Garmin Dakota

camerauk

Well I bit the bullet and have got a garmin dalota 20 local shop matched the amazon price(well £205) now I have managed to get the free maps on there they seem ok for me at the moment
now question is what do I use to manage the rides I do, i used training centre to save rides onto and gpsies to save some of my rides, now I can not get the dakota to connect to training centre, I am using a mac and have been using it fine with a edge 205(which still connects fine) looks like I have to change my software but to what plz
also there is not start/stop like on the edge 205 is there a way to start recording a ride like on the edge
cheers

poppit

I plot the rides on bikehike, download them into a folder on my PC then just copy and paste them into my Dakota 20 GPX folder using the cable supplied.

camerauk

Ok thanks
but what do you use to store your rides on?

camerauk

anyone with anymore info please it would be much appreciated
I have sorted the bit about getting routes onto the dakota although not tried any as I am waiting for my bike mount to arrive, will these routes guide me ie give turn left turn right etc?
also how do I get the info from the garmin onto the computer to save my ride info etc
cheers

ExeterSimon

Camerauk

The Dakota is primarily a GPS unit...not a satnav.

Depending on how you upload your route you will just have a line on the map and your position pointer. There's no hot Swedish blonde telling you to turn right in 300 metres unfortuntalely. All you do is just make sure that your pointer is on the line at all times.

You'll find some useful info on here:

http://garmindakota.wikispaces.com/

and here:

http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/

The Oregon and Dakota are very similar.

And...always take a map with you. A GPS should not be used as a standalone unit.

I use Garmin's own mapping tool as it allows me to transfer the gpx files straight to the Oregon with faffing around.

hoochylala

camerauk wrote:

Ok thanks
but what do you use to store your rides on?

Im not sure what you mean by store your rides on. Plot on bikehike and save as GPX, this can then be re-opened in bike hike to view the route at a later date. Alternatively, use Google Earth, open the GPX and it can be saved you your 'My Places' and can be turned on/off when you open Google Earth.

HTH

camerauk

hoochylala wrote:

camerauk wrote:

Ok thanks
but what do you use to store your rides on?

Im not sure what you mean by store your rides on. Plot on bikehike and save as GPX, this can then be re-opened in bike hike to view the route at a later date. Alternatively, use Google Earth, open the GPX and it can be saved you your 'My Places' and can be turned on/off when you open Google Earth.

HTH

What I mean really is when I had the Garmin edge I would load my ride data into Garmin training centre then I could look back and see how much I had ridden in the last month year etc

Cheers for the info ExeterSimon I don't really go that far off road that I will get lost I just want to download routes in local area that I can try out etc I have found a few from GPSies that I have put on the Dakota to try

also is there a way to start/stop the recording like on the edge, the recording seems to start automatically when you start up the dakota

stubs

Go onto the Garmin site and download the owners manual pdf it is 40 pages

to start recording a new track go to menu screen touch setup then touch reset then touch clear current track then yes

As soon as you start moving you will be recording a new track

Routes with waypoints are turn by turn you will get an audible warning when you are a few secounds from the waypoint

if you are on the compass screen the arrow on the compass will show the way to turn and give you a degree bearing or compass bearing to follow plus the distance to the next waypoint.

If you are on the map screen as you approach the waypoint you get the audible warning and the map zooms in as you get closer to the waypoint. The small arrow on the map will point in the direction of next waypoint.

If you have routable roadmaps with road names and you have pressed calculate by road it will also tell you what road you are on and which road you need next this doesnt work off road.

To save maps to your computer it is just like using a memory stick connect to computer with lead if it doesnt open a memory card window go to drives, click on garmin drive (mine is drive G) open up the garmin folder and you can copy or cut gpx. files and paste into your maps folder. Unfortunately there doesnt seem to be a training centre option to view your months stats but if you google it someone will probably have something similar.

camerauk

Thank you Stubs just what I was looking for
Still cant seem to find anything to store ride info on yet but at least I know a bit more on how to use it
is there any good free maps out there I have download the OpenStreetMap's and also the
Mobile Atlas Creator and its seems to work well to create maps for small areas but the quality does not seem great when zoomed in on the unit but it could be I am expecting to much

cheers

maloo

I use endomondo.com to monitor my ride info, just upload your gpx file and it puts it in a calendar for you to look back through.

hoochylala

camerauk wrote:

is there any good free maps out there I have download the OpenStreetMap's and also the
Mobile Atlas Creator and its seems to work well to create maps for small areas but the quality does not seem great when zoomed in on the unit but it could be I am expecting to much

cheers

Wihtout 'paying' for anything, Id suggest Mobile Atlas Creator is your best bet. Try creating OS maps at highest zoom level, 16 I think. I have had good reults on computer/viewing in Google Earth. I dont have a Dakota though so no results on there.

If you try this and could be so kind as to post a picture of the resolution quality that would help/interest some people im sure.

stubs

maloo wrote:

I use endomondo.com to monitor my ride info, just upload your gpx file and it puts it in a calendar for you to look back through.

Just signed up for that thanks for the heads up

camerauk

cheers for all the info

MarkLG

I use Garmin Mapsource and Memory Map to store my rides on.
I don't know if MemoryMap is Mac compatible, but if it is then it may be worth buying the map area that covers the routes you ride. They also do all the National Parks at 1:50k scale for about £40, which I reckon is pretty reasonable for the amount of data you get.
Alternatively you can use any of the web based maps and save your planned route as a .gpx file and transfer it to the GPX folder on the Dakota via USB.
As far as recording your rides you should find that the unit creates a new track segment every time it's powered up, so it's pretty easy to separate out different rides if you forget to reset the tracklog before the start of a ride.
I've been using mine for 6 months now and it really is a fantastic toy.