Garmin route creation

Gary D

Recently purchased a Garmin Edge 305 and am just trying to get to grips with it.

I have created a route using Mapmyride by plotting along the roads I want to follow.
I uploaded it to my Garmin Edge 305 and expected it to show me either where to turn at junctions or give me a dynamic pointer showing the general direction of travel.

It did neither!!! [:(]

What am I doing wrong??

Do I have to actually designate each and every point at a junction, or significant change of direction, as a Waypoint?
Is it necessary to add "comments" at these Waypoints and do they appear on the display of the Garmin?

Also, when the Edge does indicate a change in direction, does it just rely on the tiny arrow pointing in the right direction?
I think I will struggle to see that when on the bike [:I][:I]
(Defeats the object if I have to stop and put my glasses on! [:)])

Thanks,
Gary.

Must try harder....

il_principe

Try bikeroutetoaster - you can add up to 100 coursepoints (Turn Right, Turn Left etc) and this is supposed to work well. Pity someone can't combine mapmyride with bikeroutetoaster, that'd make for a good site.

My Best Bike

FrankK

Gary, I may as well blow my own trumpet. Have a look at

http://frank.kinlan.co.uk/?page_id=410

I've written a tutorial for the Edge 305, get a lot of hits on it now.

Unknown

i got a 205 for my birthday last week and started a thread on it as i to was having difficulty using the unit. two best bits of advice i have had are make sure the software you're using is up to date (i had to download an update to both the garmin software and memorymap) and if using it to follow a pre planned route then put a way point at each junction you make a turn at and make sure that the track to the next way point is in the direction of the turn you need to make, if it isn't then put in an extra waypoint fairly close after the junction and well a way from any other junction so you do't think there is another turning to make. this way i have been able to route plan 100k rides with less than 100 waypoints (the maximum number of waypoints the 205 can take)
the other way that i was advised to input a route to follow is creat in memorymap and then convert to a track then upload the track to the unit (tracks or courses don't use waypoints)

hope this helps, the previous thread was in the beginners bit so you may still be able to find it.

Windy

Wot, get up early and ride to work.... are you mad?

nashcom

I'm having the same problem! The first time I used it, I was able to pretty much follow a route. I've now created a new route, but it just doesn't notify me at any junction. I need to try it again, but I wondered if it was because I'd put the 1st (START) waypoint at the same location as the 20th final one (STOP). I deleted all previous waypoints and routes. I used Marengo to plot the route, and GPSBabel to upload it, and that part of it works fine - it's just when you select the route and 'navigate' from the Garmin that it doesn't seem to work...

FrankK

Pressing Stop/Start helps. You need to clear out your waypoints using Delete/all first. Use the mode button to nagigate through the screens, you should be able to get the compass up. Starting and finishing at the same point does confuse it. You may have finished as soon as you started.

http://frank.kinlan.co.uk

Gary D

Thanks for all the input guys - it's reassuring to know that I am not the only one struggling [;)]

One thing is for sure is that the whole route/course creation, uploading, downloading etc etc issue is far from straight forward. There seems to be a million and one solutions to get to the same conclusion - and none of them perfect.

Following jashburnham's advice, I tried "bikeroutetoaster" before my ride yesterday and I have to say it worked very well. The Edge gave me a warning before, and at, every turning which is what I wanted. The only problem I had was seeing them on the screen whilst wearing shades and not having 20:20 vision [:I][:o)]

However, I did have a problem when I got home when I tried to upload the details to Training Centre [:(!]
I kept getting an error message saying it could not establish communication with the device. This was strange as I managed to upload to Motionbased without any problems. After doing about 2 hours searching on forums, upgrading and re-installing software etc. the only way I could overcome this problem was to do a hard reset on the Edge. From what I have found out, this is not an uncommon problem. I just hope it is not going to be a regular occurence as it resets all your settings to default.
Is the software/firmware so unstable? Are there any precautions that can be taken to prevernt this - like plugging in to the USB on the PC first, and then switching on the unit for example?

Frank,
Thanks for the link to your blog. I will follow that closely as it looks really interesting. (I am also nearly the same age to yourself and have similar objectives) I haven't tried Marengo yet but I will give it a go.

Thanks,
Gary.

Must try harder....