Cycling UK Forum

Well tomorrow is my birthday but I cheated and opened my Garmin Edge 305 today and I'm already tearing my hair out. Firstly I want to master just letting it point me in the right direction and also show me where I've been

First question: I have used Tracklogs for route planning for nearly a year now and am getting used to it. Do I need to learn to use the bundled software that's come with my Edge or can I ignore that and just stick to Tracklogs?

mrsbloomsburybarton wrote:Well tomorrow is my birthday but I cheated and opened my Garmin Edge 305 today and I'm already tearing my hair out. Firstly I want to master just letting it point me in the right direction and also show me where I've been

First question: I have used Tracklogs for route planning for nearly a year now and am getting used to it. Do I need to learn to use the bundled software that's come with my Edge or can I ignore that and just stick to Tracklogs?

Wouldn't you know where you've been?

reohn2 wrote:Wouldn't you know where you've been?

I thought I'd worded the question carefully enough to keep the comedians at bay!
When I go on a run lead by somebody else, I'd like to be able to download the information from my GPS and see the route on a map. On runs I plan myself, I want the GPS to point out the directions as I go! Do I need to try to understand the bundled software, or can I just use Tracklogs? There are more questions to come, looks like it might be hard work!!

Sorry about calling you a comedian, rejohn2. Just re-read it and can see you may have been genuinely confused!!

mrsbloomsburybarton wrote:Sorry about calling you a comedian, rejohn2. Just re-read it and can see you may have been genuinely confused!!

It's ok, he's not confused, just a bit edgy ............

Nick

mrsbloomsburybarton wrote:Sorry about calling you a comedian, rejohn2

I've been called a lot worse than that

I've steered away from electronic maps so far,I don't like the name Garmin,

mrsbloomsburybarton wrote:Well tomorrow is my birthday but I cheated and opened my Garmin Edge 305 today and I'm already tearing my hair out. Firstly I want to master just letting it point me in the right direction and also show me where I've been

First question: I have used Tracklogs for route planning for nearly a year now and am getting used to it. Do I need to learn to use the bundled software that's come with my Edge or can I ignore that and just stick to Tracklogs?

Stick to what you know. The Garmin Training centre is pretty poor for anything but viewing your training stats.

On the Mac I use Ascent which is a great replacement for the Garmin software.

You can use bikeroutetoaster.com to plan routes if you want to use a browser.

Thanks, I thought it looked a bit cheap so I'm glad it wasn't just me! The thing is doing what it should do a bit more this morning but I'm sure I'll have more questions shortly....

Hi

I'm not sure on the specs of your Garmin. BUT assuming it keeps a current log, when you get home upload this from within Tracklogs and you'll see an overlay on an OS screen map of your route - simple. You can then save this if you wish to your hard drive, with a suitable filename, to review, amend or print at your leisure.

Have fun.

Sorry to harp on about this.

The Edge is NOT a GPS system, and is incompatible with most of the systems like tracklogs as it uses ".crs and *.Tcx files" as opposed to routes and tracks. Some up to date versions have compatibility, but I am not prepared to replace my entire mapping ant £150 just because of the poor design by Garmin!

There is a far better programme called "Sporttracks"
( http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/SportTracks/ )

This allows you to download where you have been and the details such as heartrate and speed. It also has a basic mapping system as well.

The Edge really likes to take it's own tracks and convert them to a course for navigation. I have been unable to get it to accept routes in any form!

The best way I have found is complex.....

1. Design the route in the mapping software
2. Export as a *.gpx file
3. Import into 3rd party program such as http://www.clickroute.de
4. Export as a "*.tcx file"
5. Import into Garmin training centre
6. Export to GPS
7. Go to Training menu on the edge
8. Select "Courses"
9. Select the Course you have just uploaded
10. Navigate


Personally I use it as a tool for training and use a much cheaper, easier and reliable ETrex for navigating and touring!

I got mine second hand from Amazon for £50 so I didn't do too badly! It seemd to work properly the second day and I managed to navigate from a route I'd set and then upload a different route onto tracklogs when I got back but am willing to try other software so thanks for the advice. I'll be back with more questions when I've played with it a bit more!

Suggest you look at Frank Kinlans website (Frank Kinlan.co.uk) for Garmin 305 Route Planning Tutorials & advice.

I use mine as a high tech cycle computer. I'm not interested in it showing where to go, rather than showing where I've been, how fast or slow I went, and how well I did it.

I too use Ascent. GTC isn't much good for maps.

I'm getting used to it now, it's brilliant! I dreamed of something like this the first time I went out cycling with my map and got in a muddle!

On the 'Tracklogs', 'Save As Route' screen I am asked to: "enter the number of waypoints per route supported by your GPS to split over multiple GPS routes" I just stuck the figure 100 in here and it seemed to work. Does anybody know what I should be putting in there?

mrsbloomsburybarton wrote:Well tomorrow is my birthday but I cheated and opened my Garmin Edge 305 today and I'm already tearing my hair out. Firstly I want to master just letting it point me in the right direction and also show me where I've been

First question: I have used Tracklogs for route planning for nearly a year now and am getting used to it. Do I need to learn to use the bundled software that's come with my Edge or can I ignore that and just stick to Tracklogs?

Tracklogs works really well with the Edge. You can up/download waypoints (Points of Interest - like home or a good cafe) and trackpoints (your planned or actual route). Even better is that you can make a route in Tracklogs, upload it to the Edge and ride it as a course.

Don't listen to the advice about using other s/w - Tracklogs works really well. there is one other bit of s/w I'd recommend which is GPS Babel (its free), it will convert your Edge data into almost anything else. It will even work with older versions of Tracklogs. Check it out.

Hope this helps