Using a trip planner route on a Garmin Nuvï

You can select the end destination if you wish but then your nuvi will ignore any other points on the route. The way it works is that your device will take you to any point on the list that you select using whichever routing profile you have set, after that it will navigate your route.

Those of us who started with older Garmin nuvi's like the the 7xx series or the 1xxx series learned routing with the older route planner. When creating a route in the route planner you first selected your starting point and ending point and then added any needed waypoints to shape the route the way you wanted it. But when navigating, you always selected the entire route.

When Garmin introduced the Trip Planner on newer devices, it confused those of us who were familiar with the Route Planner. With the trip planner, each segment of a route can stand alone. The segments are navigated one at a time and when the destination of the current segment is reached, the trip planner automatically launches the next segment of the route. So when you start navigating a trip planner route, you want to pick the starting destination as the waypoint that is the next point from your current position ... normally this would be the first waypoint after the starting point of the route. When you reach that first destination, the next segment of the route will start automatically to the second waypoint, then to the third waypoint, etc. until you reach your final destination. So the result is the same as in the old original route planner ... you will eventually be navigated to your final destination through all your waypoints, even though you selected the first waypoint when starting the navigation.

I hope that rather long explanation helps.

An important take away from the above post is that a segment is defined by way points, not vias or shaping points. Keep that in mind as you build the route on BC/MS.

Best practice is to create routes for familiar destinations. Trips you do often. Observe how the gps behaves. That will result in less confusion when doing an actual roadtrip.

Not quite sure I understand that comment. A segment is defined both by its start and end points, which could be either waypoints or viapoints, AND by any shaping points between the two.

I do a 4,700 km (2,800 mile) trip and have to set it up in 3 segments with customized via/waypoints points rather than what Garmin choses.

Example: At Cincinnati the GPS wants me to go through on I-75 which can be a PIA. So I create via point/waypoints to bypass using I-275.

I chose the last point of the segment as my destination and away I go. When I stay overnight and go to leave in the morning and turn on the GPS it will ask me if I want to begin from the original starting point. I decline and the GPS starts from where I am currently. It will follow all of the via points/waypoints I’ve entered without asking me for the next via/waypoint.

My comment was in the context of how trip planner handles poi/way points and shaping points. Frankly I think the old way was better, but some genius at garmin knows better.

I did too when Trip Planner first came out, but Garmin listened and changed it. Now it really isn't an issue if you use it correctly. I travel throughout Europe and it's always worked as expected.

Either way, one needs practice with this to understand how the gps treats the different point types. Then it becomes clearer. That's why I suggested creating routes for familiar trips then following them.

A big thank you to everyone who answered. Thanks for taking the time. It definitely helped.

Michel