How do you make your routes?

We typically on our yearly travels take routings which are not the shortest, fastest or whatever.
What I do is create "waypoints" (via points) in mapsource and then transfer the "waypoints" from mapsource to my GPSs (plural)
Examples of this are:
1. I don't want to drive I-295 AROUND Richmond when travelling to New England from Flor-i-duh. I locate I-95 in Richmond and then make a waypoint for the NB and SB lanes of travel. As a waypoint they show as I-95 N Richmond and I-95 S Richmond.
I also do not like to travel I-95 all the way to New England, I prefer shooting over to I-81 to I-84 so I make a via point (waypoint) for US-17 out of Frederickburg ie US-17N VA (a SB version also) and then via points (waypoints) on I-81 Just a little South of Winchester , VA (North of I-66) - Here again I do one for the NB and SB lanes and name accordingly. Extra via points can avoid your GPS putting you on some smaller roads !
Just my way of doing it.
Then on my 1490LMT I set up a series of daily mini-routes for where I intend to go each day - putting the via points in the appropriate sequence.
My way anyway !

I prefer to make my routes on the unit. I force it to take the highway that I want by zooming in and placing a waypoint on the highway. I continue this until I complete the route.

Both are correct in forcing routes. What you plan out using external software almost never translates to what the unit does as it has its own routing software. The only way is to force the route using via or way points. How you get them into the route is your choice.

You guys mean that the 1490 is not capable of following a route you previously created in MapSource?

I have a measly discontinued 260 and the way MrKenFl describes how he uses his to force the unit is precisely what I do because the 260 has no routes.

Wanting to get a 2460LMT with 100 routes now I’m confused, please guys clarify for me before I dump my 260, can I expect the 2460 to follow the routes I create in MapSoutce?

Help I need a Routes 101

Routes created in Mapsource and/or Roadtrip(Mac) are exactly as I created them when put on my Nuvi 765t - can't see why that wouldn't be the case for a 2460LMT.

Flaco,

I haven't seen a unit yet that will take a route planned from Point X to Point Z using external software without first recalculating the route when it is imported.

There have been a great many threads on the inability of a unit to follow a route planned in Mapsource, Streets & Trips, Google, you name it without putting in enough waypoints to force the routing.

A lot depends on the routes you are planning. Plan a route from Knoxville to Barstow and the default will follow I-40. That's pretty straight forward. Now throw in a side trip or two like to the Grand Canyon and all bets are now off. You asked it to use specific roads and there is no guarantee the unit will use the same roads without putting enough via or waypoints to insure your route is followed.

Here's another example from one I took last year. Plan a route from Washington DC to San Antonio TX. The fastest is I-66 to I-81 south to Knoxville. From here it's I-40 to Little Rock and I-30 to Dallas, then I-35 to San Antonio. Lay it out in Mapsource and it will probably have you exit I-30 at Mt. Pleasant, TX and take US271 to Jacksonville, then either US84 to Waco or US79 to Round Rock then south on I-35. It may even show you going around Dallas on I-635, but don't count on it - going into town on I-30 then picking up I-35 is slightly shorter ergo it must be faster. Just as taking the two-lane highways through small towns is a tenth of a mile shorter so it's faster than staying on the super slab. The only way to force the route is to put a via point on I-635 near W Bruton Rd.

Here's some good info on custom routes:
http://home.comcast.net/~ghayman3/garmin.gps/page7x5.02.htm#...

As mentioned, every Nuvi will recalculate a route created in Google, Mapquest, etc. That's the only way that the Nuvi can present a route to you that follows the criteria you have set on the device (fastest time/shorest distance, avoidance, etc.). If your lucky you end up with the same route you created on the computer. If your not, you get a different route.

As mentioned you can pretty much force the same route in both places by inserting enough via points in the computer route that the Nuvi is forced to follow the same path.

One other thing to remember is that, in theory, you should be able to get your computer created route to be the same on the 2460, but these newer models don't use Routes as you know them in older Nuvi's. The newer models use a feature called Trip Planner which is a whole different approach to routes and is going to take you some time to understand and get used to. On the other hand since you currently have a unit that doesn't support routes, you may find Trip Planner straight forward as you won't need to unlearn the old Routes process.

I gave up on preplanned routes. I click on a few towns along my route and save them as 1Mead, 2Columbus, 3Albion in Favorites. I use the Where To> Favorites feature on my Nuvi as I go..

Then in my case why buy a new more expensive unit with routes capabilities, what you do is exactly what I do with my 260.

The idea I had in my head of “routes” is, assuming I was the manager of The Stale Bread Company and I want it to hand my driver a GPSr with a loaded route that included multiple points in town, not necessarily based on distance to each other but in a random zigzag pattern based on other criteria besides distance and fuel efficiency, say business hours. What you guys are saying that the logic in the GPSr will not be able to follow my route as intended but in a manner determined by the unit, is that correct?

