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OK, so I decided I needed a gps for an upcoming 10-day trip with my brother. He rides a HD Breakaway (straight pipes), and I know from experience that the guy with the gps rides in front (he has a gps). So my only defense was to get one too.

Took me about a week and 1/2 of reading the forums every night untill I fell asleep to figure out how to hook it up. [long story/short: fuse block and wiring harness from easternbeaver.com from a guy named Jim Davis—I'm thinking with a name like eastern beaver and Davis, this place must be in Maine or New Hampshire. Turns out he's in Japan (JAPAN!). Hope my stuff comes in time!]

I'm familiar with using a gps like every other Harry Homeowner. Type in the address, press "Go", follow directions.

But for this trip, I want to plan out each day, at least with an approximate route—via scenic highways that may not be the fastest/shortest/avoid tolls route/etc. That involves using software on my home computer to map it out, saving the routes to files, uploading them to the gps, selecting them on the road to follow. OK, sounds like I know what I'm doing, doesn't it? WRONG, I'm just using the words I think might describe what I want to do. I have no real idea how to do this. I haven't even found where to download the Zumo 660 manual yet—you would think the manual would come with the damned thing!

But I'm sure there's a website that describes it all in exquisite, step-by-step directions. A "Zumo for Dummies" site. Put zumo into our search engine it comes up with 657 hits. I can't read all that stuff! ADVrider has whole forums dedicated to the topic "layin' down tracks"; its got 10,204 threads.

I need some direction here. Any links to helpful sites that cut to the chase. Describes the software I need, links to get it, how to use it, etc. Mac on the computer side. Zumo 660 on the gps side. Does any of this link to usable software like Google Earth or Maps?

http://snpi.dell.com/sna/manuals/A2911769.pdf

And.....

http://www.manualslib.com › Brands › Garmin › GPS › Zumo 660

Here's a basic 'How to' :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYKVDPT-UxU

HTH!!

Yeah me too!!! Got the BMW branded number IV or whatever; same deal; I'm very familiar with Garmin but no idea how to do route planning with a computer.

Is there a nice u tube tutorial out there somewhere; one from above is very general.

Getting ready to go to Alaska in June and have to master this tech.

Hey OJ, thanks for the links. Already linked up and downloaded the manual. I know I could get that from Garmin, but I've been hesitating until I knew what I'm doing before that—I read stories of folks that ordered stuff wrong having to do it twice (i.e. pay twice) to end up with what they need.

Don't get me wrong, the manual is very informative, but there's 50 pages of information and not one mention of how to do route planning or upload routes from computer.

I hadn't though of going to youTube yet. +1

SD, let me know if you find the motherlode, right?

THANKS.
-dd

Hey DD, my pleasure! I'm glad I could help.
We're not born IT literate but with a little practice
it's not too scary!

Just keepin' y'all updated on my research. Anytime you see the need to direct me in a particular direction, please do.

It seems Garmin and Mac have a tenuous relationship. Garmin is PC friendly/Mac not.

There are ways to connect maps constructed in Google Maps or Google Earth to Garmin devices, but they are tenuous. There are tools that you can attach to browsers, and apps you can download. This is a mess to figure out, but know the information is there.

Seems like the two main applications for creating "routes" on your computer and loading them up to your gps are Mapsource and BasesStation (do Macs work with each of them, not sure?). The mantra seems to be, buy a big SD to go with your gps, load all your maps and more there, hook up your gps to your computer(s) and use it like a hard drive. Seems like there are advantages to using BaseStation with regard to user interface and ability to print out maps. Reading all about it now. Page 1, nine pages to go: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthre ... ght=garmin.

We'll see...

don't get me started on the "biker friendly" zumo interface. The 550 is worse, not even a qwerty keyboard.

zumoforums.com is pretty good though. Check it out.

Basecamp is the s/w for making maps. User hostile.

I have been a Mac user for years, but I wish microsoft would make a gps, or the firmware for the zumo. It does NOT replace maps.

John
PS EasternBeaver is a good outfit and Jim Davis a very responsible and courteous help for service before and after the sale. repeat customer.

Thanks for the suggestion Doc. I will definitely check it out.

I've been using macs since the Lisa; probably had 20 or more if I counted them up. Then there's all the ones I bought for other people. I would think it would be enough to get them over this rough patch! That said, I go both ways and also still have a PC at work (next to my iMac). I may have to give in and just go the Parallels route.

What I wish would happen is not that microsloth would get into the fray, but that Google would. Or that Google and Garmin would manage to each do their thing together, easily and faithfully. Now that would be a powerful combination! I've read posts about people figuring how to transfer between in 20 steps or so, and about some software widgets that help either as an app or browser extension, but a my path has not been revealed to me yet.

I read on.