Garmin 478 users/owners thread

[BlueLghtning]

Originally Posted by Dagwood08

The active track log appears as a breadcrumb trail in white. The color you choose actually is a highlight over the white breadcrumbs so no matter what color you choose the white breadcrumbs are always there, no way to not show them (that I can figure out).

I've only had my unit a short period of time and have been using it on short local trips. That's probably why the appearance of the log stands out as I've been back and forth on the same roads. As you alluded to, on longer distances it likely won't be an issue. Also, none of my other GPS's have this feature so it's a matter of getting used to it.

Thanks for your input.

That was going to be my next suggestion after reading your response. I figured you were asking about a trip where you wanted it to record, but yeah for local riding, just turn in off and remember to turn it on when you head out somewhere you want to record the track.

A lot of local riding does kind of clutter the screen with track logs, but hey it is fun to see it sometimes too. I've gotten so used to almost always having the track log on, it doesn't bother me.

[Honkey Cat]

Battery gone. Thanks docking pilot

[Spinalcracker]

I planning my TET ride from MA to NC in Basecamp on a Mac.

When I transfer the route and track to the 478 I'm getting "Route truncated" warning.

What is the limit for via points on a route and points on a track ?

[BlueLghtning]

Originally Posted by Spinalcracker

I planning my TET ride from MA to NC in Basecamp on a Mac.

When I transfer the route and track to the 478 I'm getting "Route truncated" warning.

What is the limit for via points on a route and points on a track ?

Are you actually creating a route or a track? If its a route, are you creating a "direct route" or one that "follows the roads"? You do know there is a difference between via points and way points used in a route. Way points are actual POI's you basically include in your route. Via Points are where you drag the route to a certain road and it creates a "via point" which doesn't count against your "waypoint" limit. However if you drag your route and aren't close enough to the road, it can create a "waypoint" instead.

I know the track limits off hand. If you are building a track and its going to be a "saved" rack, the limit is 700pts per track. The Active Log holds 10k pts.

For route points, I'm trying to look it up. I want to say 250 via pts in a route, but that might be high?

[BlueLghtning]

Originally Posted by Spinalcracker

I planning my TET ride from MA to NC in Basecamp on a Mac.

When I transfer the route and track to the 478 I'm getting "Route truncated" warning.

What is the limit for via points on a route and points on a track ?

Originally Posted by BlueLghtning

Are you actually creating a route or a track? If its a route, are you creating a "direct route" or one that "follows the roads"? You do know there is a difference between via points and way points used in a route. Way points are actual POI's you basically include in your route. Via Points are where you drag the route to a certain road and it creates a "via point" which doesn't count against your "waypoint" limit. However if you drag your route and aren't close enough to the road, it can create a "waypoint" instead.

I know the track limits off hand. If you are building a track and its going to be a "saved" rack, the limit is 700pts per track. The Active Log holds 10k pts.

For route points, I'm trying to look it up. I want to say 250 via pts in a route, but that might be high?

Okay, looking at the 276c specs which I think is the same as the 478, it says 50 reversible routes up 300pts each. I would assume those are via points?

[Spinalcracker]

I'm talking about via points.

Here is my work flow:

I'm making a route for the TET from MA to NC. I use Basecamp on a Mac. In Basecamp in the menu I use the route tool and put via points along the route I want to follow. In order to force the gps to follow the the route I create in Basecamp I put a via point after intersections to make sure I go the way I want to go. So each time I clike with the route tool it is making a via point.

Since it is a convoluted route there are 200 or more via points.

After the route is as I want it I double click on the route in my list and have Basecamp create a track from route.

It is a follow road and not direct.

When I send the route and track to the 478 is when I get the truncated warning.

[Boon Booni]

478 can't handle more than 50 points in a route. If you need more points might want to try breaking the route up into sections with 50 or fewer via points.

[BlueLghtning]

Originally Posted by Boon Booni

478 can't handle more than 50 points in a route. If you need more points might want to try breaking the route up into sections with 50 or fewer via points.

I just did some testing on my 478 and I didn't find that 50pt limit to be the case. This was all in MapSource and my 478 says firmware 4.20 when I boot up.

In my testing, I created a "direct route" with 1 waypoint and 299 via points and it took it. When you are looking at the route column under via points, it says "300". By adding one more via point or waypoint to the route, it would then truncate it.

When I went to a calculated route though, the same 300pt route didn't work. By looking through the list of turn by turn directions, I determined the last via point in the last was around 290. It appears for calculated route (as I had mine drawn), I could load up to 290 via points before it truncated. Again, this was 1 waypoint and 289 via points.