In your case, you put the points in the order you wanted. The driver will deliver in the order you placed the points. (VIA POINTS). You may not like the roads he takes.
In my case I wanted to travel a certain road. That is where my unit fails.

I use Mapsource and if it doesn't route me exactly the way I want, I use the rubber band tool to change it.

That works for me also, except that Jill announces all the via waypoints that Mapsource created to force the route. Often there will be several of these.

That is what I meant, and have no problems as long as the unit follows the route I painted in MapSource.

Are we talking about two different ways of doing the routes? I haven't made any routes in Map source since I've had the 855, but with my 2820 I don't remember it announcing any via points when I used the rubber band tool. But if I forced a route using the route tool and clicked on several points it would sometimes announce them.

MapSource uses the same maps as the Garmin GPS device, so the maps match and the internal indexes to the map database match. No recalculation is required. On my Zumo, it will "calculate" when importing a route, but that appears to be checking that everything matches and is not the same as "recalculate" that is done with non-Garmin map routes. With cloud maps like Google, they don't match the maps in your device. You will get inadvertent U-turns, which can lead to 20 mile detours if you're riding the interstate and need to reverse directions to hit a route point on the wrong side of the interstate.

Rubberband via points on intersections are recognized by the Zumo series as not to be announced nor flagged on my route. I don't think the Nuvi series has this feature. Your old SP2820 may have had it also.

Via placed points or rubber band via points are added to favorites. I road tested both of my Garmins yesterday to make sure.

Have both units. I use mapsource and put in via points on each road I want to go on.

If it's a part of my trip I don't care what road it takes I let it do it's own thing and have found new and easier ways to get from a to b. The route always takes me from a to b to c in the order I put the via points in Mapsource. If I do care what road it takes I just add an extra via point on that road between a and b to make sure it uses that point. It has always worked great for me.

When you load the route from Mapsource always tell it to load the waypoints. You have to always keep the waypoints in favorites in the Nuvi 750 for the route to follow it like you want it to. If you use the rubberband be sure and create a waypoint for each new point you move it to so there will be a way point in favorites for the route to follow.

It looks like the waypoints stay with the routing in the Nuvi 2450 and you don't have to make sure they stay in favortes. Haven't checked it out yet to make sure.

Do so love the routing feature in my 2450. It has a place to put each time you are spending at each via point to tell you how long your trip will take with your stops.

No, Map Intersection points are not added as Favorites, at least on the Zumo series. Map Points, Map Intersections and Map Lines (per MapSource properties) are NOT added as Favorites, again on the Zumo series. We motorcycle riders use that behavior to ride the roads less travelled. These point types are not announced or flagged on the Zumos.

But back to the OP, MapSource will give you more predictable routes than using foreign mapping tools.

I am on the road now (San Tan Valley AZ) from Des Moines Iowa through Des Moines New Mexico to Taos to Queen Creek Arizona and then to Los Angeles. In LA I programed it to take the I 210 and then other freeways to end up in Echo Park. I did this to avoid the 101 parking lot downtown.
On the way back I will leave LA the same way except take I 15 to Los Vegas to Denver to Des Moines.
I used MapSource to plan this.
What I do not see in these posts is a reference to preferences settings in MapSource. Mine under Routing are 1. Fastest time. 2.Try to avoid Dirt roads, U turns, Ferries. 3. The slider is all the way right to prefer highways.
If one wanted to experiment as you move the slider left each mark the route you set might change somewhere. The avoidances must be the same on the Garmin.
When placing a point I zoom down as far as I can to make sure I have the right lanes and in intersections where I turn, place the point after the turn for sometimes the Garmin will take you around another way.
So far my 1490 and Sponge Bob has not failed me.

Google and MapQuest only download waypoints, they don't download a Garmin-compatible route file. If you want to create a route that the Garmin will faithfully follow without recalculating first, you have to use MapSource.

As I sit on the deck watching the rain in the desert,I reread the posts here and saw the problem with the original post. We are using the same model 1490. He used the communicator to load his routes and not MapSource. I make my route by only giving a start point and then pressing r I start a route. I then select spots and MapSource will follow. If I do not like the route I right click and delete it and try again until I arrive at the end. I then go to the top and select the hand which stops the route. I then hook up my Garmin to the computer and after it is found under Transfer I check only routes and then transfer it to the Garmin. Then I unhook the Garmin and open it. Under tools go to My Data and select Import Routes and uploaded route should show up and select it. For me the communicator only imports points and not complete routes.

That is also true with my 2820, and come to think of it I do have a route in my 855 that I made in Mapsource and edited. I know it didn't put anything in my favorites.

Man I hate that description favorites, they aren't my favorites they are just waypoints, same as they used to be.

The one and only time I created a route for my 2730, I used MapSource.

It took a while to get it done, but I did finally do it.

I think the learning curve is a little steep, but once you figure it out, it gets easier.

I am guessing that HomePort and BaseCamp work the same way. I plan to try to make some navigation routes with HomePort soon.