Garmin Edge 605/705 - Driving Me Nuts - Please Help!

luketorroni

Hi everybody,

Finally purchased a Garmin Edge 605 last week so I can navigate some new rides without using my maps!

I have been playing around with the unit for almost a week now but it has thrown up a number of interesting glitches that are driving me crazy! Any light you can shed on the subject would be really helpful... otherwise I think it will be returned for a full refund!

1. It's not mentioned anywhere in the instructions but I have discovered in order to navigate a 'follow history' ride, you must first create a new Course for that ride in the Training menu. Once the course is created, then and only then, can you navigate the ride through Saved Rides... Follow History. However, the calculated route starts in a different location around the corner and the end location falls a road short of the actual end point, even on very short routes around the block from my home it doesn't seem to work properly.

2. The unit has turned itself off once, like it just lost power and the screen slowly dimmed. I could overlook this but it has bugged me to say the least.

3. When navigating a Course the only coursepoint information displayed is turn left, turn right etc etc. Where is the other description data that the likes of BikeRouteToaster creates naming the roads as well as the turn direction?

4. At the weekend I planned a ride using bikehike.co.uk and saved as a gpx track file. Worked really well and managed to navigate my whole ride easily but.... in a couple of places the calculated route came off the road, eg cutting a corner through a field. How can this happen when the settings are on 'Follow Roads'? Surely it should never make an error like this as it's only allowed to follow existing roads?

I'm sure I'm going to uncover more as I go along but these issues are really frustrating! I can't understand why the unit can't navigate it's own history correctly, this seems crazy. Please let me know if you can help or I have missed something?

Thanks In Advance!

willbevan

short response as about to be work time

1. You can navigate any history or create a normal gpx in mapsoure or bike route toaster to navigate

2. I have had this once in 2 years of owning the 705, wouldnt expect you to have this regularly, if you do, time to bother garmin support

3. When doing a course you only get the left and right, unless you put other bits in, like water stops, danger etc (can edit them say in garmin training centre), if youi do a gpx nav it then gives you junction pictures etc when you get to the turns.

4. you can set the option to lock on roads that helps with this, gps is not 100% accurate

Sorry its not much detail, but hopefully points you in the right direction

Thanks

Will

GiantMike

Q1: I create Bikehike GPX routes and drop them into the 'Courses' folder. Mine always starts and finishes where I plan them. I believe 'Follow History' may just repeat previous rides?

Q3: In Bikehike I set up coursepoints and they seem to work fine. I tend to use 'generic' points and name them according to what I need to remember, such as 'Hard Climb' or 'Food Stop'.

Q4: The route uses the Google Maps (GM) roads which may be inaccurate. I have planned routes before where a road has moved and the GM database hadn't been corrected. The 605 just follows the route you put into it, so if GM is wrong the 605 knows no better because you're not using the 605's roads database at that point.

As far as GPS accuracy, I've compared my 605 to other GPSs and it's at least as good as any of them.

I don't think there are any problems with the 605, it just takes a little time to perfect the routes. I wouldn't want to ride without 1 anymore.

JohnnyAllez

See this great website for loadsa info

http://frank.kinlan.co.uk/?page_id=1212

Also..... some info I`ve put together having trawled the internet for stuff (605 will be mostly same as 705 info)

SHORTCUTS

Edge 705
When Unit is on:
tap POWER: Light page
hold MODE: Brings up bike selection
hold Menu: Key lock toggle
LAP + MODE: Restarts the unit, soft reset
When unit is off:
POWER + MODE: Prompted user memory clear
POWER then MODE + ENTER: Unprompted user memory clear
POWER + ZOOM IN: Clears satellite cache
POWER + ENTER: Test page





MAPPING FROM SD CARD - HOW TO DO IT

Technically the maps on the SD card are not meant to work on a computer, which is why many opt for purchasing the maps on DVD and just sending them over to their own SD card. You can do so, but you'll not be able to use the auto-routing feature of the maps (not an issue for GTC though) and the map display may be a bit sluggish. That said, to use the map from the SD card with GTC/Mapsource, mount your unit to your computer (or use a card reader) and make a copy of the map file on the SD card. On your computer, make a copy of the Garmin basemap (in case you don't like the results) which you will find here: C:\Garmin\PCBSMP2\pc_basemap2.img. Then take the copy of the map you made from your SD card file, rename it to "pc_basemap2.img" and replace the file with the same title mentioned above.

