Waypoint editing software?

[helipilot12]

What are y'all using for waypoint editing on a pc?

I'm having issues with our companies garmin aera 660's. I've tried "basecamp" but have had nothing but issues, and I've even called the garmin support line and was told "there isn't currently any editing software compatible with the 660". 

Even tried the old "mapsource" software with the same issues.

Seems insane to me that they can sell an "aviation gps" yet not provide the necessary software to actually create/ edit waypoints on a pc. Its a fantastic gps otherwise.

(and for the love of god telling me "you should stick to the good ol dinosaur 296" is completely useless, as its not 2002)

[Saifan Pilot]

Had lots of issues with 695 back in 2012. Sold it and switched to iPad and ForeFlight never looked back. Far superior product in every respect. 

[whippersnapr]

Try Google Earth, or qGIS.

[Saifan Pilot]

Perhaps you can elaborate what the issue is?

GPX files are pretty straight forward and Basecamp and mapsource should  be able to edit them very easily. 
 

[helipilot12]

well basecamp was not sending the data to the device, and when the device is removed from the computer it seemed to corrupt it. the 660 would get stuck in this restart cycle where it wouldn't boot up to the main screen no matter what one did. Finally managed to get it to boot up after several hours but its been a massive pain.

the software edits the waypoints, and receives data from the gps with no issues, it seems writing to the device and then ejecting it from the pc is the issue. 

[helipilot12]

^also google earth does not support the exporting on non kml files (as far as i can tell)

[Saifan Pilot]

I understand what you're going through. Really this is why I ditched Garmin in favor of iPad and Foreflight.

Only thing I can think of is if you have a newer computer with USB 3.0 then the Garmin unit might not like that and prefer the older USB 2.0 port. Only way I can think of to overcome that is to buy a cheap old USB hub that only support USB 2.0, connect it to the computer and connect the Garmin to the hub and let the hub "convert" the USB 3.0 standard to USB 2.0.

I had similar issues including the GPS doing a factory reset out in the field which was unacceptable. Garmin only offered to replace unit with refurbished one for US$500.

That's when I sold my 695 and bought iPad and Forflight. 

I warmly recommend you do the same. Garmin seems to have ditched supporting the handheld aviation devices. I promise you you'll be much happier with ForeFlight on iPad and ironically it's probably much cheaper than the Garmins and iPad can do so much more than just a moving map. But even the moving map it does so much better than Garmin.

If you sell your Garmin on eBay chances are the money you get can most probably finance for you an iPad Mini and ForeFlight.

PM me if you want advice on how to do the switch.

[helipilot12]

thats a good point about the usb 2.0 vs 3.0 thing, i may have to experiment with that. 

i actually have foreflight myself already, but its not "company approved" quite yet. 

As well the gps isnt my personal one, but a company one. 

 

[whippersnapr]

6 hours ago, helipilot12 said:

^also google earth does not support the exporting on non kml files (as far as i can tell)

No, but BaseCamp does import KML.  You can import from the GPS to Google Earth, edit, save as KML, upload to GPS in BaseCamp.