However, I have a hunch though that in a calculated route I did, this limit might be affected by how many turns are given so if your "via points" end up being further apart and more turns are included between via points, this limit might be less? I actually went back to my TAT routes and had a 200+ waypoint calculated route that I converted using Win GDB to a direct route with "via points" and "direction points". (option #14). So that first conversion to a direct route with all those via points & direction points was over 700 via points in my new "converted route". I deleted all the waypoints and then trimmed the via points down to 300 which means I was left with 300 "consecutive via & direction points from my conversian. As I said, as a direct route, that worked. When I did the calc route, I had to trim it back 10 more via points and then da a re-calc and I'm assuming at that point all my "direction points were represented by a via point, so that didn't count against me. So, I'm going to agree that the limit in a "calc" route isn't 300 via points, but a combination of via points and direction points, however direction points aren't represented or made easy to count, so its hard to tell.

So final thoughts.
- Direct Route Limit = 300 via points or waypoint combination.
- Calculated route = 300 via points & waypoints -(Minus) direction points (hard to determine how many direction points you have though)
- I didn't get a chance to try an all waypoint route up to 300 pts, but I know I have a 205 waypoint calculated route that works just fine. That wouldn't be my preferred way of doing it though as that's wasting a lot of "waypoints".

[BlueLghtning]

Originally Posted by Spinalcracker

I'm talking about via points.

Here is my work flow:

I'm making a route for the TET from MA to NC. I use Basecamp on a Mac. In Basecamp in the menu I use the route tool and put via points along the route I want to follow. In order to force the gps to follow the the route I create in Basecamp I put a via point after intersections to make sure I go the way I want to go. So each time I clike with the route tool it is making a via point.

Since it is a convoluted route there are 200 or more via points.

After the route is as I want it I double click on the route in my list and have Basecamp create a track from route.

It is a follow road and not direct.

When I send the route and track to the 478 is when I get the truncated warning.

Not sure if you have tried WinGDB, but it has a lot of options of converting stuff. I think it sounds like you are getting a bit carried away on the via points in your routes. I've routed the TAT and many other off road excursions and never had to use that many via points to get the map to follow what I need. You just need "key points" to make the route go where you want.

I always had tracks when I did the TAT plus routes, but like I said, my routes didn't have near that many points. I could easily do a entire days ride with 1 route with only about 20-30 via points and it would follow my path exactly as I wanted, plus I had the track log to confirm my route was staying on target.

[spagthorpe]

Am I the only one that seems to go through batteries a lot with the 478? They seem to start out fine, but quickly get to the point where they won't fully charge. I never had this happen on my 276C...I think I had one battery for the five or six years I owned it. I'm on my third with the 478 in a couple of years.

[spagthorpe]

Separate question. I got an external antenna a while back from an inmate that I've never hooked up. I see that the 4.4 update for the 478 says that it updates the antenna as well. Does it upgrade when I plug it into the unit while running the 4.4 software?

[spidennis]

Originally Posted by spagthorpe

Am I the only one that seems to go through batteries a lot with the 478? They seem to start out fine, but quickly get to the point where they won't fully charge. I never had this happen on my 276C...I think I had one battery for the five or six years I owned it. I'm on my third with the 478 in a couple of years.

I use my 478 for lots of other uses and use batteries a lot, and like you I find they don't last very long, plus they last at different rates. I wish it had the newer battery pack like the montana, oh well.

[DockingPilot]

Let the battery drain completely down, then fully charge uninterrupted. Do this a few times. It should regain it's full memory.

[Drif10]

I tried the new koolaid.

Bought a Montana, really tried to like it. It does tracks awesome, can take a route from Basecamp and follow it sweet, has so much storage with it using uSD cards, it was nice.

And it drove me nuts, coming from a 478. Little things. Can't use data fields and have them opaque, so it eats 30% of the screen space. Navigating at the same time? Now you're down to half. Couldn't use the find feature for route or destination POIs. The speed would go red when you exceeded the limit, making it unreadable in daylight. Touch screen was too touchy. Just little things, but they were driving me nuts.

So I sold it, and bought a 378 from a friend. Luckily, I still have my locking TT mount.


I am sorry I wandered, it won't happen again. Promise.

[Boon Booni]

Originally Posted by Drif10

I tried the new koolaid.

Bought a Montana, really tried to like it. It does tracks awesome, can take a route from Basecamp and follow it sweet, has so much storage with it using uSD cards, it was nice.

And it drove me nuts, coming from a 478. Little things. Can't use data fields and have them opaque, so it eats 30% of the screen space. Navigating at the same time? Now you're down to half. Couldn't use the find feature for route or destination POIs. The speed would go red when you exceeded the limit, making it unreadable in daylight. Touch screen was too touchy. Just little things, but they were driving me nuts.

So I sold it, and bought a 378 from a friend. Luckily, I still have my locking TT mount.


I am sorry I wandered, it won't happen again. Promise.

That's really good to hear.

The montana has been on my short list for a while. The long ass Montana thread always scares me as I have almost no quibbles with my 478. Basically what you listed, Touch Screen, more memory and the ability to upload maps to basecamp so that you can plan routes. Otherwise I feel like I know my 478 front and back and have very little interest at this point in learning something new.