IMPORTANT
Courses are .TCX format.
Routes are .GPX format.

AND
‘Routing’ - ‘Recalculate’ - needs to be ‘OFF’










BIKE ROUTE TOASTER – TURN-BY-TURN ROUTING

CREATE AND SAVE ROUTE IN BRT.

UPLOAD ROUTE TO GPS UNIT AS .TCX FORMAT, GOES INTO “COURSES” FOLDER ON UNIT,
FOUND UNDER “TRAINING” – “COURSES” NAMED AS WHAT YOU SAVED IT AS.
SHOWN ON MAP AS THICK PINK LINE WHEN SELECTED

UPLOAD ROUTE TO GPS UNIT AS .GPX FORMAT, GOES INTO “GPX” FOLDER ON UNIT, NAMED AS “COURSE.GPX” IN FOLDER. OVERWRITES PREVIOUS FILE AS NAMED THE SAME AS PREVIOUS ONE
FOUND UNDER “SAVED RIDES” IN UNIT NAMED AS “COURSE” (NO OTHER NAME POSSIBLE)
SHOWN ON MAP AS COLOUR-SELECTABLE BREAD-CRUMB TRAIL COVERING PINK LINE (“SHOW ON MAP” IS SELECTABLE TO SHOW COLOUR OVER TOP OF PINK LINE IN “MAP SETUP” FROM “COURSE” SELECTION)

SAVE ROUTE AS .TCX FILE TO FOLDER ON PC. COPY AND PASTE TO “COURSES” FOLDER ON SD CARD IN .TCX FORMAT.
FOUND UNDER “TRAINING” – “COURSES” WITH “SD –NAME”
SHOWN ON MAP AS THICK PINK LINE

SAVE ROUTE AS .GPX FILE TO FOLDER ON PC. COPY AND PASTE TO “GPX” FOLDER ON SD CARD IN .GPX FORMAT
FOUND IN “SAVED RIDES” AS NAMED


BIKEHIKE - NONE TURN-BY-TURN ROUTING

CREATE AND SAVE ROUTE IN BH


UPLOAD ROUTE TO GPS UNIT AS .GPXX FORMAT, GOES INTO “GPX” FOLDER ON UNIT, NAMED AS “NAME.GPX” IN FOLDER.
FOUND UNDER “SAVED RIDES” ROUTES PREFIXED WITH “SD”


UPLOAD ROUTE TO GPS UNIT AS .TCX FORMAT, GOES INTO “COURSES” FOLDER ON UNIT,
FOUND UNDER “TRAINING” – “COURSES” NAMED AS WHAT YOU SAVED IT AS.
SHOWN ON MAP AS THICK PINK LINE WHEN SELECTED

luketorroni

Thanks for the responses guys... but I don't think you've quite understood my issues?

I know I can make my own tracks in bikehike etc but why doesn't the unit 'follow history' without having to first create a course from the training menu? Then, even if you do this the actual route it navigates does not match the previously ridden route exactly... starts around the corner from my house and ends a full road short of the final waypoint? Really annoying!

I have set the unit to follow roads. On the route I mentioned I could see the road I was riding on and the map was accurate, but the purple route lines was NOT following the road and therefore cutting the corner through a field... seems odd to me? Also the road in question isn't new and has been there for many years so must be correct on database!

GPS accuracy seems fine... it shows my exact location fine. It's the routing and errors I have issues with. The 605 should know it's created a route that doesn't follow the roads on it's own maps! Mental!

GiantMike... I thought you had to create TCX files for the courses folder? Not GPX?

If the unit was £50 or even £100 you could accept some niggles... but at nearly £300 you expect the device to function properly!!

Bronzie

luketorroni wrote:

I have set the unit to follow roads. On the route I mentioned I could see the road I was riding on and the map was accurate, but the purple route lines was NOT following the road and therefore cutting the corner through a field... seems odd to me? Also the road in question isn't new and has been there for many years so must be correct on database!

That's a problem with sites such as BikeHike etc that use Google mapping data rather than the Garmin unit itself - they do tend to cut around sharp corners etc but it's not really a major problem............the unit will beep and tell you you've gone "Off Course" but if you don't press any buttons it will correct itself when you rejoin "the route" around the corner

luketorroni

Ok I've just ridden another short route around the block....

