start and end waypoints end up in the GPS. Then when you navigate using the GPS it makes it's own route.

[toddreg]

Why does it show the proper road route on the computer but not on the device. Keep in mind I am sitting at home and not at the actual destination where I am going to be trying to use the route. As an alternative I can just manually run from waypoint to waypoint.

 

Are Garmin's just generally a pain to use?

[+fratermus]

Why does it show the proper road route on the computer but not on the device.

 

"Proper" to the PC is whatever it calculates.

"Proper" to the autorouting GPS is whatever it calculates.

"Proper" to the human is ???

 

Until the route is calculated in the GPS it does not exist in the form you saw it on the PC. It consists of precisely two waypoints which is what you are seeing.

 

Consider any route you saw in the PC to be strictly FYI, advisory, and nonbinding as far as the GPS is concerned. The GPS will rework the route on its own.

 

If you want the GPS to faithfully follow the PC-generated waypoints (ie, use no logic of its own) then you can use a tool that uploads actual waypoints along the route (like Metroguide) , or manually insert enough actual waypoints that the GPSr will follow a very similar route. Or use a non-autorouting GPS.

 

Are Garmin's just generally a pain to use?

 

No, they're fine. The trick here is to not fight the GPS. It wants to build the route; both of you will be happier when you let it. :-)

 

If you want to see the route that the GPSr will take, then pull that route up in the GPS and tell it to navigate. It will generate the route in a few seconds. If you put it in demo mode it will pretend you are driving the route.

[toddreg]

Thanks, I think I have it now.