Viewing Trip Logs in BaseCamp

Trip logs are points automatically stored when the GPS device is locked onto a satellite signal and moving. It is the electronic equivalent of laying down a "breadcrumb trail" to mark the path that has been traveled.

Archived trip log information is not visible on the device itself but can be used and seen with the BaseCamp™  program. The log contains information about points along the recorded path, including elevation, distance, time, speed, course (direction of travel), date/time, and position (expressed as coordinates in degrees, minutes and seconds).

Lines of information are expressed as a "legs," each representing a distinct section between two points. For example, in a drive to work, one leg might be from your garage to the end of your driveway, and the next leg from there to the next turn.

Here is an example of a trip log as seen in BaseCamp.  

Notes:

• An automotive device can store 10,000 points before it begins the process of archiving additional logs
  • Beyond 10,000 points the device moves the oldest trip data into an internal archive file
• Up to 20 archive files can be stored internally on the device
  • This means, depending on space available, the device can store over 200,000 points of trip data
• The trip log recorder stops recording once the device gets to the specified destination
  • The device will start a new trip log to record your track, even without a specified destination if you keep driving
  • Both tracks will show seamlessly on the map if they are from the same day

To Open and View Individual Archives:

1. Connect the device to your computer with a USB cable
2. Open the Garmin drive
   • Windows: Press the Windows key + E on the keyboard, (then click This PC in the left column on Windows 10 & 11)
   • Mac: Located on the Desktop
     • See Automotive Device Compatibility with Garmin Mac Applications on macOS for more info about devices that will not appear as a drive on a Mac computer
3. Open the Internal Storage or Internal Garmin Storage folder
   • Skip this step on some devices
4. Open the Garmin folder
   • Skip this step on some devices
5. Open the GPX folder
6. Open the Archive folder

Each archived GPX file can be opened in BaseCamp™.

These can Also be Opened as Individual Archives From Within BaseCamp™ by Following These Steps:

1. Connect the device to the computer
2. Open the BaseCamp™ program
3. Click on the name of your device, or on Internal Storage, under Devices
4. Click on an Active Log

The recorded trip data should now be displayed in BaseCamp™.