1. Recorded history of the ride... shows up correctly as a bread-crumb trail.

2. Gone to Where to? -> Follow History -> Clearly show ride in list but can't do anything from this screen, selecting the ride does nothing.

3. Create a new Course from the history file in Training. Course is correctly plotted and shows as purple line on the map.

4. Try again... Where to? -> Follow History -> Select ride which now starts calculating for turn by turn navigation... but once calculated it doesn't follow the correct route... it just goes wherever it wants to?

Can anyone explain or help with this??

JohnnyAllez

Is the unit brand new? Did you update the firmware on the unit on the Garmin website first? If not, I`d do this before doing anything else, there have been numerous glitches / c0ck-ups with the Garmins, then start from there. Look at the stuff I posted, make sure you have the various settings as stated (eg recalculate to "off" etc) and go from there. Franks website answers most / all questions, just takes a bit of trawling through, hence the thing I posted up, which took ages of sifting through various websites, forums etc, to try and make some sense of what happens and when, from where

Bronzie

luketorroni wrote:

3. Create a new Course from the history file in Training. Course is correctly plotted and shows as purple line on the map.

4. Try again... Where to? -> Follow History -> Select ride which now starts calculating for turn by turn navigation... but once calculated it doesn't follow the correct route... it just goes wherever it wants to?

Can anyone explain or help with this??

Access your saved course from the training menu:
Training > Courses > select the saved course > Do Course

The Garmins are very good bits of kit...............but pretty much everyone agree's that the "user manual" is pathetic! I spent loads of time trawling the tinterweb to find out how to use most of the features. Pee poor.

luketorroni

Yes the unit is brand new, received it last week... I've updated the firmware to version 3.1 so everything is up-to-date!

I have looked on Franks website but no mention of my particular problem of navigating history. It records the course perfectly and you can ride the course again using Training -> Courses -> Do Course

...BUT you cannot navigate properly with turn by turn directions using Where To? -> Follow History menu option. It doesn't follow the actual route taken and both start/end points are some distance off where they should be. What is going on?

Tried Garmin Support but the guy was totally unhelpful and just wanted me off the phone as quickly as possible!

JohnnyAllez

I think that`s one of the things with the 605, it won`t do actual turn by turn routing from its basemap (does it have one? The 705 does but it`s poor until you upload some decent maps from Mapsource), not well up on what the 605 has loaded, I don`t think any of them are capable of turn-by-turn routing like you get with car-based Nuvi for instance. Never plotted a route like that with my 705, always done it in BRT and uploaded it to the Garmin to follow.

luketorroni

Yes the 605 has the same Basemap as the 705 and I also have the City Navigator Europe.

GiantMike

luketorroni wrote:

Ok I've just ridden another short route around the block....

1. Recorded history of the ride... shows up correctly as a bread-crumb trail.

2. Gone to Where to? -> Follow History -> Clearly show ride in list but can't do anything from this screen, selecting the ride does nothing.

3. Create a new Course from the history file in Training. Course is correctly plotted and shows as purple line on the map.

4. Try again... Where to? -> Follow History -> Select ride which now starts calculating for turn by turn navigation... but once calculated it doesn't follow the correct route... it just goes wherever it wants to?

Can anyone explain or help with this??

I think I know.....

Go into Where to? and make sure you cancel any navigation that's going on.

Do step 3 above

At step 4, you need to select the COURSE you've just made. I THINK this is via training but I'm not 100% sure, I'll check tonight when I get my hands on mine.

When you click on the course you won't get navigation, just a purple line to follow, as if you'd downloaded a TCX route to it from the internet.

As I say, when I get home I'll double check, but it sounds like you're making the unit NAVIGATE the route rather than following a course? Just a thought.

As said above, the Garmins are excellent, but take a while to get to grips with.

GiantMike

Right, here's the answer.

1. Cancel navigation via the where to? function.
2. Go to Training via the Menu button
3. Go to Courses
4. Toggle to <Create New>
5. Select the ride you want to use to create a new course
6. Wait for the system to make the history ride into a course
7. Go to Training > Courses > and then toggle through them until you get to the one you've just created.
8. Click on Do Course and a purple line should appear at the start and show you your route. NOTE: you do not get directions, just a purple line to follow.

