Loading courses onto an Edge800- help!

racingt

Hi guys,
Riding Wiggles no excuses on Saturday, so I've uploaded their .gpx file to the course directory of my garmin.
Problem is, that the Garmin does not recognise it as a course.
Help please.
So far I've spent 3 hours on this, and it's so frustrating. Only planning to ride for 6 hours so it feels a little disproportionate....
Thanks for all advice.
Phil

marcusjb

You need to put it in the 'new files' directory.

Garmin then sorts it out when you boot it up.

Edit - here's more info from garmin. http://support.garmin.com/support/searc ... 0000000%7D

meanredspider

Yup - hook up your Garmin to your computer and then copy the file into the New Files directory as Marcusjb says. The next time you start the Garmin, it will process the file. In the past I've had issues with naming where there's more than one route with similar names.

keith57

Once you have it loaded into the 800 you can re-name the route if you like. I never actually get the Garmin to navigate the route automatically as this seems to crash the Edge sometimes for me, and the screen being so small, doesn't seem to be very clear when warning me of approaching junctions, etc.

So what I do is go into the courses section on the 800 and switch on 'display the course on the map all the time', I choose a good colour - bright green or blue seems ok, depending on your background map. I switch off all the other options.

When riding I can switch to the map and just see the green or blue line on the map showing me the route. Zooming in or out as appropriate will help navigate any complex turns. I used this method very well for a big traverse of the Alps last year (Chamonix to Monte Zoncolan) on totally unfamiliar roads. Navigating on the single mountain roads wasn't an issue at all, gps mapping not really needed then. In towns the little green line was essential to keeping us on the planned route straight to the front door of the accommodation. Detours weren't a problem ether. If you were forced onto a different road because of poor planning, so long as you kept the line in sight navigating manually was ok and the screen wouldn't be cluttered with instructions on how to re-join the planned route. These can get in the way when you just want to look at the map.

As an aside - I also had download maps and the same track(s) into my phone so I had a larger screen to look at if needed (No need for a data connection). This of course means you have to stop on the side of the road.

freezing77

As above put it in the newfiles directory either on your garmins own internal memory or in the same folder on your microsd card if you have one.
Be aware that the course name may NOT be the same as the gpx file name.
Most if not all gps devices get the course name from the gpx file header and not the file name.

For example see below this is the header from a gpx file called track.gpx, the course name on the garmin is as per the file header. Bold text

<rte>
<name>Wayneflete Tower Avenue to Pelhams Walk</name>
<extensions>
<gpxx:RouteExtension>
<gpxx:IsAutoNamed>true</gpxx:IsAutoNamed>
<gpxx:DisplayColor>Magenta</gpxx:DisplayColor>
</gpxx:RouteExtension>
<trp:Trip>
<trp:TransportationMode>Bicycling</trp:TransportationMode>
</trp:Trip>

racingt

Thanks guys for all the advice. My frustration levels were pretty high last night, but I knew it had to be easy
Sorting the Course was really quick. Keith57, ride in the Alps sounds great. Been 8 times to the Pyrenees and Alps, it still has a huge attraction for me!
Cheers
Phil

rower63

One other thing. If you do want it to give you in-advance turn-by-turn directions for upcoming junctions during the ride, you need to select the route once it's on the 800, go into the "i" (for info) for that route and select turn-by-turn = ON. By default for a newly-loaded route, that setting is OFF, I think.

I learned the hard way, it made for a very frustrating first route for me when I got my 800, I got lost and couldn't understand why it wasn't telling me where to go (never had crashing problems with it in that mode btw).