Using a Montana without Basecamp...

[JackShaft]

Hello all.

 

I have a Montana 650 and after owning a 60Cx, 276C, an Oregon and several Nuvis, I have to say this is a great GPSr and perhaps the first one able to fully take the place of my 276C in the field. My only gripe is having to communicate with it via Basecamp. I find it quite difficult to use and not particularly user-friendly compared to trusty old MapSource.

 

I still use MapSource upload data from my Montana, to manipulate my tracks, waypoints and route plans but when I go to transfer it back to my Montana, I have to open the file I have created in Basecamp to do so. I hate that. I have figured out that I can transfer map files directly to my SD card through Windows, which is great, is there also a way to do this for tracks/wpts/rtes? Maybe save as .gpx and do a direct transfer onto the SD card or internal GPSr memory as well, like I do with the maps?

 

This forum has always been a great place for accurate and direct information, thanks for your help in the past and I appreciate any guidance you can give on this topic.

[+Atlas Cached]

Garmin Montana File and Folder structure explained.

[+splashy]

Basecamp is made for models like Montana and will 'see' the data on these Models, something Mapsource doesn't.

But if you are use to transfer the data manually, you can do so with the Montana also.

 

What I agree about, the total integration with Basecamp, I don't trust it and I always have my files backedup manually.

[tr_s]

eTrex 30 owner here who also doesn't like Basecamp

 

Basecamp = the new wonderful Bloatware paradigm with the odd crashes mixed in for good measure

Mapsource = Good and reliable product as of latest version, with a reasonable resource footprint for the day and age

 

I really don't like they scrapped the option for pulling out all waypoints,tracks and routes from the receiver in one swift click. It was just so straightforward and easy to work with. It doesn't work in mapsource either as it requires a receiver which supports the proprietary garmin serial protocol.

Edited December 7, 2012 by tr_s

[+Redwoods Mtn Biker]

Here are some good BaseCamp tutorials. The one on organizing data is especially helpful... http://www8.garmin.com/learningcenter/training/basecamp/

[JackShaft]

Thanks for the links, I have gone through all of the videos over the weekend and it did indeed help me. Now that I am quasi-committed to using BaseCamp for my track/wpt/route manipulation, can somebody help me figure out how to join two tracks?

[MtnHermit]

Thanks for the links, I have gone through all of the videos over the weekend and it did indeed help me. Now that I am quasi-committed to using BaseCamp for my track/wpt/route manipulation, can somebody help me figure out how to join two tracks?

It's not like MS and it's not arbitrary. Select two tracks in the table on the left, then RC > Advanced > Join Selected Tracks. They will be joined in time based order.

 

I find I need to open the tracks in MS, first, if I want to join them in geographical order. But BC has a trick that MS does not, BC will move individual track points, MS cannot move points in a track.

 

Neither BC nor MS is perfect for track manipulation.

[Grasscatcher]

I personally feel that there is nothing better than Expert GPS by Topografix for any data manipulation. Wpts,Tracks (editing,joining,etc),Routes.

 

For track joining, (2 or 3 or 4...)first verify they are all going the same direction, then in the List of Tracks, select each in the order you want them joined, right click and choose Join Tracks.....done....

Try the free trial.....full functioning /time limited.

 

I have Basecamp and keep it updated but RARELY even use it.

Edited December 10, 2012 by Grasscatcher

[JackShaft]

Thanks for the links, I have gone through all of the videos over the weekend and it did indeed help me. Now that I am quasi-committed to using BaseCamp for my track/wpt/route manipulation, can somebody help me figure out how to join two tracks?

It's not like MS and it's not arbitrary. Select two tracks in the table on the left, then RC > Advanced > Join Selected Tracks. They will be joined in time based order.

 

I find I need to open the tracks in MS, first, if I want to join them in geographical order. But BC has a trick that MS does not, BC will move individual track points, MS cannot move points in a track.

 

Neither BC nor MS is perfect for track manipulation.

 

Well put, neither are perfect but BC does have some nice new features. Thanks for the explanation, joining tracks this way worked perfectly for me.