Any good?

redddraggon

You can get turn by turn directions if you make the .tcx on bikeroutetoaster

luketorroni

Thanks for all the comments guys, I have been reading all your posts with interest!

What bothers me is according to the user manual you should be able to 'Navigate' history (i.e. turn by turn). It doesn't say anywhere in the instructions that you first need to make a Course from the history before doing so. I only worked this out myself from playing with the unit for hours! In any case following a Course is not same as a 'navigated' ride!

Now, I have have continued to play with the unit and discovered something rather interesting, perhaps even paranormal... here is the scenario...

1. You complete a normal ride which was recorded and saved in the history.

2. When you get home, try to select this ride from the 'Follow History' menu and you will see nothing happens. You can see the ride in the list but you cannot select or do anything with it.

3. As we have discovered... to follow the ride again you first have to create a Course from the history in the Training menu. But this means you can only follow the ride again as a course, NOT a navigated ride.

4. This is what I have discovered... If you omit step 3, i.e. do NOT create a Course from the history. Just plug your unit into the computer and let it mount up on your desktop. Then don't do anything at all and eject the device safely, remove the cable and start-up the unit.

5. Now go to the Follow History menu and select your ride from the list. As if by magic... the unit will now start calculating the ride giving you turn by turn navigation, following the exact route you have previously taken!!

This seems really odd to me like some strange forces are at work! Have a go yourselves and let me know if the same phenomenon occurs? It doesn't have to be a big ride... just take walk around the block and record your route with a couple of turns as a test. I have also tested this on PC and Mac with the same outcome!

Let me know what you find....I await your responses with keen interest...???

JohnnyAllez

Just tried what you said,

Follow history

select the ride from the list (just one in my list)

Then I get "calculating" and then it gives me the route on the map (not straight lines but correct routing) and also got the turn-by-turn direction list, ascent graph, compass showing direction of travel etc, so it seems to be working OK on mine. Not something I`ve tried to do before.

Sounds like either you`ve got a setting different to me, or your unit is malfunctioning :?

Bronzie

deleted

GavH

For the AUTO SHUT OFF question:

Update the firmware to the latest version. (Goto the Garmin site and download it)

Perform a hard reset on the unit (Press the Lap and Mode key together - check the manual though in case I've got that wrong).

Job done.

JohnnyAllez

That`s a soft reset Gav (list of the shortcuts etc in above post)

Bronzie

luketorroni wrote:

Let me know what you find....I await your responses with keen interest...???

Agree with you - tried to follow a new route I did this morning..............it wouldn't work until I'd connected the unit to the PC and then disconnected without doing anything else.

When you connect the USB cable, a message displays on the Garmin saying "Saving History" so not sure if this has anything to do with it.

I have to agree that the Garmin 705 is very buggy - every firmware release (at least 1 a month!) corrects one problem but seems to give rise to new ones. Most of them are fairly minor issues, but annoying none the less.

hugo15

JohnnyAllez wrote:

BIKE ROUTE TOASTER – TURN-BY-TURN ROUTING

CREATE AND SAVE ROUTE IN BRT.

UPLOAD ROUTE TO GPS UNIT AS .TCX FORMAT, GOES INTO “COURSES” FOLDER ON UNIT,
FOUND UNDER “TRAINING” – “COURSES” NAMED AS WHAT YOU SAVED IT AS.
SHOWN ON MAP AS THICK PINK LINE WHEN SELECTED

UPLOAD ROUTE TO GPS UNIT AS .GPX FORMAT, GOES INTO “GPX” FOLDER ON UNIT, NAMED AS “COURSE.GPX” IN FOLDER. OVERWRITES PREVIOUS FILE AS NAMED THE SAME AS PREVIOUS ONE
FOUND UNDER “SAVED RIDES” IN UNIT NAMED AS “COURSE” (NO OTHER NAME POSSIBLE)
SHOWN ON MAP AS COLOUR-SELECTABLE BREAD-CRUMB TRAIL COVERING PINK LINE (“SHOW ON MAP” IS SELECTABLE TO SHOW COLOUR OVER TOP OF PINK LINE IN “MAP SETUP” FROM “COURSE” SELECTION)

