GARMIN G3X user waypoints upload as .fpl

Greetings forum members.

we fly a BCSC in Botswana with a Garmin G3X touch screen. we have a bunch of little bush strips that are not on the Garmin database.
to enter each new runway manually is no problem, but.... I know there is a way to upload a bunch of waypoints as part of a flight plan .fpl file, I just can't get the Garmin to upload it.
I see the file on my SD card, select it, Garmin asks me if I should load it, then nothing after that, can't find route/flight plan or any of the waypoints in the Garmin.

can someone give me the exact format the .fpl text file needs to be in?
and the correct upload sequence for the Garmin

any help would be appreciated .... I am quickly becoming a pro at entering bush airstrips manually

There is no problem moving any points around even if you have to tweek it somewhat. The .fpl format is typically in the form of a list user way points that are followed by a list of the corresponding route points. I don't like it too much because of some of it's limitations but it should work fine for user way points. If you have a copy of the file I would be happy to take a look at it a see if there is some sort of issue. As I recall it should be copied to the root directory of the SD and imported from there.

Here is a tiny one point .fpl file for you to test. I'm not sure if Garmin gets a rash if it only has one point but you can add from there. For exact format there is the published shema that you can refer to since there are many extensions and other gook to mess you up that you may want to play with.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<flight-plan xmlns="http://www8.garmin.com/xmlschemas/FlightPlan/v1">
<created>2019-09-21T17:22:59Z</created>
<waypoint-table>
<waypoint>
<identifier>PTAR1</identifier>
<type>USER WAYPOINT</type>
<country-code></country-code>
<lat>61.961149</lat>
<lon>-152.066917</lon>
<comment></comment>
</waypoint>
</waypoint-table>
<route>
<route-name>NEW</route-name>
<flight-plan-index>50</flight-plan-index>
<route-point>
<waypoint-identifier>PTAR1</waypoint-identifier>
<waypoint-type>USER WAYPOINT</waypoint-type>
<waypoint-country-code></waypoint-country-code>
</route-point>
</route>
</flight-plan>

Good Luck - Jerry

Hi,

I don't know much about the G3X, but there's a Garmin employee that posts over on the Van's forum as g3xpert. They should certainly be able to answer your question.

Here's the contact info from his posts:

Garmin G3X Support
g3xpert@garmin.com
1-866-854-8433 - 7 to 7 Central Time M to F
Please email us for support instead of using Private Messaging due to the limitations of the latter.

Click to expand...

g3xpert@garmin.com is the tech support email address for all things G3X. They ‘re very helpful and usually quick to respond. I’ve contacted them many times and have never been disappointed.

The G3X Touch is very finicky about SD cards. I don’t remember what the specs require but I’ve sorted through several cards that won’t work to find one that does.

I have had trouble With SD cards that were too big. It would only work with a 4 mb card. Those are hard to find these days. Not sure why but going to the small card worked for me. ??????
sometimes all this computer stuff just baffles me

Bill

Bill Rusk said:

I have had trouble With SD cards that were too big. It would only work with a 4 mb card. Those are hard to find these days. Not sure why but going to the small card worked for me. ??????
sometimes all this computer stuff just baffles me

Bill

Click to expand...

I think it has something to do with how the cards are formatted.

Somebody explained to me once that the larger cards aren’t really “bigger,” they just use a different formatting to hold more stuff.

I never fact-checked that, but it made sense to me.

My old android phone wouldn’t take one of those “big” SD cards, but took a smaller one with no problems.

Greetings all, thanks for all the feedback.

cubflier (Jerry) - I will send you the file as a PM, it would be great if you could look at it for me.
fancypants - I have tried emailing the G3X expert a few times perviously, no answer..... sadly.... would expect better from Garmin
Bill Rusk & Cam Tom - you might have a good point here, I have an 8GB card in the G3X, it seems to work fine for logging and software updates, so not sure why it doesn't want to work to upload a flight plan, I will scratch around in my boxes if I have an older smaller SD card and try that.

cheers
Heiko

My Garmin 696 has a mini-USB port that allows me to plug direct into my computer. Does a G3X have this, or only a SD slot?

Using Garmin's Basecamp software (not the greatest program but I've figured it out over the years) I can send/receive data points to/from the 696. I've created a file under 'my collection' called 'airstrips' which contains a bunch of strips and landable areas I've flown over the past few years. When I add another strip or two, I select the 'airstrips' collection and & hit send to device. The direct connection is great, loading via SD card for the 696 was hit or miss too.

Sooo.... as it is with these forums..... some friendly fellow 10 000 miles away who has a minute to spare takes on your problem and FIXES IT!!, isn't it awesome!!

Cubflier (Jerry) from Palmer AK spent some time with my files and found that I had a corrupted part in the file that was making it unreadable for my Garmin G3x, he sent me the corrected fpl file, i uploaded it and voila!!! it works!!

some tips Jerry gave me.
1. mark your potential waypoints with an easily selectable icon (in tis case a blue flag)
2. upload ONLY ONE waypoint and figure out whether you can FIND that waypoint and DELETE it so you know that you can easily manage your waypoints if you upload some you dont want.
3. upload using Jerry's format he put in the forum above on post #2

I hope this thread helps someone out sometime, it sure helped me!! no more manual entry of each waypoint before I go exploring

thanks Jerry!!

I'm glad I was able to help. It was perfect timing and I learned some things about international character sets in the process. I did punch in one of your coordinates and did a "direct to" on my Aera 660. The direct route to your place in Botswana takes me north over Fairbanks. It seemed counter intuitive at first glance:lol:.

Take Care - Jerry

cubflier said:

I'm glad I was able to help. It was perfect timing and I learned some things about international character sets in the process. I did punch in one of your coordinates and did a "direct to" on my Aera 660. The direct route to your place in Botswana takes me north over Fairbanks. It seemed counter intuitive at first glance:lol:.

Take Care - Jerry

Click to expand...

:lol: yes the great circle, can be confusing at times, "go north to go south"

Before the days of computer flight plans we used a globe and a piece of string for initial flight planning. It was really a great way to see and understand direct routing on a sphere.