Etrex Vista CX mess-up

[rower40]

Long story.  If you're easily bored, click on some internet pr0n now.

I used MemoryMap to create a preliminary route for yesterday's Audax. When I clicked on "route profile", it showed some discrepancies caused by the crow-flies route going over/under some hills, so I put some more waypoints in to ensure the route passed along the road, for the majority of the route.  I then downloaded the whole route into the Garmin Vista CX.

When I got to the start of the event, I switched on "Navigate Route" on the Garmin.  It tried to point to the END of the route, not the start (i.e. waypoint 62, not waypoint 1 or 2).  So I set off, and ignored the navigation directions until I'd passed points 2 and 3.  I then tried to switch navigation on, and somehow the route had been deleted other than waypoints 57 through 62.  When scr*w-ups like this have happened in the past, I've just tried reversing the route, then reversing it back again.  This time, I'd somehow deleted waypoints 1 through 56 - at least as part of the route.

The waypoints were still in the memory, but somehow that route no longer remembered how to join them up.

What did I do wrong? (other than entering Audaxes in the first place.)

While the obvious solution is "Don't let rower40 near technology - he's a muppet", I'd appreciate the next-most-obvious solution.

[GruB]

I don't use the navigate function.  I use Tracklogs to plot the route ( whereas you have Memory Map ) and I then download the track to my Garmin Etrex Vista CX and follow the breadcrumb trail.  I don't rely upon it to navigate for me as I've already done that on the computer at home.
If you put specific waypoints in then you can use the Proximity Alarm to warn you when approaching a control or whatever.
The big advantage I see in using a track rather than a route is the device can hold a lot more trackpoints than it can waypoints.

[Aidan]

I use mine the same way. Create a track onTracklogs then upload it to my Garmin.  Then follow the track.  I dont use the navigate feature and dont use waypoints.  This works for me. 

[Maladict]

I use both; I'm a fence sitter me.

The Vista is supposed to only have up to 50 waypoints in a route.  This might have something to do with the problems you encountered.  Split the route into shorter sections?  This also avoids the problem of a loop starting and ending in the same place.

[Chris S]

Did you join up the route so that it ended on the start waypoint?

I've always done this, but as Maladict (who was using my route) pointed out to me on a recent 200 as our GPS's both tried desperately to send us West back to "HQ" - making a circular route that starts/finishes on the same waypoint is not a Good Idea.

I have now developed a method that doesn't use many user waypoints (these are limited to 50 per route) but use Route Points instead - these work the same way, but Mapsource doesn't let you change their names, so you have to change the .gpx file manually.

I also include a track of the route, so the route gets painted in a nice friendly green colour on the moving map. That. and the route points that make the machine light up and beep in a friendly manner is all I want. No need for "Follow Road" here  .

[hazeii]

Memory Map is (to put it politely) a buggy pile of poo.

The usual reason for the problem you describe is if you have an existing route on the unit, and  you create a new route on MM, the waypoint numbers are the same and so you get bizarre effects (as you describe).

It's a pathetically obvious bug but one that MM apparently have no intention of fixing.

The workaround is delete *everything* off the eTrex, then download just the route you want to follow.

[Maladict]

When you download routes from MapSource that have matching waypoint names, my Etrex Vista HCx renames the waypoints to avoid a clash.  e.g. 010 L T becomes 010 L T 1 to avoid problems.

Cunning. 

[Maladict]

Did you join up the route so that it ended on the start waypoint?

I've always done this, but as Maladict (who was using my route) pointed out to me on a recent 200 as our GPS's both tried desperately to send us West back to "HQ" - making a circular route that starts/finishes on the same waypoint is not a Good Idea.

Yeah I learned this the hard way on multi-looped rides when I used to just use tracks and get the whole thing into one track.  Giving a piece of software 3 or 4 possible options is never a good idea because it'll always choose the Wrong One.  Standing at the nexus of 3 loops and trying to work out which loop it's trying to follow and which loop you want to follow is Not Fun.