Getting back on course with Garmin

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
bobzeller
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Joined: 20 Aug 2013, 8:37pm

Getting back on course with Garmin

Post by bobzeller »

I'm sorry if I should be posting this request elsewhere, but I am struggling to decide which is the correct one.

Anyhow, I tour with a Garmin Edge Tour Plus and it has been a great addition to my touring equipment over the past two years. But I have never been able to get an answer about how one can get the Garmin back to navigating fully when I get back on course having gone off course. The other day, I was cycling along a road which had emergency road repairs being done and I had to detour. I followed the detour directions and eventually, I was back on my planned route but the Garmin wouldn't navigate fully. It tracked my position. But beyond that, there were no directions, no audible beeps and no turn indicators on the screen. Am I expecting something the Garmin can't do for me? Is it that model? Would another model be better for that sort of complication?

Many thanks

Bob
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Paulatic
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Re: Getting back on course with Garmin

Post by Paulatic »

Is that with
Routing Options>recalculation > on?
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gloomyandy
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Re: Getting back on course with Garmin

Post by gloomyandy »

I'm surprised that the Garmin did not pick up the route once you got back on track. Mine has always done that, but I only have a 520 which does not have any of the routing features on the tour plus.
PH
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Re: Getting back on course with Garmin

Post by PH »

gloomyandy wrote:I'm surprised that the Garmin did not pick up the route once you got back on track. Mine has always done that, but I only have a 520 which does not have any of the routing features on the tour plus.

My Garmin Touring does the same. Sometimes I'll be on another ride and decide to use part of a previous one to get wherever I'm going, it's happy to pick a route up anywhere along it.
I use these settings and haven't had any issues - EDIT other than those in post below
https://ridewithgps.com/help/garmin-edge-touring
Last edited by PH on 29 Dec 2017, 12:17pm, edited 4 times in total.
PH
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Re: Getting back on course with Garmin

Post by PH »

Paulatic wrote:Is that with
Routing Options>recalculation > on?

No, that'll recalculate to the end destination, ignoring the route you've uploaded.
I sometimes let the Garmin touring choose a route for me, despite the often repeated advice never to do so, if you do it in small segments it's generally OK, just needs some caution.
PH
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Re: Getting back on course with Garmin

Post by PH »

bobzeller wrote: I followed the detour directions and eventually, I was back on my planned route but the Garmin wouldn't navigate fully. It tracked my position. But beyond that, there were no directions, no audible beeps and no turn indicators on the screen.

Is it still showing the route? Sometimes mine does that for no apparent reason and then later on the directions come back again, the wonders of garmin, I'm not usually bothered, I have the beeps turned off and don't trust it to recognise a turning so glance at the screen when approaching a junction anyway. If I switch it off and let it reload the route it'll usually come back with all the features.
Am I expecting something the Garmin can't do for me? Is it that model? Would another model be better for that sort of complication?

There may be better non Garmin GPS options, but all the Garmin's navigate in pretty much the same way.
bobzeller
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Re: Getting back on course with Garmin

Post by bobzeller »

Thanks for all the comments. I imagine that there really isn't a solution.
Cheers and best wishes for 2018

Bob
John_S
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Re: Getting back on course with Garmin

Post by John_S »

Hi Bob,

Sorry to hear about your frustration with this and I'm somebody who shares this frustration as well.

I'm now on my second Garmin and I started with the basic Edge 200 which didn't have any mapping functionality. Instead if you wanted to do a route it basically showed a line/bread crumb trail on the screen and you had the follow the course/path that was laid out for you but without any map/roads at all.

With the Edge 200 if you went off course I stated 'Off Course' on the screen and it showed an arrow which pointed the direction in which you needed to go in order to pick up the course again. I actually found that this worked well and it was easy to follow when you went of course and just by following the arrow pointing me in the direction of the course I always managed to pick it up again with ease.

However I've since upgraded to the Edge 1000 Explore and although there are many new features for me to enjoy, such as having a map, I find it completely useless if I go of course. It tells me that I'm off course but it doesn't seem to give any clue whatsoever as to how to get back to the course that I'm on. Therefore I end up resorting to guess work or getting my phone out and looking at maps to try and help me.

Now I'll hold my hands up and I will fully admit that maybe this is just me missing something because perhaps I'm not picking up on something the Garmin is trying to show/tell me about how to get back on course or maybe I've not correctly configured the settings but at least I felt better when reading your post and finding out that it's not just me with this problem. I apologise because I don't have a solution to help but I'll be following this post with interest and having a look at the links in the messages above to see if there is something that can help with this issue.

Best of luck to you in finding a solution to this issue and Happy New Year to everyone.

