Garmin Base Camp helps you plan your next biking, hiking, motorcycling, and road trip; but is it effective to use? Let’s have a look!
Usability & Design
Gamin Base Camp is designed for bikers, hikers, cyclers, pilots, and more. Users can view plan routes, maps, and mark tracks and waypoints through its unique user interface. This interface produces a pleasant view when it is viewed on a computer.
The User Interface was designed for you to effectively Geotag photos, and have them exported to Picasa or any cloud platform of your choice. These images can be emailed to your family and friends so they can navigate to your spots in the future. You can organize data and share them with others effectively.
The Garmin Base Camp software comes with a unique file format that allows you to access it on GPS and other electronic platforms. It also displays topography map data in 3-D or 2-D when it is installed on your computer. The elevation profiles and contour lines of the topography are also displayed in detail. Whenever users geotag photos and associate it with waypoints. They’ll see the exact scenery at any given location.
It comes with features that allow you to create custom maps and use Google maps to overlay. You can create pathways using State and National park maps available to them. The Garmin Base Camp tools can help create a map, split locations, custom styles. It recommends the best style rule, tags for effective positioning, and other map sources for effective styling. You can use the track draw feature to trace elevation changes and planned routes.
Maps sites listed by continents are available and the countries are listed alphabetically for easy download. Its TOPO series maps provide detail on a scale of either 1:24,000 or 1:100,000. Users can also estimate the difficulty of bike and hike ride.
Durability
Garmin Base Camp works well on computers without much issues or bugs. It comes with a fixed routing mismatch, improved MTP device support, unique help links, added support for displaying DEM shading for some cycling maps, and multiple languages.
Updates are released often to improve several areas of the application. The updates also include new features or improve tools and security. New GDPR requirements, new Garmin Express instructions, and issues where route information was not showing are addressed in the recent update. Some updates also include improved entry of position coordinates on the waypoint properties. All these updates help improve your experience with the application.
Pros
- It is easy and free to use.
- Garmin Base Camp allows you to create custom maps.
- Users can share and files easily.
- It delivers the best result whenever you use it.
- The GPS devices have a good battery.
- Good tracking speed.
- It is reliable and easy to install.
- Garmin Base Camp is precise and comfortable to read.
Cons
- Some GPS devices are difficult to see in bright light.
- The software may have bugs.
Availability
Garmin Base Camp is available for Windows 7, Vista, 10, and macOS 10.13 or higher. Operating this product on Windows will require a video card that supports OpenGL version 1.3 or later to preview 3-D terrain Microsoft and .NET Framework 4.6 or higher. For macOS, we recommend a 1024MB RAM or higher for for you to be able to run the product succesfully. So, if there are issues in interacting with the map, ensure you have installed the current video card drivers.
Garmin Base Camp GPS devices are also available for use. The devices were built for versatility, portability, and easy use. The manufacturer embedded GPS in it for quick use and easy navigation.
The device will display where you are, distance, and elevation gain. Some of the GPS devices can be placed conveniently in a gimbal. This gimbal provides comfortable handling of the device and easy positioning for when you’re driving.
This product may not be compatible with serial GPS devices. But you can purchase the BirdsEye Satellite Imagery subscription to send an unlimited number of images to an outdoor device. You can integrate these images into your maps to see the true display of your surroundings. If you can afford raster topographic maps, you can download BirdEye Select maps. This will only cost you more internet data.
You can download this software or purchase the GPS devices at any Garmin store or vendor on the internet. Garmin also requires you to pay for some updates but you may qualify for a free upgrade if it’s available.
Garmin Base Camp does not work with Linux. To make use of this software on your Windows operating system, simply download it from the Garmin Base Camp website. Run the downloaded file, if you’re unable to access the downloaded file because the browser doesn’t prompt you to open it.
Simply press Ctrl plus J to select the file from the download folder. The downloaded file will come with a BaseCamp.exe file format. Therefore, ensure you follow the onscreen prompt to finish the installation.
You can install the product on a macOS by downloading it from the Garmin Base Camp website. After downloading the file go ahead and open the file, in the new finder window double click on the Garmin Base icon and follow the instructions to install the product into your mac pc.
By default, updates will automatically be installed on your software. But you can do this manually; this update doesn’t delete your stored data. Hence, before updating the product ensure you backup your file. Also, make sure you have an active internet connection before you update the product.
Conclusion
With everything said, we can see how helpful Garmin Base Camp is in touring, hiking, cycling, fitness, marine, aviation, and more. It comes with all the best features and it’s easy to use. The product is excellent for beginners with built-in options that cover all your needs. Garmin Base Camp devices are easy to use, water-resistant, and lightweight. It is affordable and excellent for beginners to use.
