Zumo XT gets lost - how can I recover?

[ButterSmooth]

I've been using my Zumo XT since about January, for about 7000 miles. I've used basecamp to enter all of my regular routes. Almost inevitably while riding a route Zumo says, "off route. Recalculate?". The map shows me clearly riding on the planned and marked route. If I say no, Zumo continues to show me on the route, but there are no further navigation instructions and the time to destination begins to grow. If I say yes, Zumo says "Make a U turn as soon as possible." If I turn recalculation completely off, it just stays lost, just like answering 'no'. The only way I've been able to recover from this is to physically stop, restart the route and go to the next waypoint. Then it says proceed to highlighted route, even though I'm sitting on the route. Starting at the 'nearest entry point' NEVER works.

I wanted to be ready when I ventured into unknown areas, but this thing inspires no faith whatsoever.

If I pick out a destination, let Zumo plan the route and then follow that route it seems ok. But, it picks crappy routes. If it picks the bad roads in the area I know, it probably is going to miss the good routes in areas I don't know.

Any way around this?

 

[JayBros]

Call Garmin and explain the problem; their tech support folks are very helpful. I had a similar problem on a single route several months ago, too long to explain here.

 

[pidjones]

I found on my 396 that I had to set it to automotive mode, not motorcycle mode if I wanted to use a route that I preplanned on the computer. Up at the top of the screen, select the motorcycle and change it to car.

 

[RICZ]

All who wonder are not lost. What did you do to upset the Garmin Lady? She sure has it in for you.
I never lost the paper map habit Write the route and tape the paper to the tank.

 

[Hekarwi]

I had the same problem on occasion so when I got my new Zumo I decided to use "My Maps" in Google maps and save it as a "track" instead of a route with way points. I can't remember if Base camp gives you this option but I haven't had a problem since. Plus I am a lot lore familiar with Google maps so it was an easy transition.

 

[RayBJ]

When the 590 came out I found a bug that froze the Zumo when using Whats Ahead feature. I emailed them and they told me how to get a dump which I did. 3 days later they put out an update with the fix. I give them 5 stars.

 

[DanDanTMM]

I recently purchased a Zumo XT and I too am a huge Basecamp user and have years of routes saved in it. I had this happen to me on a short day ride after getting the Zumo XT and when I got back home I looked at the waypoints used on the route very closely where it "lost its mind". The route I was using was originally created in a 2012 version of maps and then recalculated on the latest version of the maps. Some of my waypoints were not on the road anymore. They were close to the road and if you looked at the route without zooming in it looked like they were on the road. One I had originally placed at an intersection and the waypoint had moved about 100 yards down the road I wasn't taking. The Zumo was trying its best to get me back to that waypoint. I think I ended up telling it to skip the waypoint and continue on. Now, before I use an old route, I check all the waypoints to make sure they are actually on the road. I also make sure to place them there when building new routes too.

 

[JayBros]

...Now, before I use an old route, I check all the waypoints to make sure they are actually on the road. I also make sure to place them there when building new routes too.

One of the things I learned with BaseCamp is that when putting waypoints or shaping points in a route as I'm creating it I always zoom in to the 80 foot scale to ensure I put it on the road.

 

[ButterSmooth]

...The route I was using was originally created in a 2012 version of maps and then recalculated on the latest version of the maps. Some of my waypoints were not on the road anymore...

Bingo! I think this may be it! I've had at least 3 map versions on my Zumo and on the last failure I noticed a shaping point off the side of the road. The route had recalculated for the new map the night before the ride. It would be great if Garmin allowed the user to relax the precision just a little.

Thank you!