John
francovendee
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Re: Getting back on course with Garmin

Post by francovendee »

I'm glad it's not just me that had this problem. I was recommended to get an etrex 20. It was OK but if I missed a turn or made a detour then it wouldn't recalculate a way to get back on track. I gave up in the end and gave it to a friend. I now use a phone and Osmand which does all the things the Garmin didn't. Not waterproof or rugged though but it works for me.
PH
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Re: Getting back on course with Garmin

Post by PH »

John_S wrote:However I've since upgraded to the Edge 1000 Explore and although there are many new features for me to enjoy, such as having a map, I find it completely useless if I go of course. It tells me that I'm off course but it doesn't seem to give any clue whatsoever as to how to get back to the course that I'm on. Therefore I end up resorting to guess work or getting my phone out and looking at maps to try and help me.

While I can see your garmin doesn't do exactly what you'd like it too, I can't see that it's much of a problem. How far off course do you go? If it's more than about 10 miles, can't you just plot a route to a known point and pick it back up there?
I was out this afternoon following a downloaded course on the Touring, a muddy flooded path meant a change of plan, I zoomed out and kept the original course in sight, maybe at most three miles away, I headed pack to it when I saw the chance.
PH
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Re: Getting back on course with Garmin

Post by PH »

bobzeller wrote: But I have never been able to get an answer about how one can get the Garmin back to navigating fully when I get back on course having gone off course.

I was out using my garmin today and reminded of this.
What do you use to plot your routes? I use cycletravel and when you download (As a TCX course works best for me) there's an option to "Announce turns" and a choice of how far in advance you'd like that. These appear at the bottom of the screen and continue working even when the Garmin arrows have stopped.
http://cycle.travel/map
bobzeller
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Re: Getting back on course with Garmin

Post by bobzeller »

Yes, I can often get back to my planned route if I am not too far off of it. The problem then becomes getting the Garmin to give me turn-by-turn directions. It usually does show my progress along the course but not having the turn-by-turn is a nuisance. I have the RideWithGPS suggested settings on the Garmin and haven't played with them and RWGPS didn't suggest any changes. So I don't think there is anything wrong with the way I set it up.

Maybe I am just expecting too much from a relatively inexpensive device. But when touring in France last year, I felt compelled each day to stick to my Ride With GPS plotted course without any deviation. In fact, when I was doing the planning, I used my B&B address as my start point and the next night's B&B as my finish and never turned it off from start to finish. But now I am wondering what I should do if I deliberately want to leave my route for a few kilometres to explore something not previously included on my route. If I leave the gps running while off course, I imagine it will go haywire for a bit. But when I come back and resume cycling at the exact point I left it, will it go back to normal giving me turn-by-turn as I can on? I have experimented with turning the device off and then restarting it and then clicking on to the course. But when I tried this, I got a message asking if I wanted to navigate back to the start, obviously a non runner. Or in another scenario, if I deliberately go off course to sightsee and then return to my course, not at the point I left it but a few kilometres further down my planned course, will the Garmin accept all that and get back to tracking and turn-by-turn direction?

I'll try some more experiments next week and get back. Tomorrow we have winds in excess of 90 Km/h so the bike will stay in the shed. If all else fails, there is a super family-run LBS in Belfast and one of the sons is a real techie. He might be able to help and if he does, I'll post his suggestions and advice. He might not have the answer, but that is why we need LBS. I twice asked Garmin for advice about this and the first person said it was not possible to get the device to get back on route and function normally. The other said it would ...without any problems. Disappointing isn't it.

Cheers
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Wanlock Dod
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Re: Getting back on course with Garmin

Post by Wanlock Dod »

It's not an optimal solution, but the map screen will continue to show the route even if it has stopped giving instructions. I usually find this sufficient to get back on course but it does require more attention because there are no prompts, and the map screen tends to drain the battery a bit quicker.

I usually make my routes up into several separate shorter routes, largely as I find that the likelihood of the Garmin giving up on providing instructions increases considerably with distance travelled along the programmed route.
gloomyandy
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Re: Getting back on course with Garmin

Post by gloomyandy »

After you get back to the course if it does not start giving directions, have you tried reloading the course (don't say yes if it offers to navigate to the start!). I'm pretty sure that has worked for me with an edge 520 in the past, though in recent times I've not had any issue with it picking up the course when I've ridden back to it.
PM999
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Re: Getting back on course with Garmin

Post by PM999 »

I have an Edge Touring (not "plus") which also sometimes (but not always) fails to restart turn by turn guidance after losing and then returning to a route. As gloomyandy suggests, I can usually restart turn by turn by switching off and back on, reloading the route but saying "no" to the navigate to start option. As Wanlock Dod's experience, my unit is far less cranky if I split up long routes into smaller chunks. On an early use of it, I foolishly input a multi day tour as one single route. It was a very sweary few days on holiday ......

Paul
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