SAVE ROUTE AS .TCX FILE TO FOLDER ON PC. COPY AND PASTE TO “COURSES” FOLDER ON SD CARD IN .TCX FORMAT.
FOUND UNDER “TRAINING” – “COURSES” WITH “SD –NAME”
SHOWN ON MAP AS THICK PINK LINE

SAVE ROUTE AS .GPX FILE TO FOLDER ON PC. COPY AND PASTE TO “GPX” FOLDER ON SD CARD IN .GPX FORMAT
FOUND IN “SAVED RIDES” AS NAMED

Just got my Edge 705 this week and been having a look at Bike Route Toaster. What are the advantages/ disadvantages of using a .tcx course vs. a .gpx route?

Also, does it make any difference whether the course/route is saved on the unit or on the SD card?

willbevan

no difference from a functionality point of view being on teh SD card or internally memory, I prefer being oni the SD card myself but thats just because it fees up memory on the main device. Not that you are likely to run out mind you, especially if you have a newer one with a gig of internally memory, mine has only half that

as for the tcx or gpx. GPX is a common format that can be read by pretty much everything, whe the tcx files are a prorpiety (lol @ my spelling) format for garmin.

So would say unless you want to use courses, save everything as a gpx imho

hugo15

Thanks Will.

So is there any difference on the unit when following a route rather than a course? If I understand correctly both will give you turn by turn directions if plotted in Bike Route Toaster?

blooocow

Auto shut offf:
give it a shake. Can you feel it move inside? My 305 has been rattled to death after about 12 months. Started off with reset button not working. Then it started turning itself off mid ride. I've worked out the exact combination of downhill and road buzz that causes this. I would get it fixed but I can't bear not to have it for training stats.I just ride with it in my pocket when I'm off road and put up with it on road. Word of advice: Garmin weren't built for XC.

Also, what I love with bike route toaster is the way it says turn left when it means right. If I don't know the roads I'll always use the compass for directions.

Bronzie

hugo15 wrote:

What are the advantages/ disadvantages of using a .tcx course vs. a .gpx route?

I find the tcx files tend to work better on the 705 (more reliable) but havent used the gpx format much so I may be missing a trick with it.

The other advantage of the tcx is that you can set an average speed in Bikeroutetoaster and then use the Virtual Partner function on the 705 as if you'd ridden the route before. Doesn't account for tail/head winds of course though

willbevan

hugo15 wrote:

Thanks Will.

So is there any difference on the unit when following a route rather than a course? If I understand correctly both will give you turn by turn directions if plotted in Bike Route Toaster?

Both give you turn by turn... under certain circumstances.

If you are riding a route, the unit will give you left and right, as well as junction pictures etc.

For a course, if you have created them with turn points like though bike route toaster, it will give you simple left and right instuctions (will go and check this mind you, as I dont use courses except when racing myself with the VP, but do have a vague recollection of getting proper left and right turns with junction pictures... but I think I was using a route and a course at the same time, the course being only 10 miles of the entire ride mind you, some one correct me if im wrong before I get a chance to try)

Cheers

Will

mkirby

dumb question but you didnt mention it or i missed it. After you have completed your ride pressed stop, are you holding the lap button down for 3 seconds to save the ride?

If you dont do that that is why you get the saving history message when you hook it up to usb.

Cant comment on the rest as i dont use the navigation features of my 705, its just to darn hard to make a route for it without having to pay through the nose.

GavH

JohnnyAllez wrote:

That`s a soft reset Gav (list of the shortcuts etc in above post)

I knew it was one or the other! :oops:

pabloweaver

See my topic about GPSies.com ...easy easy, better than BRT , you do the route save to Garmin as GPX track ( or save to pc folder for easy access ) and LO...turn by turn , bells and whistles navigation.

I love it and the saved routes bit is great!

daj

Mine went pearshaped at the weekend for the first time, I use have used it twice creating my own offroad routes using bikehike first time it was superb...Never missed a turn. On Sunday it went a bit crazy ... Got very confused on route, in the end the route went up 20 miles created random directions and looking at the map the highlighted route had gone dis-jointed all over the place. And the most anoying would start counting down to turns that were not there and because a turn was not made it was just lock on.

Hmmmm hopefully just a glitch and wont happen again :?