Garmin 800 issues

TheSmithers

A mate of mine put a 64 mile route together, which he saved as a .tcx file for me to upload to my 800. It uploaded fine. We did the route today, but the step by step navigation of the route gave me endless problems throughout the ride.

Firstly, when I selected the course and hit GO to follow the route, it initially started alerting me whenever we needed to make a turn, but then 15-20 mins into the ride, alerts just seemed to cease. At the time, I had my main timing screen up on the display, but when it's working correctly, it interrupts when you need to make a turn. This just wasn't happening. Selecting the course, stopping it and restarting it seemed to cure that particular problem for the remainder of the ride. Just to add, I made sure the 'Turn Guidance' option was on from the start in the course's settings.

The second, and by far the most irritating issue, was the fact it kept buzzing to say we were off course when we clearly weren't and had gone where it told us to go. I'm wondering if it momentarily lost the GPS signal? It caused quite a few wrong turns and we nearly had to abandon the full course because my mate had to be back by a certain time. It's put him off getting an 800! Fortunately, we were able to complete it and despite these minor niggles, it was a great ride!

Anyone had any similar problems, or can tell me what I did wrong? I am still getting to grips with it; only had it a few weeks.

Thanks!

essjaydee

Sorry but can't help with the issues you've had.
I've had mine a few weeks now and it's been great, but if I want to do a saved course, I usually load it onto the gps as a .gpx file, then set the course so it always shows as a bright green track, and then just follow it. I don't use the turn by turn navigation.
If you wanted a timing screen on with lots of data showing, then I guess this wouldn't be so good for you.

AlahDamIt

Try this

Menu - spanner - System - Routing - Recalculate (Off)

I had the same issue, Im sure its ok now sine I turned off recalculate

Gizmodo

Poor GPS signal strength and changes in the road layout can cause short off-course warnings. There is a new (12 months) island that replaced some traffic lights that when I go round it always tells me I'm off course.

Some help here http://ridewithgps.com/edge_800

TheSmithers

AlahDamIt wrote:

Try this

Menu - spanner - System - Routing - Recalculate (Off)

I had the same issue, Im sure its ok now sine I turned off recalculate

Thanks, will give that a try

TheSmithers

essjaydee wrote:

Sorry but can't help with the issues you've had.
I've had mine a few weeks now and it's been great, but if I want to do a saved course, I usually load it onto the gps as a .gpx file, then set the course so it always shows as a bright green track, and then just follow it. I don't use the turn by turn navigation.
If you wanted a timing screen on with lots of data showing, then I guess this wouldn't be so good for you.

That's interesting. I could have really done with the course showing as a green line or something on the map. It would have helped! I'm guessing that's somewhere either in the course settings or system settings?

Regarding the turn by turn navigation, I find it very useful, particularly with routes like yesterday where neither of us knew the area at all. I'd rather keep my eyes on the road and have an audible alert rather than having to look down and squint at a map every 5 minutes.

Thanks for your help!

rch30

I had a similar problem some time ago when I used someone elses route. I think it was either because the datum for the map was different or because the method of producing the route was more of a point to point method. You can see what I am trying to say if you display the route on different mapping websites - I have found sometimes the route is parallel to the roadrather than on it- zoom in to see. If this happens you will get off course warnings. Try http://bikehike.co.uk/index.php for accuracy. If you find your track is parallel try redrawing it on a different site.
Ensure your settings are correct I too recommend disabling automatic recalculating.