Step 6: Stay in Basic mode and set planner inputs

The planner inputs are where you tell TRIPS what kind of trip you are planning, who the trip is for, and what constraints should shape the first-pass itinerary.

For Getting Started, stay in Basic mode.

Basic is enough to build a useful first plan. Pro is for deeper tuning, calibration, and advanced overrides after you already understand the route and your first set of outputs.

Start with this rule

For your first trip:

stay in Basic mode
use grounded real-world values
trust defaults unless you have stronger evidence
do not fill in extra fields just because they exist in Pro

Recommended order

Fill out the Basic-mode panels in this order:

Trip Attributes
General User Info
Capacity
Energy Intake
Pack Weight

That order matches the current live planner and helps you set the highest-value assumptions first.

The most important inputs to adjust first

For onboarding, these are the highest-value levers:

Hiking Time Hours (User Limit) when the suggested days look too long or too short
Sleep Hours Per Night when your trip sleep will differ from your normal routine
Body weight when you want the model to reflect the actual user
Food consumption rate when food load is a meaningful part of the carry
Base weight when pack load is materially affecting the trip

If you only change a few fields on your first pass, start there.

For the deeper priority order after onboarding, continue later to Which parameters matter most for hiking time and activity calories?.

First-pass checklist

Before you leave this step, make sure:

the trip has a recognizable name
the unit system is correct
age and body weight describe the real user, not an ideal version
hiking-time limit reflects a repeatable day, not a best-case day
sleep, food, and pack values are believable for this trip
you are still in Basic mode

Step 1: Set Trip Attributes first

Use Trip Attributes to set the planning context before you tune pacing or load.

In Basic, this panel includes:

Trip name
Start date
Units

How to use it:

use a trip name that will still make sense later in the Trip Manager
set the start date if you want the plan tied to the real trip timing
choose units once at the start so the rest of the page stays consistent

Step 2: Fill out General User Info with real baseline values

The General User Info panel is intentionally simple in Basic mode.

In Basic, this panel includes:

Age
Body weight

How to use it:

enter your real age
use the body weight that best represents the period of the trip
avoid optimistic or aspirational values

Defaults versus manual overrides:

in Basic, TRIPS keeps the deeper physiology controls out of the way
that is deliberate, and it is usually better for a first-pass plan
if you do not have stronger evidence than the defaults, stay here and move on

Step 3: Use Capacity to set daily limits

The Capacity panel is one of the most important sections in the whole onboarding flow.

In Basic, this panel includes:

Hiking Time Hours (User Limit)
Sleep Hours Per Night

Hiking Time Hours (User Limit)

This is your daily hiking-time ceiling.

Use a value based on:

repeatable moving time from comparable trips
what you can sustain for this trip style
a realistic day, not your single best day

If the route or day outputs look unrealistic later, this is one of the first fields to revisit.

Sleep Hours Per Night

Use expected trip sleep, not ideal home sleep.

Think about:

what you actually get on similar trips
early starts, weather, camp routine, and recovery needs

Step 4: Use Energy Intake to describe your food plan

The Energy Intake panel in Basic mode focuses on one practical question:

How much food weight will you actually consume each day?

In Basic, this panel includes:

Food consumption rate

How to use it:

use a value based on comparable trips or a realistic food plan
think in terms of actual food weight consumed per day
do not guess high or low just to make the itinerary look better

This matters because food rate affects total carry, especially at the start of the trip.

Step 5: Use Pack Weight to describe the carry

The Pack Weight panel keeps the carry side of the trip simple in Basic mode.

In Basic, this panel includes:

Base weight

How to use it:

use a recent actual pack list when possible
use a weighed or defensible estimate for this trip style when you do not have a final list yet
make sure the value reflects the real trip, not your lightest-ever setup

Stay out of Pro mode for this step

In the live planner, Basic mode hides the deeper controls for things like HRR anchor and advanced physiology tuning.

That is the right behavior for onboarding.

Switch to Pro later only when:

you already have a believable first-pass route and itinerary
you understand why a deeper override would improve the model
you have stronger evidence than the default

How to think about defaults versus manual overrides

Use this rule across the whole planner:

keep the default when it is more trustworthy than your guess
override only when you have better evidence
use manual values to improve realism, not to make the trip look easier

Good reasons to keep defaults:

you do not actually know the value better
the default is already close enough for onboarding
changing it would mostly be guess tuning

Good reasons to override:

you have direct personal evidence
the default is clearly unrepresentative
the field materially changes the trip and you know what a better value should be

Common mistakes to avoid

Watch out for these:

entering flattering values instead of representative ones
using a heroic hiking-time limit instead of a repeatable one
switching to Pro too early
entering food or pack assumptions from a different trip context
treating manual override as something advanced users are supposed to do by default

What to do next

After filling out planner inputs, the next move in onboarding is to segment the route into camps and let those inputs shape the itinerary.

If you want the deeper reference docs later, continue with:

Next step

Next... Step 7: Split a route into days